The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-10-10
BRITISH LABOR A |; !. :. H..
HAS HARD RUBS
COMPARISON between. BRITISH
AND AMERICAN UNIONlsTS,
Fear Of a Political Revolution the
Thread by Which Trade Unions May
Save Their Funds Max Hayes
Letter.

Max Hayes, one of the fraternal
delegates to the British Trades Con-
gress from the A. F. Of L., in a letter
to the Cleveland Citizen has the follow
ing to say of the British unionists and
their methods:
This mighty city of five and half
million souls is as quiet as country
village this afternoon. TITS Saturday
half holiday ana by z O'Clock the
thousands of shops and factories and
stores Of the metropolis were closed
tight, and the people clambered upon
buses or took the underground or sur
face railways and went to the great
park or amusement resorts in the sub
urbs or far into the country.
The British do not experience the ex-
tremes of weather conditions that we
do in America-they do not have the
fierce heat or the severe winters that
the northern part of the United States
endures. The late summer and early
autumn days are very beautiful. and
hence it is that the workers take to the
woods on Saturday afternoons, and the
most greedy capitalist who attempt to
carry on business would find it I'M
profitable.
Many of the trades have established
the eight and nine-hour workday. and
so. with the Saturday half-holiday
added, it will be seen that the English
men do not work such very long hours:
Nor do they rush at break-neck speed.
They take their time while at toll and
- h. <1,s,,
OF course, the bosses are always re-
minding their workers that the labor
ing. people of America are so much
more industrious and frugal, and that
unless they (the Britishers) work long
er and harder and faster the Yankees
will gobble the worlds markets, but
the stubborn fellows don't seem to
worry much and seem to take it pretty
easy, for which they are denounced ny
their masters as being unpatriotic.
Fully one-third of the workers in the
trades are organized. III some indus
tries, notably among the miners, boiler
makers, printers and branches of the
cotton and the shoe trades, there ara
not enough non-unionists to run u
peanut stand. The gas workers, dock
ers and similar 1aborers are also we'll
organized, while the building trades,
the hotel and restaurant employees,
clerks and BARRIERS are not in very
good condition compared, to the strong
unions.
There are no union labels here, nor
is boycotting carried on as systematic
cally or generally as in the United
States. But the British worker have
a great advantage over us in the mat
ter of financial strengt III, Mi llions@of=
pounds are paid out: annual y. in Sbene =
fits, and as a, rule their treasures are
in good condition despite the fact that
the Britisher are supposed to receive
lower wages than are paid in the
States. While it is true that wages
are not as high as in America, it is
also a fact that living expenses are
lower. This simply goes to prove that
the Socialist philosophy is correct.
namely that the capitalists Of any
| country will pay only enough to their
| workers to keep body and soul together
and enable them to raise another gen.
Grafton Of toilers. They will pay only
the amounts that are wrung from
them by the strike. the boycott and the
BALLOT, the instruments that reflect the
wants and desires and higher educa-
ton Of labor.
While the British unionists in years
past have been quite successful in or
ganizing and with strikes, they are
now confronted by a condition that will
test all of their resources and powers
The Taff-Vale decision. in which the
railway workers were assessed $114 900
damages for striking and picketing,
was the beginning of a complete revo-
luton in industrial affairs. The EN-
ployers were for long chatting under the
restraing influences of the employer
which were quick to resist encroach-
ments, and as a rule they were defeat
ed in strikes and arbitration plans
When their powers to dominate were
almost paralyzed it is surmized that
the aristocracy whispered to the CAPT.
talists to go into the courts and give
the nobility the chance to assert their
powers. And so the Taff-Vale decision
same like stroke of lightning from a
clear sky. The unions, although un-
incorporated, and merely registered
were pronounced responsible for any
and all acts of their officers and men,
into the seventh heaven of bliss, and
they were not slow to take advantage.
of the weapon placed in their hands
by the "landlords.''
At present there are two more dam
age cases in court. Formerly it was
the custom for the mine barons of
Wales to pile up. a. large surplus of
coal, and then the miners were laid off
and demands were made that they &C.
cept reductions of wages. The scheme
worked on several occasions and the
men were6always compelled to make a
hard fight to recover lost ground.
Therefore, they decided to enforce
'stop days" by voluntarily laying off
| a day week througout the year when
overproduction was threatened instead
of being compelled to cease work for
| weeks at a stretch when the operators
thought it opportune to cut wages.
The masters bitterly opposed the "stop>
day" scheme and claimed it worked
great har1Ships and loss to thern p,,+