The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-04-14
LABOR QUESTIONS
What John Burns, the Agitator,
Has to Say On
THE NEW LABOR COMMISSIONS,
The Working Classes Should Have Had Ra.
preventative the WOmen-These MAJ.
tiers Assume International Importance,


LONDON, April 12.-John Burns, thu
great labor leader, yesterday wrote ind
following for the World CORRESPONDENCE
''Fhe new labor commission that all work.
lngmen in England are talking about to-
lay is distinctly of international Imports
ance- The time has gone by when any inn
portant measure affecting labor interests
can be viewed from a narrow and insular
standpoint. If this commission is going TO-
strike at the root of the depression in trade
and at the oppression of the capitalistsa
which affect laboring men all over them
world To-day, it must ascertain to what ex-d
tent labor in England is affected by4
foreigners who come here to work for low
wages, or by emigrants from Europe who,
through our manufacturing towns. am
sorry to say that my opinion of the compo-,
sltlOn OF this commission is not calcuIateR
to inspire the heart of workingmen witEa
nope Beyond question it will result inn.
placing before the public valuable testi-3
mony about the existing relations between;
capital and labor which would otherwfssd
remain practically buried. There arsa
practical men enough on the commissioner
VINO have the cause of labor at heart to as
sure this, but it seems hardly likely THAI
when all is done any official report viii ba3
submitted suggesting any practical meas.l
ures for lettering the condition Of thu
laoorlng masses. In the first place the
commission is singularly unfortunate in thu
selection of its chairman, for Lord Harting{
ton never has shown an intimate acquainU
ance with the social and industrial uues{
tons which the commission will be called
upon to Investigate Lord Derby, besidsS
being too much identified with landed AMI
vested interests, is not qualified to de-
! non 70 nm fhn IL
fecting capital and labor. His income from
inherited lands alone is about million dol
lars yearly, fully one-half of which he
Or avs from Liverpool districts, where the
recent dock strikes affect his PERSONAL
pocket. So far as the great shipping in-4
dustry of Great Britain is concerned, laborJ
gets practically no representation, while
from the masters point of view, Ismay and
HarIand are not the best men who could
have been selected. l don't object to them
simply because they are masters, but since
the government is going into this thing
with view to collecting data to be spread
throughout the civilized world, it might at
least have selected experts. Irish labor is
practically unrepresented on the commits
sion. There is no question but that the
government was exceedingly unWise in
rejecting Davitt. This is not political COM
mission. Davitt was the choice of the Irish
work1ngm for their representative on the
commission without regard to the political
split In the Irish party. II was immaterial
to them whether Davitt was recommended
by Parnen or Mccarthy, naturally though
his name was suggested by Mccarthy be-
cause Mccarthy IS identified with the pres
ent attempt to GUST Parnell. The Irish la.
borers have always fought their agrarian
troubles through political organizations and
1t certainly seems grossly unfair that the
father OF the Land league should be ex-
cluded from representing them on this COM
mission. 1t is only fair to say Austin will
in a measure represent the trades union
movement in Ireland, but he knows very
little ABOUT the difficulties which hamper
uusk1lled labor there. Taken altogether,
his selection as opposed TO Davitt is a mis-.
| fortune for the Irish laborers.
81 am showered with questions asking
me how it is l am not on the commission as
1t was generally expected L would be. I
am Socialist and proud to own it. The
Socialistic teachings of the past few years
have stimulated labor organizations and
have brought powerful unions for
the general benefit of the laboring man
into existence. LII is also unfair that the
played out political economy of the hide
bound type which exists in America as well
as here, should be represented on the com
mission, while the new school of political
economy should be excluded. Possibly
was not asked to Join the commission be-
cause publicly reprOached the Prince Of
Wales in speech made in the London
county council for wasting his time in gam
bling. l was told at the time this affront
to royalty would spoil my chances of nom
nination. If this be true, well and good,
1t only shows how we'll timed was my criti-
cism of the conduct of one Of our greatest
figures in England's army of unemployed.
The results of this commission as regards
the cause Of labor ought to be the inception
of international congresses every year TO
follow out the lines suggested by the Ber-
lin congress. One result in England will
certainly be to expose the inferiOrity of it's
methods in dealing with labor from the
statistical point of view l trust the
American labor bureaus may be initiated,
as we have nothing of the kind here. /
think it is shameful women laborers are moi
directly represented on the commission.
| Women have come to stay in labor organi-
| zations."