The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-03-06 00:00:00

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF
EMPLOYERS.

The annual meeting of the above Federation was
held in London, on Friday in last week, at the West-
minster Palace Hotel, and was attended by a large
number of influential representatives from all parts of
the kingdom.

The chair was taken by Mr. John Robinson, of the
firm of Messrs. Sharp, Stewart, and Co., Atlas
Works, Manchester, who moved the adoption of the
report of the executive committee. This document
recapitulated the circumstances which gave rise to the
Federation in 1873, and stated that the resolutions
adopted at its formation declared that "the organisa-
tion of labour by means of Trades' Unions, acting
through an elaborate system of federation, with almost
uncontrolled central power, gives to those organisations
a dangerous preponderating influence; that an obvious
necessity exists for some general and united action,
with a view to secure, through the continuance of
existing laws and the enactment of new ones, com-
plete freedom of labour, protection to capital, and the
true interests of national industry. The rules subse-
quently adopted for its government limited the scope
of its operations to—(1) Parliamentary legislation ; (2)
the collection and distribution of information upon
industrial questions; and (3) the endeavour to secure
co-operation and unity of action among employers, by
becoming a medium of communication between them.
The committee had felt it needful to make these
explanations, because it ,had been alleged (1) that
the establishment of this Federation would consti-
tute a convenient plea for the formation of similar
federations on the part of the Trades' Unions, and
therefore that it was undesirable to proceed with
it; and (2) that this Federation intended to inter-
fere with the rates of wages, and the regulation of
labour in different trades and districts. These assumed
objects were considered too wide in their scope and
too restrictive in their action to admit of the objectors
giving their adhesion to it. It was necessary to record
the fact that it was not until the key-note of federa-
tion was sounded by the Trades' Unions that the em-
ployers organised this federation; and its rules already
quoted, state its objects with sufficient clearness. The
committee reported that during the year they had ad-
dressed to Mr. Lowe, then Home Secretary, a memo-
rial setting forth the views of the federation in refe-
rence to the Criminal Law Amendment Act, Master
and Servant Act, &c. After the Dissolution of
February, 1874, a copy of the above document was
placed in the hands of Mr. Cross, and several deputations
had waited upon him with reference to the appointment
of the Royal Commission on the Labour Laws. The pro-
ceedings of that cominission were watched , and its in quiry
was aided by a sub-committee of the federation, who sat
in London last year, and the report recently issued
was felt to be a satisfactory result of the inquiry. The
committee had also established a weekly journal called
Capital and Labour, in which the views of the Federa-
tion might be expressed, and which has been carried
on successfully and with great advantage to the cause
for twelve months. The various measures of last
Ses- ion were commented upon, and the necessity was
pointed out for having a central office in London to
watch Parliamentary proceedings. The report con-
cluded as follows :—" Your committee desire to im-
press upon employers that, as it is not for the national
interest that the Trades' Unions should become ma,sters
of the situation, either in Parliament or in the country,
it is the duty of the Federation that their arguments
and aims shall undergo examination and dissection
before the country and be met in Parliament by ap-
propriate efforts. If told that numbers are on the side
of the Unionists, your committee reply that they do
not despair of being heard and understocd even by the
great mass of the people. The legal and moral right
of combination of labour has been recognised, and a
similar right is now claimed for employers. The pre-
vailing tendency of the Trades' Unions to invoke legis-
lative" interference in the industrial arrangements of
the community is replete with danger, and your com-
mittee have some satisfaction in reminding you that
this Federation cannot be accused of having promoted
legislation for a class."

In moving the adoption of the report, the President
congratulated the meeting upon the result of the in-
quiry into the Labour Laws, and pointed out the neces-
sity of using all proper means in order that the
recommendations of the Commission mightbe embodied
in an Act of Parliament.

Mr. R. Raynsford Jackson in seconding the motion,
said he did not think that arbitration wls a panacea
for the evil of strikes and lock-outs, for he could not
see on what satisfactory principle the arbitrators
could give an award. He looked far more hopefully
to courts of conciliation.
Mr. Mallett, of the Nottingham Lacemakers' Asso-
ciation, called special attention to a clause in the
Hosiery Act of last Session, which renders it illegal to
retain stoppages of wages for any purpose whatever, so
that it is now impossible to exercise any check upon
the idle, the unpunctual, and the negligent among the
workmen.

Mr. Richard Haworth, of Manchester, remarked
that the topics on which the Labour Laws Commission
was appointed to inquire formed only three out of the
19 included in the Trade Union programme, and great
vigilance must be exercised over all these in public in-
terests.

After a number of other speakers had addressed the
meeting, the report, with the treasurer's statements of
accounts, was received and adopted.