The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-08-08

needing them; provision for welfare
and meals within factories and out
side them, and score of other urgent
problems. He tells workers they must
work twelve hours day, forego Gus
tomary holidays, and to submit to
restrictions on their freedom to change
their jobs. Not a voice is raised in
protest. The Board Of Trade issues
an order cutting down the consumption
Of goods to the value of some $3.50,
0C0,C00 by roughly onethird as com
pared with the six months which end
ed November 80 last. If complaints
are made, they are not vocal. Powers
are conferred on the Government
amounting, in effect, to carte blanche
to nationalize any industry and prop
erty Of and when the national inter
est so requires. In ordinary circum-
stances, the storm raised would have
been tremendous. Hardly a murmur
is heard
There is nothing very novel in war
collectivism Of this kind What is
striking is the rapidity with which,
after period of disastrous indecision,
it is now being carried through. In
addition to the heightened effort to
organize swiftly for the immediate
necessities Of the struggle, the social
brevity, deliberately vague phrase
arc receiving more attention than
in any previous war, and, indeed,
than in some periods Of peace. Old
Age pensions, the value Of which has
been reduced by the rise in prices,
have been substantially increased. The
minimum wage Of agricultural work
ers has been raised, not to any very
glorious figure, but at any rate by
something between one-quarter and
one-third. Workers in the building
trades suffer much from loss of
wages due to Interruptions by bad
weather, and have long demanded a
guaranteed week. AS far as govern
ment work is concerned, it has now
been established. The excess profits
tax has been raised to 100 per cent
on profits arising after the end of
March, 1910; and warning has been
given by the Chancellor Of the Ex-
chequer that sharp eye will be kept
by the authorities on the expenditure
Of firms, to ensure that the tax is
not evaded or reduced by the in
) cluslon in costs Of items not essen
: tial for the purpose of the business
The powers which the government now
Irnccnccnc 70 t.lyn i,l,,e+, 81
Germs offers in itself guarantee that
l the National cause will not be preju-
diced by an undue tenderness to pri-
: vate interests. The Trade Unions are
being treated as responsible partners
and are actively cooperating with the
l government to speed up the production
1 of the vast material that modern wal
[ requires.
. In the last five years, democracy
has been destroyed in at least sever
countries of Western Europe, ex,
elusive, of course, of the two tyrannies
4 themselves. 1t is not conjecture but
a certainty that, if Germany is vic.
S torious, democracy will disappear
t from Europe altogether. To say thai
S the present war, while, like all major
1 convulsions, it has several aspects, is
a war for democracy, is not, therefore
d mere rhetoric but the statement of E
| plain fact. That statement remains
r true, whatever view may be taken Of
: the political characteristics and quail
r lty of Great Britain. She may be al
/ unworthy champion of democracy but
e she remains its champion none the
n less Those who deny that truism are
a merely misinformed. They do not
c know the realities of the European
S world. What, on broad view, the
i change Of Government in Great
S Britain means, is that war Of de.
:, mocracy is now being fought in g
r democratic spirit and by democratic
:, methods. The Labour Movement, II
/ particular, finds itself confronted with
/ situation curiously different from
r that commonly anticipated in the past
t by most of its members. They expect
4 ed that Labour would come to power
). after a severe, but ultimately victor.
e ous, struggle in the teeth of bitter
; opposition. What has actually hap,
1 pened is that it has been summoned
n by the Nation to become a partner ir
D the government, because it was re-
e allied, in a desperate emergency
; that the nation can not be saved un-
t less Labour assumes its full measure
D of responsibility.
Y That fact, and the results which
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