The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-18 00:00:00

THE TRADE SOCIETIES' CONGRESS.

In London, last Saturday, the delegates of the Trade
S,cletles' Congress returned and concluded tilde delibera-
tions:—

Mr. George Potter, in taking the chair, adverted to
the deputations from Birmingham and Halifax that
waited upon Mr. Bruce on Friday, remarking that the
right hon. gentleman's concessions and admissions to
these influential employers made the case against the
3rd clause of the Trades Union Bill much stronger for
the employed. With a clause so worded as to be open
to the objection of 'extreme vagueness," and yet
"having to be interpreted by magistrates who had
neither a legal apprehension nor education," what
would become of working men? They would be com-
pletely at the mercy of prejudice and ignorance, and
liable to be punished by those who desired it for the
crime of simply looking after their own legitimate
interests. Ho suggested that the committee to whom
they had confided the question should have their
bands strengthened.
Mr. Macdonald (National Association of Miners)
said the answers given to the deputations of Friday
ought to arouse working men from one end of the king.
does to the other. He was astonished to find men like
Mr. Dixon and Ur. Mintz endorsing inch sentiments,

and he hoped the delegates when they returned to their
constituents would tell them they could expect nothing
but class legislation from their members. The corn.
mittee should be Invested with extraordinary powers
under the circumstances.

Mr. Lloyd Jones (Manchester Fustian Cutters)
thought it would be worse than folly, in the present
state of things, to attempt to fight the battle in Parlia
meat, where the strength of their opponents lay. Their
course and duty should be to take up strong ground
outside the House of Commons, leaving the re.
spmeibility of what was done in Parliament to the
members themselves, but repudiating altogether the
imputatians cad upon working men by this clause.
Mr. Allen (Boilermakers and Iron Ship-builders)
observed that what the working class had hitherto
obtained from Government had been wrung from them
by sheer force, and the only way to insure future
justice was the formation of a national political
union. They would never do any good until they got
the voice of the people on their side.
. .

Ultimately, ori the motion of Mr. Halliday ( Amal-
gamated Miners' Association), seconded by Mr. Haig-
kinson (Composition and Frame Makers), it was re.
solved unanimously to empower the committee ap-
pointed to watch the progress of the Bill through both
Houses of Parliament to use every legitimate mutes
to secure the rejection of the 3rd clause, and the
incorporation of such amendments in the other clause
as were requisite and necessary to meet the wishes of
the Congress; and further to empower them to
convene another general Congress of delegates from
aff centres of industry in the United Kingdom, if
they should find it to be necessary, with a reomn-
mendacion to working pen to hold meetings on the
subject in every part of the country.
Various other resolutions were carried in like manner
the three first proposed from the chair, and eetionded
by Mr. Geo. Ilowell (London Operative Bricklayers),
v:x., that the Congress could not separate without re-
cording its opinion that primary education should,
without delay, be applied to every child, and technical
education opened to every person connected with the
industry of the country; that the attention of the
Government should be called to the fact that corn. ,
missions appointed to inquire into questions affecting ,
the conditions and treatment of working men never
include members of their own class, and that with the I
view of making such inquiries more satisfactory, work-
ing men should always form part of these commissions;
that the members of the Congress cook upon themselves
the duty of urging their constituents to promote in-
dustrial pattnershlps, and to use their united capital
for the purposes of self-employment; that the
present taxation of the country, both imperial and
local, was enormous and burdensome, and required re-
adjustment, so that income and property should bear
its fair share, and the burdens on labour be propor-
tionately reduced ; that the waste lands of the country
should be utilised for the benefit of its unemployed
labour ; that there ought to be direct representation of
labour in Parliament and lastly, that the international
fraternisation of labour was a matter of the most vital
consequenca to the interest of the industrial classes
and the welfare of society at large.
Professor Beesly, who spoke to the latter resolution,
bore testimony to the value of the movement to which
it relates, tending as it did to equalize wages at home
and abroad, and to promote the formation of foreign
trade unions. He agreed with Mr. Eccarius (Inter-
national Working Hen's Association), the mover, that
if thoroughly carried out it would rid Europe of the
curse (I standing armies ; and mid he believed the
Franco-Prussian war was supported by the middle
class in order to divert attention from the labour ques-
tion. Formerly, when strikes occurred, employers had
recourse to the importation of foreign labour ; but in-
ternational association had tended and would continue
to prevent that.
Votes of thanks were passed to Messrs. Leicester,
Bailey, Sully (Rev. H.), Latham, Hickey, and Walton
for their papers on "Ito Limitation of Apprentices,"
"Reduction in the Hours of Labour." "Working
Men's Halls and Clubs," " Direct Representation of
Labour in Parliament." "What Means ought to be
adopted to make this annual moveable Labour Con-
gress permanent 1" and "The Utilisation of Waste
Lands." A paper by Mr. Goldwin Smith on "Emigra-
tion as affecting the Working Man," would have
been read, but at the last moment it had not
reached the secretary. An address to the Trades'
Unions, drawn up by Ur. Lloyd Jones, and embody-
ing the views and resolutions of the Congress on the
application of arbitration and conciliation to trade
disputes, was approved, and ordered to be printed
and circulated. In the meanwhile, Mr. Rupert Kettle
has undertaken to draft a Permissive Bill to give
legislative sanction to the principle wherever the
masters and men are willing to adopt it. It was
arranged that the next annual Congress should be held
at Nottingham, on Monday, in the second week of
January, 1872. The accounts, showing a total receipt
of £25, and an expenditure of £5 14s. 51, were audited,
an £2 each having been voted to Messrs. Odger and
Howell for their services, the balance was left at the
disposal of the Standing Parliamentary Committee on
the Trades Union Bill. Thanks were then accorded,
by acclamation, to the Chairman (Sir. Geo. Potter),
and the Congress was dissolved.