After a few days spent in debates and discussions, and adjustment of differences between the old and new list of prices, deputations were sent round to all shops where the men had not joined the strike, and, among others, they visited me.  For some reason—­perhaps to avoid vexing the boss—­they would not come up stairs, and requested me to meet them at the basement door.  On going down, I saw some five or six well-dressed, intelligent-looking men—­not a rare sight among the mechanics of New York—­and then, they standing under the ‘stoop,’ and I leaning against a pile of maple-joists, one of them opened the business with a little dissertation on political and social economy, and the inherent right of men to band themselves together for the common good; after which, he inquired my reasons for continuing to work in opposition to the will of the majority.  Those who have lived in America, and those only, will be able fully to comprehend the significance of these four words in italics.  My answer was, that ’I had come to America to better myself, and could not afford to lose time.’

’But you need not lose time.  There’s a steam-boat fitting up down below at the dock; we can get you work on board of her at twelve dollars a week.’

’I don’t know anything of steam-boat work; and if I did, it would not suit me to give up a steady place for one that must necessarily be uncertain.’

‘You mean to say, then, that you will keep on working where you are?’

‘I do.’

’You must be a fool to work for eight or nine dollars a week, when, by standing out, you could get twelve.’

’Not so sure of that; it is but a few who can make two dollars a day, and I am not one of them.  Nine dollars is about a fair rate for what I can do.’

’That’s no reason why you shouldn’t try to better yourself by standing out.  The bosses must give in, if all hands will only strike; and if it weren’t for you European slaves and convicts, we’d soon carry our point.’

The term convict is a taunt frequently applied to Englishmen by working-people in the United States, and its introduction into the argument did not at all surprise me.

‘I have little inclination,’ I answered, ’to throw myself out of work just to enable you, and a dozen or two more, to get your twelve dollars a week.  My first duty is, to take care of myself and my family.  Our boss is a good fellow in the main, and I don’t want to leave him; and, besides, there’s another reason why I won’t strike.’

‘And what’s that?’

’Because it won’t succeed.  You might as well try to stop the stream of the Hudson, as to keep up wages, while fifty or a hundred cabinet-makers are coming in every week from Germany, ready to work for twelve dollars a month.’

’That shews how much you know about it.  In our great and free country, there’s work for all Europe; so it’s no use saying wages can’t be kept up.’