Dec. 20.
The leaders of the trades unions by their anxiety or stib posed anxiety for the materia! welfare of thave who have lected them to their posts of leadership are bringing about 1 state of affairs which is bound to handicap both Britain and ithe rest of the Empire in the fierce struggle for commercial supremacy. By their demands for rates of payment for what is in many" cases unskilled labour, which are economically unsound, they are causing the workers' in other trades and professions to receive a rem-une ration much below the real value of the services of these people to the community. Con sequently the-numbers entering, these walks of life are decreasing, or else many of these workfers are emigrating to lands where there is more scope for their ambition und a better hope of adequate recompense for their labours.
One of the most, outstanding examples is to be found in the lease of the engineers. It is of course a yood thing that people should Teave crowded Britain for the Dominions, where there is abundant room' and number-ess opportunities for the right sort of settlers. Nevertheless the warmest advocates of emiration must view with concert the large mumpers of skilled artisans who are leaving the British Isles for the United States, and of these nearly half were engaged in the en; or allied trader.
1921 just over 2,000 engineers left for America,' last year the number had risen to no Ie than 14,000. Considering that Britain is largely dependent on her manufactures and that the skilled engineer is the backbone of our industries, it is easy to recognize the seriousness of this increasing migration - of engineers. "Yet we cannot blame these mechanics and engineers for seeking better conditions of life under the Stars and Stripes. They are only trying to sell their labour in the best market. In Britain even when they are fortunate enough to get a job, they rarely earn move thaw three pounds a week, while other branches of labour, much less skilled and certainly less important to our natural. progress carry wages of £4 to 85 week, merely because they are backed' by strong unions and coddled by the politicians, Moreover in Britain the engineer artisan is hampered by trade union rules -innd—workshop customs. which limit his output
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.