Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-11-28
ENGLISH LABOR IN The WAR.

Capital and labor IN this country viii
do wei! TO study carefully present con-
ditions in Great Britain which, # the
war continues sufficiently long to bring
about complete mobilization OF man
power civil and military. are practically
certain to be !naugurated here.
By agreement between the govern
| nent and the representatives of abor
as 10 lgisation the munitions Of war
act" was passed by parliament and
gave the minister of munitions power
to control factories principally en-
gagged in manufacture Of munitions
He had power over labor and power
over the owners OF the plants; as no
non essential industry exists in Eng
land which usese materials essential
for munitions or labor which could be
used IN the government service that
power included pract !cally all manu-
featuring industry. 1t is a criminal
offense to entice or attempt to ent.ce
labor by offer Of higher wages. Any
contracts with labor might be can
celled II It held men from economic
use of their labor and firms found at
tempting to enforce such contracts
were enlarged. Neither capital nor
labor were TO make a profit out Of the
nations needs by this agreement be-
tween the government and the workers.
The government fixed wages and fixed
prices. The cost OF living IS gone over
three times every year and workmen
protected arbitrarily. If the cost of
living has gone up the workman gets
war bonus that protects him.
Strikes and lockouts were made il
legal and arbitration compulsory. The
report Of the committee of the Mer-
chants association issued the other day
states that:
| 1t was agreed that any trade disputes
in war industries should be submitted
| compulsorily to arbitration, which the
government should arrange. A strike
or lockout in peace times was looked
upon as more or less a domestic mat
te The government very rarely in
terfered, and only when it became a
widespread inconvenience. However
the government took the view that its
very different. 1t took the view that
|
supplies resulting from differences be-
tween employers and employees. 1t
| took the view that its duty was to in =
terfere between employers and en-
ployes to prevent interruption Of sup
plies vital to the success of the arm
les. The government viewed this mat
ter with such gravity that power was
granted by this act to imprison for life
any one who melted to strikes or IN
terfered with the operation Of thu
agreement. 1t has never become neces
sary to enforce this penalty. Public
opinion has generally enforced this act
very effectively.
The trade unions agreed to wav,
all their practices and customs which
tended to restrict either employment
or output, such as the employment O
only union labor and the use of onl!
skilled persons on skilled Jobs; ant
they promised to do their utmost t,
see that the agreement was carries
thru. They agreed also that any per
son, man or woman, would be allowed
to do any kind of work In return 70
these important concessions the gov
eminent pledged itself to restore pre-
war conditions in shops after the wal
The trade unions, their leaders, and tn
rank and file have abided very loyal
by that agreement and act.
The Industrial bureau stated that !
would be misleading to say that n
labor troubles had occurred since thi
act was adopted, but that there ha
been only three strikes which might b
regarded as serious. and that none Q
J these had lasted for more than q weei