, 1874-03-29
ENGLISH TRADEs-UNION CONGRESS.

| On the 18th Of January last, the Parliament
! of the laborers, mechanics, and tradesmen Of
England met at Sheffield, and continued il ses-
| sion eight days. The men there gathered did
not, however, call their assembly 8 Parliament; !;
| they called it Congress-, considering that dcs-
| ignation, Doubtless, more democratic. In it
! were represented liz societies. and, il we can
rely upon the published reports Of the meeting,
1,046,000 members Of various trades-unions.
This is q formidable amy; tct the number is
probably much too laIge,-purposly exagger-
ated te impose On the public, and COM
maud consideration which does not
entirely belong to it. This is all the
moro probable, as in the Congress held ct
Manchester in June, 1868. the number repre-
sented did not probably exceed ,ooo- The
highest estimate made OF it is only 100000. The
speaker claimed that this year the number rep
resented Was $50 900. It is difficult to discover
what the real figure is. Some cool-headed
writer's, commenting on the proceedings, asy
It appears, however, that one Society alone-tho
'sFactory Acta Reform Association" which sent
delegates to oSheReld-numbers 236, 600 members,
recruited from Lancashire, Derbyshire, and
Cheshire and another-the "Glasgow United
Trades Council "-140,000 ~
The Congress seemed to desire to impress the
people OF England with two things: their
strength and their moderation They agitated
several important questions-thes suffrage, taxa
tion, Misrepresentation in Parliament, the
relations Of capital and labor, between which
they would not admit there could be anything
but antasonism. They avowed that it was their
object to make capital subgorvient to labor
and to institute q war-not bloody one, howev-
er-against class-distinc6ons in England.
They inveighed against the practice of
appointing certain Judges in England,
tliyines, landowners, and others, who
drew no salaries, and consequently had no
interests in common with the laborers and arti-
sAns, demanding that the courts over which they
presided should not have cognizance OF breach
ca Of contract between masters and employees;
that such cases should come before, and be de-
cided only By, salaried Judges. They had sone-
thing to say also about commerce and the trade
in real estate. In fact they resemble IN some
respect d Legislative body, and claimed, through
their President. a1r. Rolley, that their Congress
did not yield in Importance to the House OF
Lords or to the House of Commons.
The Engliah trades-unions as at present Or
ganized have no bond Of union but this Con-
gress. 1lr. Howell read paper advocating
the cTeation Of universal tradea-union- TWAS
proposed that the trades-t1nions Of Great
Britain should join thas part Of the International
which eschews political agitation. Mr.. Owens
proposed federation with the ttades-uniors or
similar organizations Of other countries-ap propo-
sition which Was adopted unanimously. 4 rep
resqntative Of the gentler se1, Mrs. Butler, nd.
dreksed the Congress On the claims Of women.
and demonstrated the propriety Of abolishing
male ar1stoc1acy, ~ Tel as ali other kinds Of
aristocracy.
While the trsdes-unions are thus displaying
their strength, another and opposing power is
growing up in England -" The National Federa-
ton Of Employers, ," with John Robinson, Of the
firm Of Sharp, Stewart d Co., Of Manchester, Is
President. 1t is said that this Society embraces
the employers Of 2, ooo, 900 laborers. 1ts cha,ao-
ter, however, IL entirely defensive. It coz
templates, besidaa caring fqz ths interests d