The case against a levy was effectively put by Mr. J. H. Thomas, who only obtained a hearing with great difficulty, so keen is the resentment, felt towards him. He cited the case of his own union as an example of the difficulty of getting such a levy carried. Since the general stu 200,000 of his men had worked only three days a week, he said, _and 145,000 bad never gone back since May} 1." Their first duty, he contended, was to provide bread for these men. Other trade union leaders spoke to the same effect and the delegates were so impressed with the stories told of the crippling effect of the genera} strike on the finances of the unions who participated in it, that they rejected the reference back by a comparatively small majority.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.