TRADE AND WAGES

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 111, 11 May 1921, Page 2

TRADE AND WAGES

THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

REDUCTION OF WAGES

(FROSt OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 9th March,

While the general figures for unemployment throughout the country show a disquieting increase, the figures for London are practically stationary.

According to an official of the National Transport Workers' Federation, a situation has arisen which warrants the calling together of the executives of the triple Industrial Alliance. "The National Federation," he states, " has received information that several of its affiliated organisations have been given notice that the employers intend to reduce wages within thejiext six weeks. fhe only exceptions are the dockers, who are protected by Lord Shaw's award. The seamen and firemen have been invited to discuss a reduction in wages of from £4 10s to £5 10s per month at the next meeting of the National Maritime Board; negotiations with the road transport vehicle workers have broken down over a threatened big reduction in wages; coal-trimmers are advised of a 30 per cent, cut; the miners are faced with possible big reductions; and application will shortly be made to lower the wages of certain railway grades. Some of the members of the Transport Workers' Federation think that the best use to which the Triple Alliance could be put is to assume the offensive, and let the employers know | that we do not intend, to accept without, the most serious consideration any reduction of basic rates. We intend, therefore, to bring i together all the transport workers and devise a common policy. Some of the unions must necessarily adjust wages according to their agreements, but reports from ■various organisations affected make it clear that the workers mean to fight to keep what they have got. March and, April will be the two critical months for British labonr." j

DECONTROL OF RAILWAYS. The impending decontrol if the railways is giving rise to some apprehension, among the railwaymen as to their future ■position. Mr. C. T. Cramp, industrial •secretary of the National Union of Rail■wayrnen, has said that railway directors are, with almost one voice, foreshadowing a decrease in the wages of railwaymen, but he feels sure "that railwaymeri are never going back ( <to pre-war wages and conditions. 'When the great settlement was brought about, a rate was" fixed below which wages could never drop, however low became the cost of living. The railwaymen were prepared to stand by their bargain, and they expected the railway direotors to do the same. At any rate, the raihvaymen would not give away one atom of the fruits of the settlement, and if in August next, when the railways passed out of the hands of the State, any proposal was made to reduce' the basic rate of wages, he would use every ounco of energy and influence he possessed among the railwaymen to stop every wheel in tho country.

THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT Mr. W. A. lAppleton, editor of Democrat, the organ of moderate • Trade Unionism, has issued a preface to Dr. Arthur ShadwelTs book on the Revolutionary Movement in Great Britain. "Revolutionary attempts to'stampede the country into economic change may fail," he says, "but it will be dangerous for capital to put its trust in the dissensions of the other aide. The problems that are breeding want, suffering, and discontent must be dealt with. Population in excess of agricultural resources, overseas markets that are closed or unprofitable, (expenditures that are unremunerative, ignorances that threaten the present and the future, must be dealt with. Those who desire to maintain the existing economic system must demonstrate its superiority and modify its harshness. If, during the period of difficulty and stress, I have struggled to maintain the existing economic system, it has not been because I was satisfied with the manner of its operation, but rather because I feared that my country could not survive a war and an economic revolution." LABOUR AND SEtfN FEIN/ Another aspect of the Labour attitude on the Irish question.is shown in the, current, number of the Democrat. "There are many points in the present deplorable disunity in Ireland which' escaped the Labour Delegation when that body drew up their hasty memorandum on the Irish situation. It was brought home to me this week, when a business friend showed me over his warehouse. The warehouse was stocked with cheap German goods, such as clocks, knives, forks, and light hardware. The prices claimed for the goods were staggering. They were literally in halfpence, where home-made articles of similar character would be marked shillings. This warehouse was indicative of one of the many points that escaped the Labour Delegation. The., whole of those goods were destined for Ireland. Sinn Fein Ireland' would not touch articles of British manufacture. American, German, French, and Dutch goods they would readily absorb—but British, no! If political bias in Ireland be allowed to vitiate a free market, British Labour leaders, no matter the extent of their political bankruptcy, were traitors to the class they represent the moment they lent their weight to Sinn Fein. They were biting the hand that fed them. That cheap Germany cutlery in the London warehouse means unemployment somewhere about Sheffield.

END OF FOOD CONTROL. Mr.C. A. M'Curdy, "the Food Controller, speaking at a public meeting, said that the fact that the Food Controller was going to be out of a job, and that the great organisations which kept the people tolerably well fed during the darkest days of the war was being wound up, was a welcome sign that the ship of State was weathering the storm and sailing again into smooth, waters. People would take a fairer view if they realised how much worse off were other countries, and if they considered the economic condition of Central Europe. This country was doing so well because it had the blessing of a stable Government. In times of difficulty it was better to pull together than against one another. Above all, it was a time for co-operation and mutual help. When the Irish came together, that question would be solved. The population of Ireland was increasing, her bank balances were increasing, her commerce was increasing. She had never been so prosperous, and we should never give up hope. There were many problems which needed the help of all parties. '

EVERYBODY SUFFERS. Sir Oswald Stoll, chairman of the Coliseum Syndicate, told his shareholders yesterday that an investor may get 25 ger cent, dividend on his investment, as he used to do, but he has not so much real money to spend. Both Mr. Austan Chamberlain and Mr. Reginald M'Kcmui explained that £200 of pre-war money equalled £500 of to-day. Twenty-five per cent, pre-war on tlia same capital, therefore, requires 62i per cent, to equal it to-day. By the extent to which divi-

dends fall short of two and a-half times their pre-war level investors are thus being depleted of former resources. Their spending power is curtailed accordingly, and businesses that depend ou that spending power must inevitably shrink. That shrinkage produces short time and unemployment among wnge^eamers, and the businesses that are supported by the wage-earners are also made to fool the pinch. The Excess Profits Duty should never have been imposed exceo't on profit exceeding two and a-half times the pre-war profit. The ill-effects of having based it on pre-war standards will be fcit for many a day. The irony of the, situation is that, although heavy taxation lowers the value of dividend's and reduces the support which people with money can give to businesses, it is supposed nevertheless to be good for the community. The Government is said to collect the money and pass it round. But a lot of the money is not passed round. After collection much of it disappears altogether in wiping out debit balances contracted by the Government. He said the present financial policy was deliberately framed to maintain the low value of money in purchasing power, bo that debt incurred during the war should not be repaid in money of higher value than that in which loans were raised, and practically the whole community was victimised. All the people who lived from hand to mouth, who, in-order to live, must spend with one hand the money they received with the other, and must spend it as fast as they got it, all the wage-earners and small investors—all were penalised intolerably by having their money kept at a low value, with prices artificially raised against them. That was neither equitable nor economically proper. Such a policy would force the fight for financial liberty, which was a greater need for this country to-day than the struggles for religious and political liberty were in days gone by.