THE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION AND THE OPERATIVES.
HE late meeting of the operatives at the Ro tundo was an immense demonstration of that
power which exists in the masses, when peace
fully and legally exerted. As if organized in the highest degree, they poured forth their thousands upon thousands in the most orderly manner, to show that aggression should not be made upon them with impunity; and sacrificing, when need arose, an immense amount of money, we should say very many hundreds of pounds upon this one object. Whether it were wise or not, is not our province to decide; nevertheless, if we might offer an opinion, we should say it was prema ture. The operatives, naturally alive to the overwhelm ing and crushing power of capital when exerted in col lective force, beheld in the long array of the Builders' Association, names of their most respected employers in coalition and loving brotherhood with a few who had ever warred against them; and interpreting their
by steam, its giant footfall and iron rule is steadily tread ing its way through the length and breadth of the land, classifying the employer as well as the employed. The employer who will not evoke its aid will be speedily and quiescently placed hors de combat, else he dwindles to the fourth or fifth estate, with but half the indepen dence of the operative, yet still endeavouring to grasp the shadow of his former self.
On the other hand, the operative has need keep watch and ward; as in carpentry, machine-made doors, window-frames, sashes, shutters, and mouldings ad libi tum, are produced for less than the present cost of labour; as the arts of the sculptor, the marble mason, and stone mason are equally infringed upon, we should not be surprised if ere long the kindred crafts and mys teries of the stonelayer and bricklayer, with others of lesser note, were monopolized to some extent by the great and all-absorbing artizan of modern times. Therefore it behoves both parties to cast aside their petty jealousies, and with a good will, working hand first and infantile breath as exerted to hurl defiance, in-hand together, advantage themselves, while they no doubt imagined a new and potent organization cannot arrest its progress. looming in the future, which would threaten to anni hilate the long-cherished rules and regulations of their -
respective bodies.
What was the origin of this? The Builders’ Asso ciation issued a declaration in the form of a report, that “they would not recognize the principle which dictates a uniform standard of wages.” True, they may not recognize it, but, possibly necessity, public opinion, or some other cause, obliges them to tolerate it. We will not here enter into the question whether
a uniform standard of wages is right or the reverse, or whether or not a change would tend to a depre ciation of the value of labour; but for a moment let us consider the relative position of employer and oper
ative. Is it not patent to all that the welfare of the one is intimately associated and identical with the other?
Is not the builder more prosperous, while
the operative is better fed and better clothed, when wages are at the highest? What is labour but the capital of the working man, which, like other mer cantile produce, is borne to the highest market? If in superfluity, it must succumb; if the supply be barely equal to demand, it must hold its position. And if this be true, how can any association or combination (we might say) reduce wages? Reading the report recently issued by the Builders' Association, we are led to understand they express an opinion of what they consider an absurdity, namely, that all operatives require to be remunerated alike. Farther we cannot incline, they have insinuated a desire
IR IS H G R A NITE versus W E L S H W H INSTON E. A PRACTICAL VIEW OF RECENT PAVEMENT OPERATIONs.
So much has been said and written of late years respecting the pavement of our city, and so great has been the outcry against the lavish expenditure of public money—collected by heavy taxation on the citizens—in mere experimentalizing, that we have jotted down a few incontrovertible facts, founded on calculation and experience, to prove the unjustifiable ness of our native material being shelved to give place to the products of other countries, and of en riching Welsh quarry-men to the detriment of our own; as well as expending large sums abroad in the employment of labourers, while thousands are idle at home.
The requisites of a good paving-stone are, hardness combined with roughness; no stone combines these qualities so perfectly as “granite;" the feldspar in granite ranks in degree of hardness with steel, but quartz, the other principal component, ranks with hardened steel. The feldspar disintegrates before the quartz and keeps the pavement rough. But the granite must not be surface rock, softened by exposure to atmospheric influence, which from its softness is preferred by the quarrymen, being more easily wrought. Grafton-street was paved with this surface-stone in 1856, in blocks of unequal depth upon a badly-prepared foun dation, which very unjustly brought Irish granite into disrepute for paving. A sample of inner close-grained granite paving sets is laid down on Essex-quay, opposite Nos. 4 and 5, procured from Foxrock at the desire of Committee No. 1 of the Dublin
to adopt classification as a rule, much less encourage any Town Council, by Mr. Hugh Kelly, one of its members; these
principle which would tend to a reduction of wages. Indeed, we imagine any onslaught, having the latter for its object, would be rejected with that contumely and contempt it deserves, by an overwhelming ma jority of the builders of Dublin. Surely the intelligence and good sense of the oper atives (and some of them have shown the mantle has not fallen over them lightly or unsparingly) must teach the puerility of doing battle against a mere opinion. This opinion may be incorrect for aught we are cognizant of, still it is but an opinion, and should
stones cost 15s. 6d. per ton, delivered into Hanover-street depot; 1s, additional, or less, would probably pay cost of royalty and super vision, if the Town Council would themselves work similar granite in the vicinity of Dublin; the total cost of best inner granite would not exceed 16s. 6d. per ton, and might cost much less when wrought on a large scale, and from the inner depths of the rock. The next best paving-stone readily available in the vicinity of Dublin, is “limestone,” such as some to be had at Miltown, an
easily workable stone, with small crystals through it like mica; this stone may be delivered in Dublin, and cut into sets similar to the shape of the Welch sets, for 7s. per ton.
“Calp, or black limestone,” comes next; it wears smooth, but by treating it as Sir Richard Griffith recommended that the Penman maur stone should be treated, viz., “to make the joints wide, and be treated for so much as it is worth; therefore would fill the interstices with gravel and grout,” it will afford as good it have been wiser to have awaited a more direct de foothold to horses; it costs as much as good limestone, and 1,000 of ashlers per week may be obtained. claration of hostilities on the part of their employers. tons The green “whinstone” in the vicinity of Dublin is very hard But a truce to all this! A new era has opened and unworkable ; it is so refractory, and cleaves so irregularly, as to on building. Machinery is doing its work; and, aided render it useless for paving sets; but there seems to be a cleavable
