Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-11-29
Sentiment Against Sunday Labor
in England Greater Than in q. S.
Leaders of Workngmen in Great Britain Devou Religious
Men-Head of Steel Works Teaches Sunday School and
Aids Salvation Army.

moderate examination with re-
gard to one industry in which our
own country is so deeply interested
the steel industry, which in England
Is IN far better condition, than with
us-reyeals the facts that in Eng
land there is no Sunday labor, no
1wenty-four-hour day labor; and
whlle in some parts of the empire
2 the workers have the twelve-hour
DAY, there are other sections where
the work is carried on in three shifts,
with eight hours each. The moral
ana religious sentiment against Sum
DAY labor is far stronger than in
America.
A recent visit to the trade union
congress at Newcastle-on Tyne
), proved exceedingly interesting, fol-
lowing, as it did; so significant a
series of important industrial dis
turbances 1t was, however, Sc
rious, sober gathering, well conduct
ed, containing some speakers of won
uerful eloquence and power although
In its machinery not at all compar-
able to our American Federation of
Labor, While here, James Duncan,
vice president of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, gave the rather
discouraging information that at
Budapest, when his name was pre-
Rtive at the international secretaria
being held there, considerable violent
opposition appeared, and, among
other things, he was charged with
"consorting with church leaders in
America" 1t was by no means COM
I PORTING to find that group of labor
men should consider this a labor sin,
although it must be remembered that
II did not have the same meaning
nm tho fiT1nnf on IL xunl11d have
with us 1t is, perhaps, unfortunate
that in the popular mind the church
LIS simply the church, and we all suf-
fer from any misdemeanor that may
be committed by the Greek Church in
Russia or the Roman Catholic Church
In Spain
In my observation of the British
labor movement and its personalities,
Z however, ! was particularly struck
with one thing with which 1 had
been familiar, but not to the extent
to which 1t prevails. The labor lead
ers of the present moment in Eng
land are loyal and devout religious
men.
HAmong those whom I interviewed
was John Hodge, a member of the
Parliamentary Labor party and the
leader of the Iron and Steel Work.
ers' Union. After discussing ques-
tons with relation to the steel indus
try. we branched off into the discus
sion of religious activities, and l
found that he spends a large portion
of his time doing mission work. max
ing temperance addresses. is mem
Der of the Salvation Army and
teaches a Sunday school class in a
Wesleyan chapel.
Assistant Secretary J. II. Thomas,
another of the labor leaders in the
House of Commons, of the Amalga-
mated Society of Railroad Servants,
one of the leaders in the railway
strike, is often heard in Baptist pull
pits as one of the lay preachers who
are so much more common in Eng
land than with us, is a well-known
leader in the activities of the mems
brotherhoods, and by the address
which he recently gave at the church
and labor congress in Browning Hall
indicated a painstaking familiarity
with the holy Bible. He. too, is a
T temperance reformer. F q
While John Burns may not be
counted as a religious leader, and is
inclined to get unreasonable and even
nngry when foreign missions are