The working classes. North.
--Some of the manufacturers of Philadelphia are proposing a reduction of the wages of operatives of from ten to twenty per cent., as was done in 1857, and considerable feeling has been created in consequence. Should the proposition be carried out, it is thought that a general strike would be the result. At present prices, weavers of checks, ginghams, &c., cannot make more than $5 a week, and many of them do not earn so much as that.In New York, it is stated, at least ten thousand mechanics are working on "half time," and last week the number of unconditional discharges from factories and shops could not have been fewer than five thousand. One of the city journals says fifteen thousand, but that is thought to be an exaggeration.
