MASTER AND MAN.

Evening Star, Issue 13003, 24 December 1906, Page 1

MASTER AND MAN.

AiTJiorGK the Education Bill dominai.-s the political situation in England, ami though the Jx>rds and Commons came to loggerheads over its main clauses, the most important measures of tho 1906 parliamentary sessions appeaT to have progressed fairly well. The House of Lords possibly agreeably surprised its more militant opponents in tho House of Commons by elect in" tho Education Bill in prefcrenco 1o any oticr measure as a battleground. Wc believe that, apart from tho host of clerical disputants, there is a general feeling of relief that this should be so. The now House of Commons has done remarkably veil in tho way of social legislative achievement. It has passed on to (lie. Statute Book a Workers' Compensation Bill, a Merchant Shipping Bill, a Land Tenure Bill, and a Trades Disputes Bill. It has also foreslEidowed its intentions as to future legislation by affirming tlw principle of old age pensions, payment of members, and a graduated income tux. It has further carried into law a provision for free meals to all school children whoso parents and guardians are unablo to provide them, and it passed an Aliolition of Plural Voting Bill, which, however, the Lords threw out. There has rarely been a legislative session of so much promise and so much work, or a session in wliich the hrrge majority of tlio members were so in earnest. Of the Plnral Voting Bill, we assume tho Government will reintroduce it next session. it was not of particular valuo prior to tlio. next General Election, and no object would bavo been served by entering on a contest over its rejection at this juncture- We may, however, take it for granted that Mr L. V. Hareourfs Bill will, in one form or another, pass into law before tho close of the present Parliament. The Merchant Shipping Bill contains clauses which substantially enlianoo the comfort and safety of the men of the mercantile marine, and wliich equalise, the conditions of competition between foreign and British shipping. The Workers' Compensation Bill, though not as liberal in its terms, perhaps, as that of Now Zealand, brings

wlk>l« classes of workers within its scojxj who in the past have had to take chances and had no other claim upon the employer than that dictated by his humanity. The davs of which Mark Rutherford tells, and which many can remember, when a worker whoso eyes were destroyed by a spluttering of boiling lead at the hands of a. careless helper was rewarded with a couple, of bottles of cheap embrocation and a tray of .pins and laces to hawk about the streets, aro past. The responsibility of employers, the rights of employees, and their mutual recognition and embodiment in statute law aT<: tlio characteristic features of much of the legislation of tlio Imperial Parliament this vear. We have always known thero were responsibilities and rights, and thero has been legislation to give effect to this knowledge. But it was spasmodic, grudging, subordinate. A session of Parliament devoted principally to tho interests of the workers —tho toilers and spinners, tho hewers of wood and drawers of water —is a unique experience in the history of the Motherland. Labor in the past has gained its victories after bitter and persistant strivings; they liave been flung at the feet of the suppliants as favors, as sops to stay a wrathful clamor, as a something that would be kept back if the grantors dared. To-day men st.ind up in the House of Commons "and put forward the claims of Labor as rights, and the main diversify of opinion is as to the form in wliich they shall he conceded.

This is particularly noticeable in the Trades Disputes Bill, about which more nonsense biis been taJked tban any other recent democratic measure. Lord Lindley and Professor Dicey have waxed angrily denunciatory over what they term '" this cbtss legislation of a most dangerous type," and this "fatal policy," whilst some associated bodies approached that last rescrrt of disappointed and thwarted privilege, the House of Lords, with advice and euirciAics. The Lords, appiirently, were unmoved. If the cable is reliable, that august Chamber merely amended the, picketing clauses, and then passed tho BUI through committee. It is true the Labor members are said to have, strongly objected to the but in the absence of information to the contrary we. may assume that the clauses affecting the liability of trades union funds were left untouched. It is around these that the fight has waged, and it is on these that much rhetoric has been wasted. The Bill does not seek to give nor did trade unionists ask for special privileges. They wanted nothing but absolute equality with the employers. This tho Taff Vale decision took from them; that unfortunate judgment, like that of the Scottish Churches, wrought confusion, loss, and distress, but did not advance the cause of justice or fair play or freedom one jot. Both were most reprehensible- judgments. In the Taff Vale case tho procedure and custom of thirty years were swept away, and an era of injustice, inaugurated. .ill that the Trades Disputes Bill in tli-* first instance sought, to effect was a of_ the position^

as it was before the Tail Vale interpaetation. The Court of Appeal held that tins Trade Unions were in the right, the House of Lords decided they -were wrong, and the House of Lords can hardly bo described as an impartial or, rather, an unprejudiced body. It is now vehemently urged that the BUI confers on Trade Unions a unique position; it handicaps the poor employer; it places the Tcado Unionist outside the law; it permits him. to slander, damage, wound, outrage, or incite to murder without punishment. The answer to these charges is thai it does nothing <>l" th© kind. A striker doing each or any of these acts "will find himself in tho clutches of the law, and th* employer can prosecute him with all tb.6 influence and -wealth that employers ar« able to command. But the Bill does seek to prevent the employer attacking lie Union as well as tho indiridnalj it does seek to check raids upon Iho Union funds. •Strikes arc not. illegal, but this form of defence would bo rendered inoperative if employers are permitted to take action. for damages against tho Union. What money the Union may have is wanted for strike pay. and to lay it open to the assaults of the employers because tboy fail to prevent a desperate individual doing something to their property, or there is a chance of paralysing the Union under cover of a "faked" charge, is as unreasonable as it is inequitable. • And from. 1875 until the Taft Valo judgment most people so thought. The present Bill, though it exempts Trade Unions from bein.s sued for damages for tho acts of individual members, does not necessarily .'ind in consequence put tho Union in a privileged position. It only equalises lb; conditions governing employer and <:;.- plovoe. A master has tho whip ban<l .-i.i tho time. He can shut down and :-!.-> ■ his men into submission. Ho can

does combine in secret, but it would ! impossiblo for a discharged employee v '•.

cannot obtain work in any similar ir.,1;.:.try lo prove conspiracy. Mr Shackleti-ii, speaking in tho Honso of Commons, £ave chapter and verse for his assertions that a Federation of Employers had drawn up " black lists " of strikers, that these were privately circulated -without comment as to their object, and that every man m> black-listed was beaten oat of his mean:; of earning a livelihood. Yet the max had no redress in face of this silent conspiracy—it wodd be almost impossiblo to prove one; and tho Employers' Federatinn could not in any case be held liable for tho acts of individual members. On tho other hand, it is seriously maintained thai unless the Union funds are open to attack fcr the foliies or crimes of individual members " the foundation of that rule " of equal law to which England owes her " precedence, is being undermined-" We fail to follow this lino of reasoning; wo believe, that the demands of tho Trade Unions and tho acquiescence of the Imperial Parliament therein is on tho lines i/f sound policy. It is our hope that tho present transition stage in industrial roaxvangements may prove the starting point lor the development of a more rational, more economic, and nobler social standard. •' Move upwards, working out the beast, and let the ape and tiger die."