New Britain herald., 1916-01-07
THREE LAbORITES
 RESIGN MINISTRY
Quit as Result Of Hostility to
 British Compulsion Bill

London yesterday, decided against the | governments compulsion bill by the l overwhelming majority of 1,99S,00O vtes to 783,oO0.
 Hostility to the governments meas , ure was uncompromising and resulted l in the resignation from the coalition ] ministry of all three labor members 1 Arthur Henderson. William Brace and George H. Roberts, holding re- 1 spectively the offices of president of 1 the board of education, parliamentary under secretary for home affairs and l lord commissioner of the treasury. l Their resignations were announced 1 during the evening.
 More Than 1000 Delegates. The labor congress was in many ways the most important body of the kind ever assembled. More than one thousand delegates were present, rep resenting four hundred unions and three million workers.
 Tn addition to the formal vote against the governments compulsion bill, the congress rejected by four to one a motion pledging support by the people of the compulsion act for single men and passed, by two to one, an other motion directing the labor party to oppose the bill in all it's stages in the house Of commons.
 ''The Red Flag Sung.
 The congress closed with an en- thusiastic scene, the feature of which was the singing of the socialist an- them t"The Red Flag" by some of the delegates.
 The delegates met in the so-called central hall, a large new building erected by the Wesleyan Methodist churches opposite Westminster Ab- bey, a stones throw from the par liament buildings, as the denomina- tion's national headquarters. The proceedings of the situation, followed by the introduction of the official reso- lution which was moderate in tone the substance of it being that the labor members of the. house of com mons should be left free to vote as they saw fit on the question of com pulsion.
 Some sections of the audience were inclined to be restive during these formalities, and when later, there came a, succession of impassioned Orations against compulsion the op- position which at first had been aud-
  murings, gradually hardened and there were loud demonstrations from every part of the hall.
 -CompuIsion Speech.
 One of the early speakers, James i Henry Thomas, assistant general sec retary of the Amalgamated Society l of Railway Servants, kindled his | hearers to fierce enthusiasm His l was an out-and-out anti-compu1sion | speech, appealing to the trade unions mot to sell their heritage of freedom" A speech by Arthur Henderson, president of the board of education, came as a sedative to the passionate feelings aroused by the earlier speak CTS. He spoke calmly and logically, defending not merely the resolution before the meeting, but also the com pulsion bill itself. But his effort was to turn the tide of oppo- sition and it was a foregone conclusion when the vote finally was reached that the resolution would fall.
 4O9 Societies Voted.
 With the exception of the Miners Federation, which refused to partici- pate, owing to internal difference with the joint board, virtually every inn
  was represented in the congress. The number of societies voting is given from one source as 4O9, made up as follows: Trade unions, 331; trade councils and local labor parties, S3; independent labor party organiza- tions 15.
 Col. John Ward, M. F., who calls himself an Independent laborite" and is one of the picturesque figures of the house of commons, declared in the house tonight that the decision of the labor congress could not be regarded as actually representing the will of the labor men of the country.
 Some in the Trenches.
 For said he, 'you must consider the fact that certainly from one-haIf to one-third of the members of trade organiza tions, which met in congress. are either in the trenches or preparing to take their places there. I, for one. have done my best in the post to op- pose conscription, but I never con- templated the circumstances which have now arisen, and, I, in com mon with many other thinking labor men, will support this compulsion bill.
 The nation is looking to the house of commons for it's lead-not only the nation, but the whole empire Almost the whole world is waiting for our decision at the crisis of the worlds history
 Designations Are Regretted.
 The resignation of Arthur Hender- son and his two minor labor collea- gues from the coalition ministry was received with regret in the Hobbies. The members concerned will remain in the labor party and retain their seats in parliament.
 When questioned regarding a sug- gestion concerning ltis resignation from parliament made in his speech before the labor congress, MT. Tender son said that he there stated that he