CLASS WAR

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 120, 25 May 1925, Page 4

CLASS WAR

MR. J. H. THOMAS'S PROTEST

DIRECTOR AND ENGINE

CLEANER.

(FROM OUi: OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 7th April. The Prime Minister and the Right Hon. J. H. Thomas—the one formerly a director and (lie other an enginecleaner on the railway—were the principal speakers at a complimentary luncheon at which the chairman (Viscount Churchill) and the directors of the Great Western Railway entertained thenold colleagues. • Mr. Baldwin sat on the chairman's right and Mr. Thomas on Ins left.

Mr. Baldwin said he must have been getting into years of maturity before ho ever travelled on, or realised'that there was, any other railway, system in Great Britain but the Great Western. "My friend, Jim Thomas, was a fireman oil our railway, and has qualified himself before the eyes of the world to occupy the position of a Secretary of State, and, not only that, but to'fill it in a manner that filled us all at home with pride and satisfaction, and made everybody in the Dominions feel that they had in him a. man who understood them, and. was prepared to do all in his power to bring together the different parts of the Empire and develop that great heritage for the benefit of the ordinary peo- , pie throughout the two hemispheres." I (Cheers.) Mr. Thomas, proposing the healths of the chairman and directors of the Great Western Railway, said: "There is a lot of talk to-day about class bitterness, class hatred, and class superiority. I not only dissociate myself from that cry, but I join issue with it. This gathering to-day is in itself a sufficient answer. Your honoured guest started on the Great Western as a director, bearing a revered name, and determined that the greatest contribution he could make was to follow in the footsteps I of a father whose character was esteemed and whose work was appreciated by all. I started on the Great Western Railway as a cleaner at 7s a week. It is true that I once led a strike on the" Great Western, not for more wagese, but because they were allowing us three ounces of tallow to clean our engines, and I thought four ounces was tho minimum quantity. (Laughter.) With English good sense, I was not dismissed, bub I believe we compromised, and tlneo and a half ounces of tallow was not only won, bu£, I believe, is in existence to-day." (Laughter.) , THERE IS NO CLASS. Illustrating the moral of'this story, Mr. Thomas said: "A fortnight ago'l addressed a meeting in Glasgow. The gentleman entrusted with the moving of a resolution thought he would encourage me by saying • 'I want to* make it perfectly clear that all those .who' associate with Mr. Baldwin are traitors to their class.' 'Gentlemen,' I said, when I got up immediately afterwards,''l introduce myself as a traitor to mv class.' My moral is this: Whatever may be the political differences in this country, however much your prime Minister and inysclf may find ourselves arguing, quarrelling if you like, across the floor of the House of Commons, I feel, like him, that when this country is passing through not only a difficult but a dangerous stage, when folks talk "to meabout the cost of the dole and ;t financial burden to the country that is iv itself staggering, that is secondary to the moral deterioration of our people. You cannot have men of 18, 19, and 20 years <if age, whoso brains arc very much like a sponge ready to sap up evil as well as good, walking the streets day after day without a moral deterioration. Those of us who value the future of our race gravely regard the prospects of their being the fathers of the next generation. " There will be sriticism of mv presence here to-day," said Mr. Tliomas. Mnnjr ot my friends will interpret it as an indication that I have deserted tho class to winch I belong. There is no class to which I belong. I refuse to believe that brains or virtue ale the monopoly of any section."