TRADE REVIVAL

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 41, 17 August 1921, Page 9

TRADE REVIVAL

SIGNS OF BETTER TIMES

NEW SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM

HARD WORK AND GOOD-WILL.

(FROM ODR OWN CORRISPONDENT.)

LONDON, 6th July.

With the settlement of t&o, disastrous coal deadlock and the engineering wages dispute there has arisen a distinctly optimistic spirit with regard to the future of trade. When the mines closed there were signs of a recovery from the gkxany conditions that prevailed in the winter. Th« new improvement in industry has been held up for three months, but with plenty of coal and cheaper money for industrial concerns it is predicted that an era of new prosper ity is coining

In all the great industries there is a more cheerful spirit. ' The paying of wages to a million /'mine- workers will at once stimulate the demand for all kinds of commodities. The output of coal will' bring employment to an immense army of workers who have been altogether or else working on shxn-t time. They will also have more money to spend on food, clothes, and other necessaries. Thousands of shopkeepers all over the country who have been slow ingpaying accounts will soon be in a better position, and, this will mean more money for wholesalers and manufacturers. High hopes of a great trade revival in Lancashire have followed the end of the ■protracted coal stoppage. Many branches of. industry which were practically stagnant have leaped forward again in the direction of prosperity. LABOUR'S OPINION. According to the Labour correspondent of the Daily Express, it is the opinion of the men at the head of the great trade unions thai the months of strike and uncertainty through which we have passed will be followed by a period of hardworking reconstruction, uninterrupted by any really '/serious disputes. TJie trade unions have been exhausted and disorganised as much as industry itself. One Labour leader frankly admits that nothing had been won,'and much had boen lost by the disturbances which have followed hard on each other's heels all this year.- "It is no good going on like this," he said. "We must call a halt. and get down to business. ■, All of; us know that wages were bound to;fall if competitive industry was to continue to exist, and it was too much to expect that they could fall without a fight. Well, we have had the fight, and whatever we may think of the results, we at all events know, and our men know, that before things can be better everyone has to take off his coat and get to work. There is going to be a long spell of comparative peace. The employers have had enough strife; the public have had enough; we have had enough. Together" we can poll our industries round 3 and in the process it should not be beyond our powers to layj the foundation of an entirely new set of indnstrial relation- ■ ships." ' '•■ ; ' i '. ' , ( "PREVENTION OF DISPUTES. This is one of the important developments that may be expected shortly— plans for the prevention of disputes rather than for dealing with them when they arise have recently been occupying the attention of a few far-seeing Labour men and employers, as well as of some members of the Government, and new proposals which wriuld mean' a great extension of. the machinery of ,conciliation and negotiation are likely to be produced shortly. ' The engineering dispute supplies an illustration ; of what can be done. It began with a wage cut ultimatum,' and a.threat of,a national stoppage, and ended with a compromise agreement that ■was accepted by the overwhelming majority of delegates of the unions, affected. There is to be a wage cut of 3s per week on time rates and 7£ p.c.on piece rates, to take effect from sth July, with another cut of the same dimensions to follow a month later. The iron and steel trades, with lowered costs and consequently increased competitive power, are beginning to prepare for what it is hoped will develop into a boom. Altogether there is an air of optimism in commercial circles that was entirely absent a week or two ago; ' ■ ,- ■ SIR ROBERT HORNE'S VIEWS. . ' Speaking at a dinner given by the Government to the delegates of the International Chamber of Commerce, Sir Robert Home (Chancellor of the Exchequer) . said that hardly anyone' could have predicted that with a million men concerned in a stoppage of work and 1 many others thrown out of employment 'as a consequence, there should have happened nothing which could be described as a troublesome incident. That was a great tribute to the people. It was too early to predict, but he trusted that the resumption of coal mining Would mean that we were about to make a new slart in industry. Already there was 1 at least a flickering of new orders, and, once started, he believed there ■would be a great revival of trade in the coming autumn. It might be that we had to go through that trouble in order to get down to the realities of the situation. We conkl not go through a war such as the late one and expect to be in as good a position as formerly. Everyone must work harder to recover the position that had been lost. Increased energy and effort were the only things that would bring back the prosperity we used to know. The ordinary theory of commerce as between -nations had been that they were competitors and not associates, *nd that the more oriei nation gained the more the other nations lost. That was a hopeless point of view. They had, to see that the prosperity, of any one of them depended on the prosperity of all. ■-■.■. PROMPT AND REASONABLE ; SETTLEMENT. \ In a'column headed "Good Will and Hard Work," The Times is giving the views of authorities with regard to the , future trade of the 'country. Sir P. Rylands (Federation of British Industries) writes: "The nation may well breathe a sigh of relief. Perhaps we are fatalists and face the inevitable with unflinching courage. None the less we all must have been deeply sensible of the great peril through which we have passed and the lamentable effect of the coal dispute upon our trade. The outlook is far from bright. The machinery 'of exchange has broken clown; trade throughout the world is stagnant and many of our industries are suffering severely from Continental competition, arid are on all hands distracted with labour troubles. Is it not' possible to learn some lesson from the coal dispute? This has lasted some three months, and presumably the final issue might have been adopted at the beginning. Never were these differences, more difficult of settlement, but never was their settlement of greater urgency. Both employers and employed have passed through a Jong period of prosperity, and it may well be that' both must face a period of adversity. Production and restoration of industry is the nation's most serious concern, and the

coal dispute will not have been wholly loss if employers and employed in other industries are taught to seek a prompt and reasonable settlement of their differences." THE COTTON TRADE. Mr. H. C. Clanahau, chairman of the Manchester Association of Importers and 'Exporters, says .the cotton trade of Manchester has a, gtrod chance of restarting' well, provided the coal trouble is really over. Already some of the mills in Bolton district are running 60 per cev(t. of their machinery, but with a sufficient supply of coal assured, they will restart all their machinery. i A MIGHTY " IF." Sir C. Maeara, founder of the Industrial Council, holds that, given proper management and harmonious relationsliip between Capital and Labour, there is the greatest future for the British Empire. But it is a mighty "if." If, too, we have practical men managing the affairs of the country instead of theorists, then, with the* world scarcity, of goods caused by the war, there ought to be a very prosperous time. "To give the masses of the people a higher standard than they have had in the past we must have pront-shaning." In the woollen textile trade, saye the •president of the Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce, adjustments on wages have been effected amicably. "While one does not like to be too optimistic,' there : are signs which point to a revival in' trade —though there may ,be no boom. I think the home trade will look up. In the export trade there are distinct signs of improvement in certain markets. Canadians a.re looking at stuff with some interest which last year they would not entertain at' all. Japan Is doing very much better.- There is also movement in the Balkans." , '