Denver labor bulletin., 1917-05-26
WAR SHOULD LIFT LIFE STANDARDS
AMONG THE WORKERS, SAYS WILSON

Thomas is strongly in favor of a war
to finish. When the Canadian dele
gates, particularly J. C. Waters, pres
ident of the Canadian Trades and La
Dor Congress, stated that Premier
Lloyd George had ignored their re-
peated appeals for a square deal for
labor in the production of British mu-
nitions in Canada, Thomas did not
offer them help in changing the pre-
mier's attitude, but rebuked them for
their failure to control the Canadian
government.
Time and time again." said Waters,
with intense earnestness, "the workers
of Canada have been almost at the
point of bringing about civil war, to
such an extent have their appeals for
some guaranty of conditions for the
future been ignored"
1t may be significant that Waters
was loudly applauded by majority of
the committee when he declared that
until the government should give such
a guaranty the workers of Canada
would feel obliged to stand on guard
over their own rights, refusing to con-
cede anything to their employers.
100000 Workers in Army.
What the British workers, in con-
trast to the Canadians, have won from
Lloyd George, was related by Thomas
in great detail. The biggest item in
the list is a guaranty of their old jobs
back, or equally good ones, after the
war. In order that there may be no
mobs of unemployed ex-soldiers to dis
turb the public peace, at the close of
hostilities, the government is to hold
the men in the army and navy until
their jobs are actually secured and
ready. In view of the fact that 4,000,-
P,,f ch l.
in their hands, the wisdom of this pol
icy is easily grasped. Many of the
members of the committee were of
the opinion that the United States gov
ernment would find the same plan de-
sirable when our own forces are
brought home from Europe.
Thomas explained that a million
more members are reported by the
British trade unions now than before
the war began.
Fifty thousand women are members
of the Railwaymen's Union, which re-
fused to admit them until after the
war started.
Crippled Soldiers Given Jobs.
A million and quarter of women
who had never done manual labor for
wages are now in British industries,
and they draw the same scale of pay
as men formerly were given for the
same work.
Crippled soldiers are given jobs
suitable to their abilities, at wages
equal to those demanded by able-bod-
led men. They have their pensions in
addition TO their wages. Pensions, and
all payments made to the families of
soldiers, are understood on both sides
to be public obligation in return for
services already rendered by the SOL
dier.
Local boards of conciliation and ar
bitration are maintained everywhere,
to settle industrial disputes.
Overwork has had terrible conse--
quences, in weakening the physical
constitutions of the munitions work.
ers. Early in the war many thousands
of men and women worked ITO and
even 120 hours per week, for months
at time. Today the hours are greatly
reduced, and Sunday work is almost
wholly abolished.
Thomas believes that the "melting
pot" of association of all classes of
men in the army during the war will
tend toward better understanding be-
tween employers and workers, and
that the big problem of poverty will
be much nearer solution.
Gompers Calls Down G0rky.
Because Maxim Gorky, the Russian
novelist, has announced in his Petro-
grad newspaper that James Duncan
was not selected for the American
commission to Russia by the American
labor movement he will not be taken
seriously by the Russian workers,
President Gompers of the A. F. of l..
has sent to Petrograd cablegram of
denial of Gorky's claim. Gompers
says that Duncan has been granted
express permission to go on this mis-
sion by the executive council of the A.
F. of L. and by the executive board of