Mr. George Dixon, M.P., presided at Leamington on Wednes- day
at the Conference of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, and made the agricultural labourers a very moderate speech, expressing his complete sympathy with the object of their combination, and his strong hope that they would indulge neither in threats such as the threats of agrarian disturbances put forth by the Labourers' Union Chronicle, nor, and still less, in the fulfil- ment of such threats. Mr. Dixon spoke very well, but he seems to us to have forgotten to warn the labourers that com- bination will only serve them if they have either suffi- cient capital behind them to support them in their struggles for higher wages, or at least enough to distribute more evenly the supply of labour over the surface of the country, and if necessary, to assist emigration. Their real resource is, after all, their own savirs, though somewhat increased, of course, by subscriptions from outsiders; and their own savings cannot well be large enough to do much more than redistribute labour, until they can earn, and therefore save, a great deal more than they can at present. They must look to get the increased wages not out of any magical power in combination, but out of the new knowledge they can gather as to the places where labour is most in demand. Strikes without adequate means would be worse than useless —mischievous.
Previous page
