October 9, 1915. 
LAND A N D WATER 
pagne were the fruit of the untiring and uncomplaining 
labour of men and women in the workshops. What our 
true-hearted AlHes must think of the Welsli coal strilves 
Is expressed in the slinging lines of ^I. Paul Liseron : 
" Et qui done ites-vous? vous, viincurs d'Anglcterre? 
Pour vous placer flus haul que Ics his de la guerre! 
Plus haul que le devoir el que I'humanite! 
Plus haul que le pays! plus haul que I'equite! " 
Of democratic Australia, where labour troubles are 
frequent, Mr. F. A. W. Gisborne is able to write* : 
Happily the war has had a soothing and purifying 
influence. A more conciliatory, attitude has been 
adopted by the leaders of the Trades Unions towards em- 
ployers of labour. ... In not a few cases, men have 
voluntarily oflfered to accept lower wages than those 
hitherto received. Thus labour and capital, for a season, 
cried truce, and feelings of amity and sympailiy have 
superseded the old antagonism." 
Nowhere among Britons overseas, who have splen- 
didly responded to the call of patriotism, are there to 
be found such sentiments as Mr. Jowett describes. What 
is the reason of this strange difference, rendered the 
more inexplicable because with few exceptions the 
official representatives of labour have pronounced for 
the justice of the war and have recently pledged them- 
selves to the prosecution of a vigorous recruiting 
campaign ? 
Natural Resentment. 
Resentment against general charges of such an 
amount of time-breaking, slack work, or drunkenness as 
would account for "the immense deficiency in the supply 
of our war material " from which we have suffered 
would be perfectly natural and justified. 1 have never 
heard such charges made by anyone acquainted with the 
facts. Our deficiency arose, mainly, from the neglect to 
takeadequateadministrative steps till Mav. If this vitally 
important question had been taken in hand in October 
last, it is possible that a Munitions Act which, by creat- 
ing new offences has at the same time introduced new- 
grievances might have been avoided. To shout denun- 
ciations of employers and to threaten revolution because 
of fines imposed by a ^lunitions Tribunal is neither 
logical nor just. The new powers conferred by the Act 
are not for the benefit of the employer, but intended by 
Parliament to meet the exceptional' needs of the State, 
and it is for the Tribunal — not the employer— to judge 
whether an offence under the Act has been committed. 
Nearly one thousand factories have been brought 
under State control, and employers have loyally accepted 
conditions which, in certain respects, have taken awav 
their powers while leaving them whh heavy respon- 
sibilities. None can like these new conditions; but all 
realise that a struggle for national existence demands 
exceptional measures to which they are ready to bow. 
The nation has a right to expect as much from em- 
ployees, and when a man who has been fined for an 
offence declares in court that " It is time the Germans 
came," one may be pardoned for wondering whether he 
had arrived at any conception of what war means, or had 
ever heard of the German achievements in France and 
Belgium. 
We may share the regret of Mr. Jowett that it 
should be necessary to prevent a man from going from 
one employer to another in quest of higher wages; but, 
at a time of national peril, we can none of us expect to 
be able to do exactly what we wish, and far greater 
sacrifices than this are Ijorne daily by other than manual 
workers without a word of complaint. Too much of the 
unrest which we deplore is due to the impracticable 
demand that the greatest war which has ever blighted 
the world should permit the full continuance of the 
habits formed in peace. Trades Unions, which claim 
the right to deny men liberty to work as they please, 
should surely acquiesce in restrictions required by the 
exigencies of the State. Government, by deciding that 
war profits shall be heavily taxed, have done all thnt 
• Empire Review, September, 1915. 
is possible to remove (he grievance of working for tlie 
special advantage of the employer and nut for the 
nation, iunployers do not object to this tax if it is 
applied to real profits, taking into account capital ex- 
penditure which must be written off at the end of the 
war, and making allowance for lean years wliich mav 
have entailed loss. Nor will employers raise any demand 
for the taxation of the war prolits made bv other classes 
who have largely benefited by the huge internal 
expenditure. 
•Capitalistic Bluff." 
The nation may fairly expect that the manual 
workers will wait till tlie measure of war profits has been 
ascertained and taxed before believing stories of 
"capitalistic bluff." At least it may be" remembered 
that the successful financing of the war depends upon 
past profits, which are already and rightlv bearing heavy 
burdens. Profits must continue to be made, either by 
the State, as Socialists desire, or by employers who are 
largely people of very moderate means, imless a large 
source of revenue upon which depend substantial boons 
enjoyed by labour are to be abandoned. That employ- 
ment in cases where the profit, if any, accrues to the 
public is no panacea for discontent or for the calculated 
limitation of working energy has been abundantly 
proved by such occurrences as the Tramway strike and 
by much previous experience. 
I have no wisli to exaggerate the evils in our midst 
which I trust are less widespread than Mr. Jowett indi- 
cates. I am certain that the great mass of manual workers 
engaged on the vitally important duty of making muni- 
tions are as patriotic as their fellows serving in the field. 
I am as certain that some of our troubles are due 
to the shortsightedness and want of sympathy of a 
minority of employers. The only hope' for such in- 
dustrial peace as will enable tlie national prosperity to 
be gradually rebuilt after the war lies in a franker 
attitude of employers towards labour, and in their closer 
association and co-operation for furtiiering the conmion 
interests of both. The great Trades Unions, if liiey 
are wisely led, can render invaluable services to the 
classes they represent and to the community as a 
whole; but they must abandon tlie attempt to limit out- 
put by artificial rules which arc plainly demoralising, 
and they must cease to apply compulsion for class 
purposes which strikes at the' roots of libertv. They 
should strenuously uphold the sanctity of agreements, 
wiiich lies at the base of social as well as of international 
stability. They should endeavour sternly to check in- 
temperance, wliich they could combat more effectively 
than legislation, while laying stress on the dignity of 
labour and fostering pride in teciinical skill. 
A Disturbing Feature. 
The most disturbing feature in the industrial situa- 
tion is the growing tendency of Trades Unionists to 
throw over their recognised leaders and adopt the 
methods of the mob. All who htive the interests of the 
workers at heart must realise that this tendency is fatal 
to Trades organisations and to all the good of which tliey 
are capable. 
Such are some of the questions wiiich will have to 
be faced when the war ends and which liave been brought 
into new prominence in these critical times. But, while 
we are fighting for our existence as a great nation, is it 
not reasonable to expect that such a truce as has been 
found possible elsewhere shall be observed in these 
islands? When bitter sorrows have come into thou- 
sands of homes, and when men and women of all ranks 
in large numbers are devotedly working in aid of those 
who are risking their all in the ser% ice of the country, 
honour and duty demand that the minority of workers 
which resents the least restraint and is not giving 
its best should share in the general self-sacrifice that 
Britons at home and overseas and our gallant Allies are 
nobly making in the most sacred of causes. 
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