Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-26
BY FRANK III. SIMONDS.

the BRUSH house OIL COM
mons over the trades union
L bill is in many ways the most
significant circumstance in
English domestic history since the
war itself And, of course, to a de-
gree, at least, it is a consequence of
| the war. Just as in China, India and
| Egypt the revolt of native, popula-
| tions against a system of foreign su.
| premacy and exploitation was an in
evitable consequence of the promul-
cation of the doctrine of self-determi-
nation intended to disrupt the CEN
| trail powers, so the burden placed
upon the British people by the costs
of victory in Europe has been equally
| disturbing.
For the battle now being waged in
| Britain there is no American parallel.
| With us capital, after long series of
expensive and disruptible struggles in
| the last years of the nineteenth and
| the first decade of the present GEN.
| fury, gradually undertook to destroy
| the power of labor unions, of organ
lied labor. not by force or by re-
strictive legislation. but by the far
more fatal method of abolishng
causes for conflict between the work
er and the employer and finding in
increased efficiency in production the
ways to meet increased costs.
Labor Movement Declines.
The labor movement in the United
| States mas, accordingly, been in full
| decline for decade. Organized labor
| has not been force politically or 9TH
erWise during or since the war, and
| of course in the British sense it has
never been a political force. Today
! hot fo1 I'D 1,
Dor has in the United States reached
a point never before touched in his
tory. But at the basis of the Ameri-
can conception lies the principle that
high wages make high production and
efficiency makes cheap production.
In Great Britain just the opposite
| conception rules. Before the war
labor was rising to political influence.
1t had just formed it's own party, 1t
was seeking through the ballot box
and the political organization to en-.
| force it's own views of economic laws
and of the rights of the working man.
The war, in fact, caught the labor
movement on a rising tide. And dur
ing the war the government had to
make many far-reaching concessions.
The measure of the actual situation
in Great Britain during the war years
I
labor was disposed even during a ma
tional crisis to cling to the conces-
sions it had already wrung from capt.
| tai and to insist upon further conceS-
| sionS under the threat of paralyzing
| the national machine. Always in the
back of the head of the masses of
workingmen in Britain was the sus-
picion not merely that the war was
being exploited to their detriment, but
even that it had been precipitated by
their domestic class opponents.
Two Paths Appear.
After the war two clear pathways
| lay open to the rulers of Britain.
There was a patent opportunity to
make use of the great national spirit
which war had aroused and victory
| stimulated to bring about some CO.
| operation of classes. The government
| itself could have become in a measure
the agency for reconciling capital and
| labor by using its power and influence
| to compel cooperation and to pre-
vent a resumption of class warfare.
The opportunity was. however, lost.
| Instead, the postwar years were
marked by the gradual development
of a struggle between the capitalist
and the workingman to determine
| which class should bear the burden
of the war costs. The annual charge
of the debt was staggering, the rate
of taxation almost insupportable. If
| British industry was to retain its lost
| place in the world the cost of produc-
| ton must be kept down. But how?
Obviously it was possible to turn to
| the American example and seek
| greater efficiency, to adopt new
machinery and new methods. But not
only capital, but labor, was unwilling
to do this. Labor saw in modern
machinery the substitution of machin-
cry for manpower and further unem-
ployment. Capital chung to the tradi-
tional view that the cost of production
was matter of wages and held that
the real solution was to reduce wages.
Strikes Disclose Condition.
The consequence of this double de-
cision have been disclosed in the long
series of strikes in the postwar years,
which have done almost incalculable
injury to British industry. These cul-
minated in the coal strike of last year,
which. for a moment, had the backing
OF general strike. For 10 days the
whole life of the British Isles was
paralyZed. After that for many
months the coal strike continued to
bring losses which almost equaled
those OF the war itself.
In the end labor was beaten. it was
starved out and compelled to sur
render Internationally. Once more
the government had the chance to
seize the moment of victory to i'm
pose terms upon victor and van
pushed alike. But again it failed
and it was left to the Tory die
hards," who dominate the present
cabinet, to undertake a series of re-
prisals designed alike to punish the
defeated strikers and to bind British
labor for a period of years at least.
The present trades union bill Is
the expression of this purpose.
Nominally it aims at making impos-
sible any new general strike. Actu-
ally. however, it is a deliberate at
tempt to break down the labor
party. 1t is an open and undis-
guised effort to smash the power of
organized labor in Great Britain. If
it should succeed. not merely in
Parliament. but if it be possible to