The Cotton Factory Times. — 1905-05-19 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

MAT 19, 1905.  having for their object the betterment of the industrial conditions of the workers. We are informed by a correspondent that our remarks on this point have been made good use of by a few zealous trade unionists in the districts named. The notes referred to, after being cut out and pasted on slips of cardboard, have been circulated amongst nonunionists, and in a number of instances have resulted in bringing about an increase in the membership of the unions. We are pleased to hear it. We congratulate these few earnest men upon their enthusiasm, and wish them further success. The matter has now been seriously taken in hand by the Spinners' Amalgamation. A special appeal to non-unionists has been issued, and arrangements are being made for the amalgamation officials to visit th.a Yerksin. districts and address the operatives upon the subject of trade unionism. It is to be hoped that this is the beginning of a much-needed revival.  •kshire-1  We called attention the other day to the fact that the Liverpool Cotton Associatimil had fined two of its members £l,OOO each for a breach of the rules of that body in respect to commission on future transactions. In plain terms this means that the men were charged with having transacted business at a less rate than that agreed upon in the rules of the Cotton Brokers' Association. Payment of the heavy fine mentioned might mean financial ruin to some men, and refusal to pay it would almost certainly amount to the same thing. One of the men so fined committed suicide last week, leaving a wife and six children. At the inquest the widow stated that the fine had preyed on her husband's mind, and that this had prevented him carrying on his business, and that he preferred death to the condition in which he found himself. Suppose the same thing had happened in the ranks of the trades unionists. We should have had every employers' and capitalist paper in the country dwelling on the tyranny, intimidation, and abhorrent character of the workpeople's organisation. They are howling with indignation at the present moment because a trades unionist declines to work with a knobstick, or, rather, in the employers' phraseology, with an operative "guilty of unprofessional conduct," and are claiming that Parliament should afford the most powerful legal protection to the man who sells his colleagues during a wage dispute by working at less than the accepted rates and conditions. Is there any operatives' trade union in existence that can punish recalcitrant members like certain organisations of professional men? As these men declaim with upturned eyes of the " tyranny" of the mild objection of the cotton operative, the collier, and the ironworker to fraternise with people who act the part of traitors to a more sacred cause than that of holstering up monopoly and privilege. Freedom of action and contract, forsooth!  The Royal Statistical Society in London has been giving its-attention this week to the effect, as shown by statistics, of British statutory regulations directed to the improvement of the hygienic conditions of industrial occupations. Mr. Leonard Ward, a factory inspector, urged that steady improvement had taken place in the condition of employment in the cotton manufacturing trade, due to the enforcement of the hygienic clauses of the more recent Factory Acts, especially the Cotton Cloth Factories Act, " 889. To a similar cause he attributed the relative decrease in the sickness experience of textile operatives in Lancashire. He further observed that with respect to the physique of textile operatives there had been a relative retardation of growth in children employed in textile factories, but that one effect of factory legislation had been to prevent deterioration in this class of operative. The remarks of Mr. Ward respecting the Steaming Act go far to justify the action of the weavers during the past few years to have the Act thoroughly enforced. Many employers said they were going to kill the trade by their stringent demands for a purer atmosphere and less steaming. If it is a question of killing the trade or the operatives, we prefer to retain the latter. At any rate, Mr. Ward tells us that the action of the weavers has been conducive to longevity and healthier lives. Grandmotherly legislation we do not want. We must, however, have efficient protection.  Yorkshire weavers are likely to keep in remembrance the good old days of the handcomb, if only for the reason that that industry added to the statute book an Act of Parliament which in more modern days has not only become of no value as a crime preventative, but has instead become a source of intimidation to law-abiding citizens. Under the provision of this Act of almost antediluvian date many gross injustices are perpetrated, not the least being that which assists employers to retain in their employ operatives who, were they not filled with a false sense of fear, would break the bond that binds them, and in so doing seize for themselves the opportunity that so many desire, tl..at of bettering their worldly position. The Act itself confers large powers of law enforcement which ought not to be entrusted to an irresponsible committee. To such of these powers as are within the four corners of the Act, however much the need of the exercise of these has passed away, there can be no demur. The Act, however, gives no such prerogatives as are claimed by its administrators, not the least of which is that of intimidation.  There is now before the officials of a Yorkshire trade organisation the case of a woman who desired to better her conditions by changing employers. It appears that although engaged as a two-loom weaver, for a considerable time past she has been compelled to stand at one loom, thus suffering the loss of one-half her usual wages. When the chance came to run two looms elsewhere she ended her contract and commenced to work elsewhere. The services of