The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-02

is the attitude, seemingly of both em
 ployer and employee. In the former |
 shows itself in fear of mercantile
 risks and in the future to adopt up-to
 date methods or to enlarge his pant
 when orders multiply, In the latter, il
 an obvious fear of making work scarce
 by doing it too quickly.
 That the English workman cannot
 successfully compete in skill and quick
 ness with the American workman
 would be more to his discredlt than It
 is were tbare not SO many proofs that
 the man who employs him standa in th2
 same relation of inferiority to the
 American cap talist Like master, like
 man, and as the Prince of Wales said
 at the Lord Mayors banquet. what eV-
 erybody in this sowgoing old country
 needs to do is to wake up Too gen.
 eral here has been what the papers call
 the policy of drift" If this is not eX- changed soon for new policy of thrift, enterprise taking the place of com pacency England will soon be out of
 the running both as military power
 and as a competitor with other nations
 for the worlds trade. This is what
 many Englishmen themselves are say
 ing, and to every thoughtful visitor it
 is conclusion to which he is driven by
 everything he sees and hears
 l The Trade Unionsm of England is 1 having hard times just now. It may
 net be guilty of all that is charged upon | it. but it has repeatedly gone to Illegal
 lengths in furthering strikes, and it is | deeply and foolishly culpable in the | ma Q. of ot1npcipo n1aphirnrN | There Is at this moment a silly war | against improved machinery in the boot making centre of Northampton, This, too despite the fact that the English boot and shoe trade has already
 been seriously disturbed by competi- tion from our own side of the herring pond. II all, of course, means so much more fish for the American net. but, none the less, how lamentable it is to see English workmen warning against their own interests and handing over to foreigners the trade which they need to keep their own little ones from starv- ing.
 Some of the excesses of British Trade Unionism are at this time SO to speak, coming home to roost. Everybody will recall how, last summer, in the court of final appeal, after the matter had been carried up until it could go no higher the Taff Vale Railway company got an iron clad decision against cer- tain forms of picketng and intimida- ton, and coupled with that, judicial ruling which makes the funds of Trade Union Societies liable, like those of any other corporate body, for damages done during strikes. The Taff Vale Railway company is now taking advantage of this ruling. It is suing for a large sum the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, one of the very strongest of the Trade Unions, whose cash in hand at this date exceeds a quarter of mil lion pounds. Other large suits are also being prepared. The situation is truly alarming from the British workmans point of view. To strike at the reserve funds of Trade Unionism is to touch 1t at vital spot No such blow has ever been dealt before, and never previously were labor leaders so dubious of the fu- ture.
 Of this legal assault by railway on the funds which English | workmen have piled up out of their | hard savings, a prominent trade union leader said yesterday: This is the first i shot in a gigantic battle. we shall fight | it to tinsh." Meanwhile, as the latest | statistics show, the troubles that are | organized labor are neither lessening the number of it's adherents nor tending to a diminution of its re- In the last year there was an increase of 104 ,247 members, making a total of nearly two millions. These are embraced in 1,272 separate organza- tions, and about 5000 of the two mil lion are women.
 A gratifying increase is also reported In the funds of these societies, The fig lres of the smaller unions are not avail able, but taking the 100 largest which have "a combined membership of about ,159000, the income for last year ex- ,eeded that of the year before by 800, 900 dollars and totalled nearly two million dollars. In these 100 unions the ac- ,umulated funds amount at this time to not much less than nineteen million dollars. So that trade unionism is not the sinews of war, and if it be rue, as some think that the prasent onslaught is the beginning of a deter mined effort by the Government to rush it out of existence, one may an | icipate that the struggle to ensue will indeed be. not only gigantic battle, ,ut veritable battle of giants.
 It must not be thought, however, that he immense funds of English trade are held and used only for the protection of Workmen against their employers. Tar from this, it is usually ,ut fraction of the outlay that goes 0 that purpose; the bulk of its dis being in benefits of one kind IT another to it's own members. Taking gain the 100 largest unions, it is ound that during last year, out of ev- ny pound received, 13 shillings were pent in helping the unfortunate, 5 shil- ngs in working expense, and in what s called dispute pay"-whlch means ayment to those on strike--only two hillings out of every pound In all. uring last year, these one hundred nions paid to the sick, the unemploy- d, the super-annuated and other un- not far from five million dol ITS, and. apart altogether from their fleet on international trade, who will are to say that organizations which n so vast scale are helping the un- do not abundantly justify 1eir right to live and thrive by the cod they do?
 This allusion to the unfortunate