Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/340

306 Glasgow, as stated in the fifth Parliamentary Report respecting Artizans and Machinery. One of the partners in an extensive cotton-factory, disgusted by the unprincipled conduct of the workmen, removed to the state of New York, where he re-established his machinery, and thus afforded, to rivals already formidable to our trade, at once a pattern of our best machinery, and an example of the most economical methods of employing it.

(369.) When the nature of the work is such that it is not possible to remove it, as happens with regard to mines, the proprietors are more exposed to injury from combinations amongst the workmen: but as the owners are generally possessed of a larger capital, they generally succeed, if the reduction of wages which they propose is really founded on the necessity of the case.

An extensive combination lately existed amongst the colliers in the north of England, which unfortunately led, in several instances, to acts of violence. The proprietors of the coal mines were consequently obliged to procure the aid of miners from other parts of England who were willing to work at the wages they could afford to give; and the aid of the civil, and in some cases of the military, power, was requisite for their protection. This course was persisted in during several months, and the question being, which party could support itself longest on the diminished gains, as it might have readily been foreseen, the proprietors ultimately succeeded.

(370.) One of the remedies employed by the masters against the occurrence of combinations, is to make engagements with their men for long periods and to