THE LABOUR UPHEAVAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 21 October 1911, Page 7

THE LABOUR UPHEAVAL.

A HUNDRED MILLIONS LOST.

LONDON, September 1. For the first time for ma-ny years the month of August has passed without those old friends the giant gooseberry and the sea-serpent finding their way into the papers. From the newspaper man's point of view August is usually a particularly dull period, 'but this year it has been crowded with sensations, unfortunately of an unpleasant dharacter. It was indeed a black month for England,, and though for the moment there ie a slump in sensations, September has opened none too auspiciously. There is a grave risk of a recurrence of the recent, strikes in an even more exaggerated form, and there is a very uneasy feeling in financial quarters at any rate over the Moroccan outlook. The strike fever is, however, the greatest danger, and on all hands fears are expressed that another and greater uip'heaval is on the tapis. Apparently all depends on the Great Eastern railway. Their employees who struck complain that the company is not keeing either the spirit or the letter of the agreement as to reinstatement of drivers and guards and others who "came out" during tihe strike last month, and it is said that the men affected are ready and eager to come out again if theiT demands are not fully met by the company. Their action, if it stood a,lone, would not be a source of ivast inconvenience 'to fchje community at large, but the striking of the G.E.R. men will be the signal for a stoppage of ■work of all the men belonging to the Federation of Transport Workers. This organisation surprised people by its exhibition of power during the* August troulbles, and during that period it increased its membership and widened its sphere of influence tremendously. It is 'been the custom of smugly respectable citizens to jeer at Ben Tillett, Harry Gosling and their co-workers for a set of frothy-moutlhed agitators, but they are now 'beginning to perceive that those men are powers in the land, and that through the organisations which, they have brought into line under the Transport Federation's banner, they can bring about a complete paralysis of comanerce. So to-day the are rapidly changing their attitude towards Tillett and company. Now they are demanding their heads on charges and cursing the Government because it will not take steps to place men like Tillett and Gosling in durance vile. But these men, when all is said, are merely figureheads. They "lead" on sufferance, and just so long as they go the way their "followers" desire to proceed. They can neither make nor break a strike, and tihe agreements they may make on Ibehalf of the workers are effective or otherwise according to the humours of the men, who come out or remain in a 6 fancy dictates, without consulting their nominal leaders. Labour in England to-day is, indeed, a masterless man, fully conscious of the possession of herculean strength, and ready to use it ruthlessly to attain his own ends. COUNTING THE COST.

What have the series of strikes which practically paralysed the trade of the Old Country for a fortnight cost- the nation ? It is difficult, if not impossible, to give an accurate estimate, for a great Labour upheaval teaches a nation in a thousand ways. Its ramifications are practically endless. It affects the price of butter in Shad well, and lowers the price of the shares of a mine thousands of miles away ; it raises the price of the people's loaf, and knocks down the value of gilt-edged securities. It touches everybody's pocket in some way or other, from the millionaire mining magnate to the costermonger in the street ; but in some cases in such an indirect fashion that the victim is scarcely aware of the fact. There are others, who, though not in airy way associated with those primarily concerned in the dispute, still suffer very materially by reason of it- "The consumer pays," is a trite saying, but a very true one where strikes are concerned, as the London householders have good reason to know. During the run of tihe recent troubles, prices of almost every household." commodity roses appreciabljy—meat, (butter, eggs, Cheese, vegetables, and even tinned goods and jaim. In some districts fish also rose sharply in price. Altogether it is computed that the extra cost of household necessaries during the three weeks of acute troulble ranged from 7 to 10 per cent. Beyond this householders in many districts will probably find themselves paying for the strikes in the form of additions to their local rates, rendered necessary by the heavier calls on the Poor Law authorities, caused by the cessation of laibour, and the increased expenditure of the local sanitary and other authorities for the removal of refuse, carriage of road material, etc.

In the realm of finance the operations of the strike were very pi'onounee-i!. Scores of companies about to appeal to the pulblic were "hung up," causing 'heavy losses to the promoters, and securities of all kinds fell sharply. The "Bankers' Magazine" calculates that during August the aggregate value of 387 representative securities fell in value no less than £73,000,000. Railway stocks alone dropped millions owing entirely to the railway Btrikes. The loss caused to the railway companies themselves is almost incalculable. In one week alone the decrease in the ti - affic of seven leading lines was over half a million pounds. Some of this may be recovered in the shape of freight on goods held hack, but the lost passenger traffic money cannot be regained, nor can the perishable goods which went to waste through delays in transit. The value of these goods has been roughly estimated at over £IOO,OOO.

Heavy losses have also accrued to almost every shipowning concern in the Kingdom. Here, again, it is impossible at present to estimate the aggregate losses of this cpmimunity. Their next bal-ance-sheets, will, however, tell the tale — a tale of dividends passed and hundreds of thousands of pounds gone beyond recovery.

As to the value of the food products held up in port, docks, and warehouses during the strike, and rendered unfit for thuiman donsumpjtion, the tycxm ifigurea may, however, be available. Tone upon tons of fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, have 'been consigned to Davy Jones' lecker from steamers held up in London alone, and tons more have been sold at half of what tihe goods would have fetched had it not been for the deterioration caused by delay. In the lower trading circles, the effects of the strikes hav© been very severely felt, especially by those small shopkeepers depending on the labouring classes of customers. In London scores of these people did practically no trade for three weeks, and others had to s)hut up shop entirely owing to their inability to obtain goods for sale.

As regards the direct wage loss to the strikers, it is calculated that the workers lost at least £3,000,000, and that in addition they 'trenched' on trade union funds and personal savings to the extent of quite £2,000,000.

What the actual amount of London's strike bill really is no one has atempted as yet to calculate, but Liverpool has been reckoning up her losses, and puts t'hem down at over £10,000,000, a large proportion of which was lost by people having no, direct connection with* the Labour dispute. If these figures really represent Liverpool's bill, what must London's be, and what figures must be put down to represent the nation's loss? Some say that a hundred million pounds would barely square accounts.