580 FARRIERS 5 STRIKE. 
ride from here where the disunion of the veterinary surgeons 
is an element of weakness; the men are not slow to take ad¬ 
vantage of it, and the masters are obliged to comply with 
every demand made, however unreasonable or unjust. 
During this time the veterinary surgeons w 7 ere making 
great exertions to get men; they advertised in nearly every 
leading paper in England, Ireland, and Scotland; they had 
the town and neighbourhood freely posted with large hand¬ 
bills, and they scoured the w T hole country for twenty or thirty 
miles round. In almost every town and village in England 
their cry for help went forth, and this cry was nobly responded 
to; still scarcely any help reached them. By degrees, how¬ 
ever, one artisan after another managed to run the blockade, 
and got safely landed, safely housed, and protected by a police- 
officer at the entrance of each establishment, to prevent any 
turnout gaining access to persuade or intimidate him. By 
degrees these men accumulated in numbers, in spite of every 
obstacle, for the indomitable perseverance and indefatigable 
activity of the masters overcame every obstacle. Our em¬ 
ployers, to a man, took our side, and w ithheld their work 
during the crisis. Nor will this recital diminish in its in¬ 
terest as it draws to a close; for nothing could exceed the 
unanimity and concord that existed amongst us ; calling upon 
and encouraging each other wfith words full of hope and cheer¬ 
fulness, zealously helping each other in every way we possibly 
could. We were animated by the very best spirit and feeling 
and a singleness of purpose, notwithstanding many well- 
planned and cunningly devised attempts to sow discord and 
distrust and excite suspicion amongst us ; but fortunately our 
previous meetings had taught us to respect and esteem one 
another; w 7 e felt fortified, therefore, in our perfect reliance upon 
each other. Nothing could shake for one moment the confi¬ 
dence we had in one another’s honour and integrity. We vied 
in assisting each other as brothers in adversity ought to do; 
w 7 e felt w 7 e had our common interest at stake, and were de¬ 
cided in our action. The turnouts, observing this, and seeing 
the utter futility and the perfect hopelessness of every attempt 
to cause dissatisfaction or defection in our ranks, together w 7 ith 
the fact that some of the vacancies w 7 ere getting filled up, 
some of the wiser among them w 7 ere led to meditate upon the 
state of affairs, and on the ninth day of the strike the whole 
of the men in one of the principal establishments resumed 
work at the old rate of w r ages, and resigned their membership 
of the society. This at once broke their organization. Thus 
encouraged, many of the more thoughtful followed their 
example, and one after another withdrew 7 from the society. 
