English Gilds. *

unfinished , the masters being unAvilling to pay them journeyman ' s Avages , even until such Avork Avas finished . " The abuse of poAver on the part of the masters , and their aggressions , especially on the

journeymen ' s customary right of preference to employment , 'which they had acquired by a regular apprentice-. ship , led at once , as might be expected , to the formation of Trade-Societies . All journeymen of the trade belonged to this Calico-printer ' s

Trade-Society , as all Clothworkers did to their . Institution . At first there were no regular obligatory payments , but all contributed voluntary to a common fund . From this fund the sick members and those out of work , were assisted . When such

accumulations of funds had been prohibited by the , 39 th and 40 th Geo . III . chap . 106 , the Calico-, printer Unionists gave each member a ticket . On presenting this , the bearer—like the wandering journeymen in Germany—received a donation from

the workers in every workshop he passed . Originally , everybody was free to give what he pleased ; but gradually there arose too great a disproportion , as the zealous often gave 6 d ., whilst -the lukewarm gave nothing . Then the

journeymen were bound to fixed contributions , in England to a halfpenny , in Scotland to Id . each . It seems that as the trade developed further , only the more zealous journeymen belonged to the Union , and that thus a closer and more restricted association

arose , which no longer comprehended all workers in the trade . Another rule among these Avorkmen which has a certain likeness to those ofthe German journeyman's fraternities , Avas , that every apprentice or Avorkman who Avished to work in a workshop ,

had first to apply to the journeyman , before asking the masters for work . The reason was , that if ¦ discontent existed , or there was not plenty of work , the employers might not take advantage of the neAV offer of labour to discharge their

journeymen or reduce wages . If new apprentices Avere taken , a strike ensued . When the journeymen struck work , the a ] 3 prentices generally Avent with them , and were assisted during the turn-out by the journeymen . In London and the parts adjacent

hoAvever , the most friendly relations existed between masters and men ; but it was also shoAvn , on inquiry into fourteen workshops , that the proportion of apprentices to journeymen Avas only 37 to 216 . These combinations existed until the year 1802 ,

when the journeymen first applied to the House o f Commons for redress , and " the moment they found their petition entertained , and felt any ground of hope that their grievances would be fairly considered , all combination ceased , and their

reliance for redress was entirely founded upon the justice and liberality of Parliament . " As regards the Cotton-trade , I have not been able to find accounts of the first Trade-Societies

among its journeymen . But the following statement about it agrees with what occurred in all other trades , when the exceedingly Avell-informed author of the essay On Combinations of Trades says ( p . 15 ) , "that this manufacture , which was

cf too modern an origin to be obnoxious to the 5 th Eliz . c . 4 , was never without unions among its artisans . " An early organization of the journeymen Cotton-workers may also be inferred from the evidence contained in a Parliamentary

Beport of 1811 . It is said there , that for seventy years statement-lists of prices had existed in that trade , which were agreed upon by masters and men , and that they had been given up thirteen years before , by which great misery had been

caused to the Avorkmen . Already before 1773 the assessment of wages by justices of the peace or by the Lord Mayor had fallen into disuse in the silk-manufacture in London , Westminster , Middlesex , and within the liberties of the Tower of London . In

consequence , the competition of employers to undersell each other had lowered the Avages of workmen . This led to continual differences as to wages between masters and men . Several deeds of violence were committad by the exasperated

Avorkmen , and much property belonging to those employers who Avould not pay the customary wages Avas destroyed . Strikes were frequent ; and the men on strike were assisted by contributions from all the Avorkmen of the trade . They chose

a committee for managing all matters connected with the trade . But when the committee once ordered a levy of 2 d . for every loom used by a workman , quarrels ensued with the masters , which finally led to the enactment of the 13 th Geo . III .

c . 68 . According to this Act , the justices ofthe peace or the Lord Mayor at the above-named place were , from July 1 st , 1773—from time to time , after demand so to do had been made to themto assess the wages of the journeymen in the silkmanufacture . Employers giving more or less than