The
throwsters [those who pulled the silk fibers from the cocoons of
the silk worms and twisted them together to make a thread] and the
handkerchief weavers also became discontent. A battle between
soldiers and silk weavers at their meeting place resulted in
several men on both sides being killed. In 1773, wages and prices
for the work of journeymen silk weavers in and around London are
to be regulated by the Mayor and Justices of the Peace. Foremen
were excluded. No silk weaver may have more than two apprentices
or forfeit 20 pounds. Journeymen weavers entering into
combinations shall forfeit 40s. This statute satisfied the
weavers, but they formed a union to ensure that it was carried
out.
In 1750, 1761, and 1765, there were strikes which stopped the work
of the coal industry and harbor at Newcastle for weeks. In 1763,
the keelmen formed a combination to force their employers to use
the official measure fixed by statute for the measurement of loads
of coals.
The book "Consideration upon the East-India Trade" dating from
1701 advocated free foreign trade. It argued that the import of
goods from India not only benefited the consumer but also the
nation, because it was a waste of labor to use it in producing
goods which could be bought cheap abroad. This labor could be
better put to use in new industries, at easily learned plain work.
Also the low cost of imported goods would motivate the invention
of machines in the nation which would be even more efficient in
manufacturing these goods.
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