Printers’ Progress, 1986

  We have, by turns, conceded what we ought manfully to have resisted, and you, elated with your success, have been led on from one extravagant demand to another, till the burden is become too intolerable to be borne, You fix the number of our apprentices. and sometimes even the number of our journeymen. You dismiss certain proportions of our hands and do not allow others to come in their stead. You stop all surface machines and go to the length of even to destroy the rollers before our face. 

  You restrict the cylinder machine and even dictate the pattern it is to print. You refuse, on urgent occasions, to work by candlelight and even compel our apprentices to do the same. You dismiss our overlookers when they don’t suit you; and force obnoxious servants into our employ. Lastly, you set all subordination and good order at defiance, and instead of showing deference and respect to your employers, treat them with personal insult and contempt. 

Considerations to the Journeymen Calico Printers of Manchester by One of their Masters, 1875 History of Trade Unions, page 76; Sidney Webb, 1920.

Note:
This passage was inserted as a block quotation in the Running Commentary column, and is only properly understood when read alongside the Wapping dispute/print unions piece in said Running Commentary column.