446 History of Inland Transport 



with questions of conditions of labour in regard to particular 

 lines of railway. 



In 1907 an agitation was promoted by the Amalgamated 

 Society of Railway Servants in favour of what was called a 

 " National All-Grades Programme " of demands for higher 

 wages, reduced hours, etc. ; and there was a further demand 

 that the negotiations in respect thereto should be carried on 

 through the officers of the Amalgamated Society of Railway 

 Servants. The companies declined to grant the concessions 

 asked for in the " Programme," alleging that to do so would 

 involve them in a wholly impracticable increase in their 

 working expenses. It was subsequently stated that accept- 

 ance of the " Programme " would have increased the ex- 

 penditure of the companies by between 6,000,000 and 

 7,000,000 per annum ; that the cost to the London and 

 North- Western Railway Company alone would have exceeded 

 500,000 per annum, equal to i j per cent of the company's 

 dividend ; that on the London and South- Western it would 

 have been equal to a two per cent dividend on the ordinary 

 stock ; and so on with other companies in like propor- 

 tion. 



In the result the demand for the concession of the " Pro- 

 gramme " became subordinate to the demand of the A.S.R.S. 

 for " recognition " ; but this, again, was refused by the rail- 

 way companies on the ground, not alone that the membership 

 of the society includedj[only a minority of the men qualified 

 to join but, also, and more especially, because " recognition," 

 involving the carrying on of negotiations through the union 

 leaders, would, it was argued, lower the standard of discipline 

 in a service where considerations of the public interests, and 

 especially of the public safety, made it a matter of paramount 

 importance that a high standard of discipline should be main- 

 tained. 



- Threats of a general railway strike caused much alarm, and 

 led the Government to intervene. The negotiations carried 

 on at the Board of Trade were based mainly on the possibility 

 of arranging some system of conciliation by means of which 

 further disputes would be^avoided ; and eventually a four- 

 fold scheme was arranged, comprising, in the case of each 

 company accepting it, (i) consideration of applications by 

 officers of the department concerned ; (2) sectional concilia- 



