CAPITAL AND LABOUR. 647 



7.— THE EVOLUTION OF HOSTILITY BETWEEN 

 CAPITAL AND LABOUR. 



By MRS. A. MORTON. 



To account, even partially, for the present condition of tlie 

 labouring classes in England and Australia, and their present 

 attitude towards capital, it seems to me that we must look 

 back into the past relations between employers and employed. 



At the outset, let me say that I am dealing' with the 

 subject from the concrete and human I'ather than from the 

 abstract and purely theoretical standjjoint. 



The subject of the relation of capital to labour is attractive 

 alike to the earnest student and the dilletante idler. With 

 the hair-splitting distinctions of the one, and the confusion 

 of thought and expression of the other, this paper has nothing 

 to do. For its purposes it will be sufficient to define capital 

 as the wage-payer, labour as the wage-earner. 



And, since no one with any interest in humanity can 

 possibly be indifferent to anything which affects the mass of 

 toilers who live in our own land, and speak, with some modi- 

 tions, our own tongue, it is surely unnecessary to apologise 

 for the subject, or do more than crave kindly indulgence for 

 the manner of treating it. 



The past attitude of Capital towards Labour. 



There was a time in the history of Europe when the 

 greater part of the population were everywhere bereaved 

 of their personal liberty, and lived entirely at the will of their 

 masters. As vassals, or serfs, or slaves, they lived and died 

 without ever realising what freedom, as we understand it, 

 meant. In England the first direct legislation in connection 

 with labour was enacted in the reign of Edward III. An 

 Act, called " The Statute of Labourers," was passed, which 

 bound all labourers who were in a position to take employ- 

 ment to accept it at a rate of wage that was much lower than 

 they were tlien receiving. A refusal to accept service at the 

 lower remuneration was punished by imprisonment ; and a 

 master who paid more than the stipulated wage was liable to 

 a fine of double the amount. 



Two years later, on the plea that the General Statute was 

 evaded in various ways, another was passed, which entered 

 more into detail, and made it illegal for masons and carpen- 

 ters to enter into any agreement with each other, when 



