, 1890-08-02
Recent Industrial News.
The Times, jane 16.)

country and elsewhere during the earlier
months Of the year, and especially during
The month of May. The contents of the
journal are, as usual, of the most mlScella-
neOuS character, and of very wide range.
They include notices of recent tariff chan
ges and new Customs regulations in seve-
raj foreign countries and in two British
colonies. They give the proceedings at
the late Co. operative Congress and at the
Swiss Labour Congress at Often. They
contain an account of the progress of
Mexico. They mention briefly what has
been done and discussed by the Chambers
of Commerce Of the United Kingdom.
The state of the English Labour Market
comes i'll for special notice. Besides all
this, there are extracts from various Di.
plomatic and Consular reports, and a long
lisb of what the journal correctly terms
miscellaneous trade notices, foreign, In.
dian, and colonial. Out of this mass of
matter, the chief interest will probably
attach to the report on the skilled labOur
market at home. This, we observe with
pleasure, is in the main very satisfactory.
The statistics furnished by the leading
trade societies show that trade is still
highly prosperous. The percentage of the
unemployed during May was 1876, as it was
also during April. This is a slight i'm.
provement on last years figures, when the
May percentage Of the unemployed was 2,
and the Improvement would have been
more marked if it had not been for the nu-
merouS trade disputes of the month. or
the twenty one societies from which reports
have been received, thirteen describe trade
rs every good" one as "gOOd but imprOv-
ing''-the intended contrast is not clear
one as "gOOd but declining" three az
good" and three as "moderate." In the
engineering trade and in the building
trades the percentage of unemployed is
below the general average. In the engi-
npering trade, in spite of a falling off of
activity in some departments, the propor-
ton Of the unemployed has fallen from %
10 18 per cent. In the building trades
the percentage of unemployed has been
l.G, as against 2 in April. The cabinet
making trade is good, but the number of
the unemployed in it has been largely in
creased by strikes al w important CEN
tres. 1t seems clear that, if it were not
for strikes, there would be employment
fOi almost everybody, and that most of
those who are out of employment have
only themselves to thank for the unplea-
SAINT position which they occupy. In one
part.Ot a memorandum from the Labour
correspondent W WIG OOdAO VI AIducs ZIG
contents of which we print elsewhere, we
learn that the trade societies show al in
crease in membership, and in another part
that the list of strikes has been heavy, no
fewer than 100 having been recorded dur
ing May. We shall perhaps not be wrong
in connecting these two facts. Strikes
take place, as a rule, under the orders of
trade societies. They are very seldom
spontaneous on the part Of the men, and
they are generally continued long after
the real sufferers from them would gladly
bring them TO an end and GO back to work
if they were free to consult their own in.
~tereSts. AS the trade societies increase
in membership, they become, of course,
so much the more powerful for mischief as
we'll as for good. We should be glad to
discover signs i'll the memorandum that
they were disposed to make "a wise and
temperate use of their great and growing
influence. On this point the memorandum
is not r%easSuring. 1t says nothing directly
either way, but it gives facts from which
an adverse conclusion can with some pro-
liability be drawn.
Tie recent progress Of Mexico has a
special section of the journal allotted to
it. RI is referred 10 also among the Mis-
'cellaueous Trade notices. 1t has been
very marked, and gives good promise OF
cCnlinuance. The country has now Sc.
cnred a firm aud stable Government, and
the result is that its public credit has been
restored and its finances placed on u
~ Nh. : nv -. - - - u 3 HTa De-