London, Feb. 3.
Trade Unions and particularly Labour leaders only prosper on rising wage market. In days' of slump the Unions are bound' to suffer and the leaders have a difficult task in holding their own, We have reached such a stage. All over the country there is a feeling in many industries that the rates of payment will have to be reduced. No one would naturally wish to reduce them in view of the fact that all classes now have a higher standard of living, but itis obvious that when trade is absolutely stagnant, the first.essential is to he able to live at all. Labour will never agree to any essential reductions in the rates of wages—at all events organized labour.. Indeed, some classes such as the tramway men are now putting forward a demand for an extra 12/- a week and are pressing it W an insistency which seems to indicate a certain strike if the request is not granted. These attempts to secure great. er remuneration are, however, few
It is not enough, however, to ie-in view of the current Sepiresetons train from increased demands but in many branches of work it is vital to accept reduction. In consequence there is every lil likelihood that in the near future, there will be a great revival of what is called "free labour," labour which is unattached to any Union and will accept the most reasonable rate of wages which the employers are able to pay.
In all probability, the first de velopment along these lines will be
men are now very autocratic am in the shipping world where ihe where as statements by Lord Inch-cape and others have shown this week, there is a vast mount _of dishonesty. One of the leading shipowners in the country has already made considerable prepara tions to run all his ships by free labour which I think he will obtain, and when he comes out into the open, there is a prospect of a huge fight. It will not, however, only be in shipping that "free" labour will become more and more general. In times of depression every Union sheds a lot-of its members owing to their inability to keep up subscriptions and owing also to the reluctance of many of the men to insist on wages which they know cannot be paid. Obviously, the working classes discuss the causes of unemployment as much as anyone else and they know that few employers nowadays are making profits, hence their inclination to take what they cin get rather than demand the impossible.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.