Bisbee daily review., 1919-02-28
GOVERNMENT ID COOPERATE IN
 FIXING WAGES
Industrial Conference Decides
 Joint Committee Will Dig
 Into Labor Problems Which Confront Great Britain
lBy Review Leased wirel

tE-- Review Leased Wfrel
 LONDON. FeB- 27--The industrial conference called by the government today adopted a resolution that a goint committee consider the question of hours and wages of working men and women and general conditions of em- plOyment
 An amendment offered by Premier Lloyd George that the committee in- vesusaJe causes of unrest and report to the conference not later than April , also was adopted.
 Premier Lloyd George said he hoped g preliminary peace would be signed within the next few weeks and de claTed the blockade Of Germany could not be raised until Germany had sign ed treaty which would make war lm- possible
 Reduced Cost of Living
 Concerning the industrial situation. there were fanIts on both sides. the premier said The workers should feel that they had an interest in in- duStry and the employers must place more trust in the workers. He hoped that by summer the cost of living in the workingman's household would be reduced four shiIlings a week
 The premier said the workers not only were determined to secure 9 high CT and better standard of life. That was an aspiration with which the whole nation would sympathize His conviction was that the employers were prepared l0 ss farther than most workers imagined
 The conference was attended by the minister Of labor and other heads Of government departments and by repre- SenJaIives of British capital and labor
 Government Warned
 The early hours Of the session were marked by an assertion. boldly made by labor. Of its independence and pow CT in which the government was warn ed that labor would be satisfied with no hallway measures however, with the exception of One' or two radical speakers, who passiOustely urged con- fiscatiOn of wealth and other revOlu- tiOnary measures, the iab0r leaders, especially those representing the most important trades unions, advO- cated relief along legislative lines.
 Chairman BrOwnhe of the executive council of the Amalgamated Society Of Engineers, emphatically warned the government that the country was not going back 10 the social and industrial conditions prevailing before the war" Banging his fist on the table ana ad- dressing himself directly to the pre- misr, Brownie declared:
 The workers of England along with the other workers of the world are longing for higher hfe-a better life On behalf of my own organization sT.a yet ended. I hope to negotiate with you, MT Prime Minister, for furth- CT reduction of hours of labor"
 Sir Robert Horne, minister of labor, announced that after expiration of the period of 1S weeks of donations to un- employed workers now in operation, the government proposed to reduce the amount for the succeeding Is weeks. the men to receive 20 shiIhnss instead Of g and the women 15 in stead of 9.
 Vigorous protests against this scheme were voiced by all labor speakers, including John Robert Clynes, former food minister and now viee-chairman of the parliamentary labor party. who is probably the most moderate of all the labor represents tives. Mir. Clynes said it was bad for the government to announce a reduc- tion in the unemployment benefits when unemployment was increasing. | MT. Clynes appealed to the workers to give the new government time to put its program into effect
 If it is not put into practical effect after reasonable time" he said, we will give the government notice to quit"
 NIT. Clynes urged that the confer ence issue a statement that would re- assure labor. My chief concern" he added. "is whether labor is going 10 ask for too much at one time.
 Labor, sai0 the speaker, should set tie down to work, and increase the country's wealth, from which labor would immediately profit.
 Regarding prOfiteering, NIT. Clynes said the government had tried to pre- vent it. .'But.'' he added, you could no mOre prevent prOhteering undel war conditions than you could prevent , the development of trade unionism- , Delegate Brownie suggested that ! there was a chance for Premier Lloyd ! George to get the peace conference tC regulate labor conditions throughout the world.