Their leaders much prefer to use peaceful methods rather than violence in negotiating their wage agreements with. groups of employers. They are by no means spoiling for unnecessary fights. Strikes only exhaust their union funds and deplete the resources available for the various benefits.
The leadership of British trade unions is steady and sensible. Another fact to remember is that the Trades Union Congress is linked to the political Labour Party and usually exercises a moderating influence on extremists At the present time there is a fixed resolve on the part of Labour to rally all classes together in Britains war effort. I have spoken about wages, but nowadays, in England, another kind of wealth distribution has grown up as a supplement system.
Public Social Services for education, health, poverty, housing and social insurance. The total annual expenditure on these services in Britain now amounts to nearly £500,000,000 and every year some 30 million men, women and children benefit by it.
There is no country in the world that spends more of its national income on the well-being of its ordinary citizens, and no country has a better equipment of social services. Chief among these State services are the Contributory Insurances, which cover sickness, unemployment, old age and widowhood.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.