Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-03-31

the department of labor by the
employers industrial commission
which has recently been making
European Investigations. the i'm
portance of the recent London
strikes lies in the fact that labor
wishes to change the entire pol
icy of the government, shaping it
along lines favorable to 1aboring
interests.
The report shows that shorter
hours and further concessions are
being used by the strikers largely
as a lever to force upon the gov
eminent a new England.
A cable preliminary to this re-
port was received by theS depart
ment of labor, which reads as fol-
lows:
''The Importance of the London
strikes evidently lies in their
meaning as interpreted not only
by London citizens but by the en-
tire British people, for the strikes
are understood to mean only in
part a specific demand for shorter
hours and other concessions, and
more largely as threat as to the
course labor would pursue If the
entire policy Sf the government
were not shaped along entirely
new lines favorable to the labor
ing interests
"On the first day of the strike,
members of parliament were being
sworn in-for the opening session to
take place a week later. This was
to be the first parliament to as
semble after the armiStice, the
first after the November election in
which large promises had been
made to labor for a new England.
Suspicion was current in some
quarters among laboring classes
that the promises would not be
carried out either in whole or in
part and that the reactionary in
terests would attempt to control
all legislation. There had been no
expressions from the government
as to its course and there was no
tangible evidence SO far as We
could discover either for or against
such suspicious, but it seemed that
the more radical and impatient
elements of labor were bent on
forcing the issue in advance. The
strikes as it appeared from con-
versation and especially from press
comments ana rejecting from pub
lie opinion, are highly unpopular,
and the working classes themselves
being disconnected by the strike in
ln
satisfaction upon the prospects of
a darkened metropolis Thursday
night, appeared out of sympathy
with the strikers with the excep-
ton of the officials of the union
of locomotive engineers and fire.
men, which is smaller organlZa-
ton within the field of the nation
al union of railway men. The lead
ers of union labor condemned the
movement in unmeasured terms as
a rebellion against union organ
ization. 1t appeared the strikes
had been ordered by local groups
and in some instances contrary to
definite agreements; the tube
strike was similar to the jurisdic-
tional dispute in the United States
between different trade unions.
The daily newspapers, from the
most conservative>t the most radi-
cal, condemn the strikes, only one
weekly paper, an ultra radical
publication, coming out with an
issue unfolding the strikers and
calling for the immediate intro
duction of a new era.
1.-THE demands were largely for
shorter hours, specifically in the
case of the tube employees, to whom
the 47-hour week had been coneed-
ed, allowances for lunch to be in-
cluded in the days working time.
but statements were freely made by
the ultra radical elements that
these demands were only intro
ductory, that demands fors still
shorter hours would follow until
finally a working day of only five
hours, would be reached.
.'Some said that this was the be-
ginning Of the movement for labor