New-York tribune., 1910-09-11
WAR IN TRADE: UNIONS.
English Workingmen Refuse to
Obey Commands of Leaders.
A MILLION MEN INVOLVED
Unrest Caused by Socialists
More Power Needed for the
Board of Trade.
TBy Cable to The Tribune.


London, Sept. 10-The labor crisis I'M
pending in the shipyards. railways,
mines and cotton factories affects the
relations OF the workmen and the trade
union officials rather than the relations
Of the employers and employed. 1t is
civil war within the unions and not an
aggressive campaign against capital
The locked-out boilermakers, by vote
Of to /. have thrown over their lead
ers and have declined to empower them
to make peace with the Employers Fed
Grafton by offering guarantees that
breaches of the agreement shall not be
repeated.
The employers, not having any respon-
sible trade union leaders to treat with,
will be forced to lock out 1900 men in
addition to the $4,000 already suspend
ed. About twenty other unions are
involved in the federated shipbuilding
industry. and if there are fresh lock-
outs or strikes vast congeries Of trades
Will be paralyzed. froil4 the inability OF
the labor leaders to enforce discipline
and carry out their engagements with
, the employers.
There are signs Of a similar revolt
against the conciliation scheme adopted
by the railway corporations and the
Amalgamated Society of Railway Ser
wants. Something like a deadlock has
arisen on the Great Northern Railway,
and there are other indications that the
railway servants dislike an agreement
which binds them to keep the peace for
a term Of years. according to David
Lloyd d-George's arrangement.
The Welsh miners are also agitating
for a labor revolt in defiance of the
agreement made with the federation Of
employers, and the Lancashire cotton
mill owners, emboldened by the decisive
action of the employers IN the shipbuild
ing trade, are also threatening to order
a general lockout unless a small body
Of Oldham strikers accept arbitration.
These various revolts. if the worst
comes to the worst, will involve about a
million Workmen and cause a general
prostration of industrial activities. The
most obvious moral to be drawn from
these labor conflicts is that the trade
union officials have got out of touch
with organized labor. They are over
whelmed with routine work and are not
allowed to employ an adequate staff Of
secretaries. and their duties have multi
piled until they are unable to keep them
selves informed respecting the real feel
ing OF the unions on important ques
tions.
Men like Ramsay Macdonald, James
Keir Hardie and Philip Snowden, who
manage the political business of Par
lament and make socialist speeches,
while the old-fashioned trade unionists
struggle TO keep UP their regular flINc-
tons and make peace with the employ
ers on honorable terms. They are now
warned by the hostile vote Of the boiler
makers, by the emphatic repudiation of
their agreement by the Welsh miners
and by the open sympathy Of the Great
Northern Railway men and the working
men who are rebels against the con-
ciliation policy that widespread rest
lessness exists among laborers In CON
sequence Of socialist politics and that
the trade union officials are IN danger OF
losing their grip on organized labor
An equally plain inference from the
highly contagious condition Of discon-
tent which prevails among workmen is
the helpIessness OF the Board of Trade
in suppressing these revolts against
treaties and agreements. It's power ana
control depend on the supervision of
collective bargaining. When agreements
fail through the inability of trade union
leaders to maintain discipline and pre-
vent breaches of contract, the resources
Of the organization are exhausted and
the official peacemakers Of the Board of
Trade are without occupation and infiu-
ence. More power is needed at the top
for compelling the trade unions to en-
force the will OF the majority, OF their
members, but this is now lacking in all
schemes of conciliation.
The socialists are proclaiming the fail
ure Of trade unionism on the old lines
establishing friendly relations between
the masters and the men and are drag
ging the workingman headlong into poll
tics. Peacemalling is condemned,
breaches OF contract are justified, dis
content is stimulated and wage earners
are warned that they must work out
their salvation by political action.
HELIGOLAND TO BE CLOSED