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 DEUNIONS 
 
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 THE PEOPLE'S BOOKS
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 \
 
 THE 
 
 PEOPLE'S 
 
 BOOKS 
 
 TRADE UNIONS
 
 UMt«vvfc— 
 
 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 By JOSEPH CLAYTON 
 
 LONDON. T. C. & E. C. JACK 
 67 LONG ACRE, W.C., AND EDINBURGH 
 NEW YORK: DODGE PUBLISHING CO.
 
 Hi/ 
 
 CS'T't 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ^ I. INTRODUCTION 
 
 II. HISTORICAL 
 
 ^ III. TRADE UNION CONGRESS AND PARLIAMENTARY 
 COMMITTEE 
 
 IV. TRADE UNION FEDERATION . 
 
 ^ V. TRADE UNIONS AND POLITICAL ACTION . 
 
 ^, VI. " NEW " UNIONISM .... 
 
 »i Vn. TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE 
 
 Vin. WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 
 
 IX. CONCLUSION 
 
 C3 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 SB 
 
 &5 ADDRESSES 
 
 INDEX 
 
 39068,3
 
 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The workman's trade union plays so large a part to-day 
 in the industrial and social Hfe of civilised nations that 
 it cannot T^dsely be overlooked or misunderstood by 
 statesmen, or ignored by that general public by whose 
 goodwill the statesman rules. 
 
 The very complexities of modem Hfe, placing our 
 daily needs and comforts at the mercy of a multitude 
 of persons, make the trade union so potent for good or 
 ill. A national coal strike by the Miners' Federation 
 sees the price of necessary household fuel rise to pro- 
 hibitive heights throughout the land, and the temporary 
 stoppage of a multitude of industries. A strike of 
 railwaymen or other transport workers may paralyse 
 all trade for many a day and bring disaster to thousands. 
 Too commonly it is only when a grave labour " crisis " 
 occurs that those who are not members of trade unions 
 give any serious consideration to the existence of these 
 workmen's associations. And the want of under- 
 standing is a fruitful cause of delay in the settlement of 
 trade union demands. 
 
 The more widely the purposes and objects of trade 
 unions are known, the more carefully their aims and 
 methods are studied, the more reachly will the justice.
 
 S TRADE UNIONS 
 
 or injustice, of their cause be recognised when, as it 
 occasionally happens, the rest of the community are at 
 their mercy for the conveniences of daily life. 
 
 Moreover, the trade union is essentially a British 
 institution. It has been carried from this country to 
 every colony where the demand for the labour of 
 skilled or unskilled European folk is uttered, and the 
 working people of every nation in Europe have taken to 
 the organisation of the union, following the example 
 set in Britain in the nineteenth century. Throughout 
 the world of inteUigent white labour it seems to the 
 working class that for obtaining better conditions of 
 work, or maiataining existing conditions in the stress 
 of commercial competition, the trade union is a first 
 necessity. 
 
 Not only for its promises of monetary gain and as- 
 surances of safety against gross oppression is the trade 
 union popular. The willingness to co-operate, the desire 
 for fellowship and social intercourse, the instinct that 
 makes some of us set up and join clubs whenever and 
 wherever, at home or abroad, the opportunity is pre- 
 sented — and others seek the communities of the reUgious 
 orders — all the various manifestations of the spirit of 
 association, in fact, help to account for the trade union. 
 
 For the trade union possesses at once the quahties 
 of a social club, of a council of government, of an army 
 at war ; and so makes its appeal to the cheerful average 
 person, to whom good-fellowship in everyday hfe is 
 essential, to the ambitious, seeking power to order the 
 destinies of mankind and change its customs, to the 
 fighting man (or woman) ready to contend to the utter- 
 most and perish if needs be in the conflict — though the 
 particular cause of battle may be but an extra half- 
 penny an hour. To some trade unionism is even as a
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 religion, so devoted are these to the spirit of association 
 and human brotherhood. 
 
 And since the growth of civilisation means not the 
 retarding but the development of social instincts and 
 habits, it is obvious that while common associated 
 human labour exists trade unions will increase and 
 flourish, their action in the world for good or ill depend- 
 ing chiefly on the outlook and judgment of their leaders, 
 the character of the rank and file, and the discernment 
 shown by legislators and others in high authority in 
 their dealings with an organised working class. 
 
 The subject is of vast importance and of vital interest 
 to the life of nations. 
 
 Here, within the pages of a " People's Book," we can 
 but trace in outline the history of the modem trade 
 union — sketching hghtly in from time to time a few of the 
 more prominent leaders of the movement — and describe 
 quite briefly the methods and the finance of British 
 trade unionism at the present day. Only in the case 
 of one or two of the comparatively new labourers' 
 unions and of one typical old-estabhshed union of 
 mechanics — the Amalgamated Society of Engineers — 
 have we attempted to show in any detail the working 
 practice of trade unionism, and only a dozen of the 
 hundred principal trade unions have been picked out 
 for examination of expencUture. 
 
 These examples must suffice, for they cover a wide 
 area of the ground we are exploring and reveal the 
 general plan of trade union management. 
 
 Concerned, here, with trade unionism familiar to us 
 in Great Britain, aU account of its work and influence 
 in other lands is left untold. But we may note, shortly, 
 that in France, Spain, and Italy the trade unions are 
 far more revolutionary and less constitutional than in
 
 10 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 England. The Syndicalism of the General Confedera- 
 tion of Trade Unions in France is avowedly hostile to 
 the State and seeks to estabUsh a social revolution by 
 securing the control of industry. In Italy the trade 
 unionists would ignore the State and build up a common- 
 wealth of their own by creating self-governing industrial 
 societies on a co-operative basis. In this respect the 
 glassblowers have already achieved a distinct success, 
 though time has yet to show whether the experiment 
 can endure. In Spain, Barcelona is the centre of trade 
 unionism and of anarchist propaganda. 
 
 In Germany and Belgium the trade unions are either 
 born of Socialist teaching and directed by poUtical 
 social-democrats, or they are organisations of Cathohc 
 and Christian workmen. 
 
 The AustraKan trade unions are as political as the 
 trade unions of France, Italy, and Spain are anarchist 
 and those of Germany social democratic or Christian. 
 And the result of poUtical trade unionism in Austraha 
 has been the rise of the Labour party in that country, 
 the accession of a Labour Ministry to power, and the 
 passage into law of several legislative proposals in a 
 collectivist direction — for the improvement of working- 
 class conditions. 
 
 America has every variety of trade unionism — a 
 natural consequence of immigration from every land in 
 Europe — and the struggle between organised labour 
 and concentrated capital is waged more fiercely, more 
 violently, and less scrupulously in the United States 
 than in any other country in the world. 
 
 Another omission in these pages is all reference to the 
 Insurance Act of 1912. It is far too early at present 
 to estimate hoAV the Act will affect the fortunes of British 
 trade unionism, and prophetic obiter dicta on the point
 
 HISTORICAL 11 
 
 would be of little use. \ 'e know that some of the 
 unions have added a vei 7 considerable number of 
 members to their books since the Act was passed, and 
 in the course of a few years it will be seen to what extent 
 the increased membership and the new financial engage- 
 ments of the unions are a source of strength to the 
 movement. 
 
 If this httle book serves as an introduction to the 
 study of trade unions its purpose will be served. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 It is not permitted in a short outline of the rise of 
 British trade unions to attempt any scientific investiga- 
 tion of their origin, or to join the discussion as to their 
 relation to the trade guilds of the Middle Ages. For us 
 a trade union is an association of workmen, formed and 
 existing for the purpose of protecting its members and 
 improving the conditions of their emplojonent.^ When 
 British industry was largely in the hands of small 
 masters, and journeymen and apprentices might and 
 did pass freely from the ranks of the employed to the 
 employer, the trade imion as we know it to-day had no 
 real existence. 
 
 Hence it is not till the eighteenth century, with the 
 growth of machinery, " the definite separation between 
 the functions of the capitahst and the workman," and 
 
 ^ " A trade union, as we understand the term, is a continuous 
 association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or 
 improving the conditions of their employment." — Webb, History of 
 Trade Unionism.
 
 12 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 all those changes that made the industrial revolution, 
 that the beginnings of trade unionism may be discerned 
 clearly, and acknowledged without dispute. 
 
 At first it is rather as a friendly society that the 
 trade union is seen ; for throughout the eighteenth 
 century, and more particularly in the latter half, small 
 clubs of artizans and labourers, with sick and funeral 
 funds, flourished widely. These clubs naturally fostered 
 talk on questions of wages and conditions of work, so 
 that Adam Smith noted: "People of the same trade 
 seldom meet together, even for merriment and discussion, 
 but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against a 
 pubUc, or in some contrivance to raise prices." And 
 soon we read of various combinations of journeymen 
 tailors, of West of England woollen-workers, Yorkshire 
 wool-combers, and Midland stocking framework- 
 knitters all alert, chiefly to keep up wages and main- 
 tain the legal restrictions on the number of apprentices. 
 
 Then in 1799 and 1800, partly under the influence of 
 the new teaching of Adam Smith, but much more from 
 fear of the democratic tendencies excited by the French 
 Revolution, the natural objection of the capitaHst to 
 high wages was satisfied by the Combination Laws — 
 Acts of Parhament, hastily passed, making aU associa- 
 tions of workmen (and of employers) illegal, and the 
 joining of such associations a criminal offence. These 
 Acts by no means aboHshed all trade unions ; according 
 to some contemporary evidence the Combination Laws 
 were practically a dead-letter as far as many important 
 industries were concerned. But from time to time they 
 were hivoked against associations of workmen and 
 heavy penalties were inflicted. Inevitably, too, this re- 
 pressive legislation drove men to the formation of secret 
 societies with strange unlawful oaths of initiation,
 
 HISTORICAL 13 
 
 seditious rites, and revolutionary emblems. Liable to 
 prosecution for conspiracy, at the most peaceful gather- 
 ings members were apt to colour their social intercourse 
 with mysterious passwords and dangerous sentiments, 
 so that to the more nervous and imaginative the melo- 
 drama of these occasions seemed of serious purpose. 
 
 The Combination Laws were repealed in 1824 : Joseph 
 Hume, instigated and primed by Francis Place, a 
 master-tailor at Charing Cross, quietly persuading the 
 House of Commons to agree thereto.^ 
 
 No sooner were the Combination Laws repealed than 
 trade unions burst into new Hfe aU over the country. 
 Higher wages were demanded, and an aggressive poHcy 
 was pursued by these new unions. Strikes were the 
 order of the day, and the " labour unrest " of 1824-5 
 brought the shipping industry on the North-east Coast 
 to a temporary standstill. The alarmed employers 
 took action in Parhament and sought to put down all 
 workmen's societies. 
 
 They failed to do this, but a fresh Act was passed in 
 1825 prohibiting aU combinations of persons for un- 
 lawful objects, but expressly permitting association for 
 the purpose of regulating wages or hours of labour. By 
 this Act the existence of trade unions was recognised by 
 law, and the right to strike was admitted. 
 
 A period of bad trade depressed all labour organisa- 
 tions for a year or two, but by 1829 this depression had 
 passed, and the next phase of trade unionism was a 
 revolutionary activity that aimed at one General Union 
 of aU trades. First a " Grand General Union " of 
 cotton-spinners was established, to be followed speedily 
 
 ^ The story of Place's patient and successful labours, of his 
 tireless persistence and highly skilful wire-pulling, can be read in 
 the Life of Francis Place by Graham Wallas.
 
 14 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 by the " National Association for the Protection of 
 Labour," and in 1834 by Eobert Owen's " Grand 
 National Consolidated Trades Union." Men and women 
 of every trade and occupation simply rushed into trade 
 unionism, and the membership of the " Grand National " 
 was estimated at half a million. Agricultural labourers 
 of Kensington, Walham Green, Fulham, and Hammer- 
 smith were enrolled, and women's lodges of " Operative 
 Bonnet Makers " and " Female Tailors " flourished. 
 
 That remarkable man, Robert Owen, was a fore- 
 runner of present-day SyndicaHsts and industrial 
 unionists ; for Owen's plan was that the working people 
 employed in any industry should become owners of that 
 industry, and that each trade should have its single 
 union (instead of a number of unions for every sub- 
 division of the work), these unions to be aU associated 
 in one National Trades Union. 
 
 The " Grand National " was of too loosely woven 
 texture to last. Its organisation was defective. Sec- 
 tional interests suffered, and sectional strikes ended in 
 defeat and disaffection. The Wliig Government of the 
 day regarded a general " Trades Union " with stem 
 disapproval. Nassau Senior, Oxford's professor of 
 Political Economy, reporting on the situation to Lord 
 Melbourne, advised that every attempt to get members 
 into the union and all picketing at strikes should be 
 punished by imprisonment, and that if this drastic treat- 
 ment failed, then the funds of the union " deposited 
 in Savings Banks or otherAvise " should be confiscated. 
 
 In various parts of the country prosecutions for un- 
 lawful conspiracy took place, and the case of the 
 Dorchester labourers attracted wide attention. The 
 general wage of agi'cultural labourers who were mem- 
 bers of the National Trades Union was lOs. a week,
 
 HISTORICAL 15 
 
 but in Dorset, where no union existed, they had 
 sunk to 75. Therefore half a dozen labourers — 
 Methodists and local preachers — set about starting a 
 " Grand Lodge " of the National Friendly Society of 
 Agricultural Labourers at the village of Tolpuddle, 
 Dorsetshire. Certain farmers at once took action. The 
 labourers, who, it was admitted, had done nothing 
 except take the oath of initiation into the National 
 Union, were committed for trial, and at the assizes 
 sentenced to seven years' transportation for conspiracy. 
 So hurriedly were these proceedings wrought that though 
 the trial only took place on March 18, 1834, the prisoners 
 were on their way to Botany Bay before April 15. The 
 Government defended the sentence, but pubHc agitation 
 would not be silenced. In 1836 the remainder of the 
 sentences was remitted, and when two years more had 
 elapsed the men returned home.^ The oath on joining 
 was, however, generally dropped by the trade unions 
 after this case, and the initiation ceremonies were shorn 
 of their ritual ; till in time all solemnities, beyond the 
 formal signing of the name, disappeared. 
 
 Internal weakness, hostiUty of the authorities, and 
 retaHation by the employers broke up the Grand 
 National Consolidated Trades Union. While the 
 unionists strove to bring every workman into the union, 
 the masters on their side replied by refusing to employ 
 union men, and demanding signatures to what was 
 known as the " document." The " document " which 
 the masters presented was a confession of non-unionism, 
 and to sign it was unconditional surrender. The 
 " Grand National " crumbled to pieces. Local strikes 
 and lock-outs ended in starvation. In sullen despair 
 
 ^ In 1912 a public monument was unveiled in Dorset to these 
 transported labourers.
 
 16 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 men 5delded to the " document " and unionism ebbed. 
 Politics for a time absorbed the interest of the working 
 class, and Chartism rallied to its banner the bolder spirits. 
 
 But trade unions never became extinct. The miners 
 and the cotton-spinners and other bodies of workmen 
 had their societies, and when the Chartist movement 
 collapsed in 1848 and commerce became steadier and 
 more expansive, unionism again revived. The modem 
 trade union really dates from that revival, for the men 
 who organised and led the trade union world in 1850-60 
 built on lasting foundations. 
 
 Men of strong character, considerable abiHty, and 
 business-Hke habits were these leaders, who — working 
 together in close association as a committee of amal- 
 gamated societies — are known in the annals of trade 
 unionism as " The Junta." Their names are historical : 
 WiUiam Allan, Robert Applegarth, Daniel Guile, Edwin 
 Coulson, and George Odger. Others too may be recalled 
 who were conspicuous at that time in the work of con- 
 structive unionism — notably William Newton, John 
 Kane, Alexander MacDonald, William Dronfield, a 
 Sheffield compositor, George Howell, Henry Broadhurst, 
 and George Shipton. 
 
 These men were the real rulers of British trade unionism 
 for more than thirty years. 
 
 Steadily, soberly, cautiously they built up the trade 
 unions of the artizan and mechanic, deprecating all 
 violence or revolutionary aims, and striving to win 
 respect and acceptance from the nation at large. Edu- 
 cation, parUamentary action, and constitutional methods 
 were the creed of the Junta and their allies. Strikes 
 were not encouraged, but were recognised as inevitable 
 on occasion. Only they must be conducted uith strict 
 submission to law and order. The Socialism of Robert
 
 HISTORICAL 17 
 
 Owen was out of date, the notion of a general trades 
 union was impracticable. Political and social progress 
 must be on the Hnes laid down by the Liberal thinkers 
 of the middle Victorian Era, on the principles of free 
 trade and free competition, with freedom for the 
 workman to make the best of his labour by collective 
 action in a trade union. 
 
 These traditions governed the unions when the leaders 
 of the " sixties " had passed away, and only in the last 
 twenty years have they been challenged and overthrown 
 by a generation with principles and ideals other than 
 those of nineteenth-century LiberaHsm. The tradition 
 that character and a high sense of responsibility are 
 necessary for an important trade union official has 
 remained, and this also was created by the Junta. 
 
 Who were these men of influence so potent, and of 
 abilities for working-class organisation so rare in England 
 sixty years ago ? And what actually and in detail did 
 they accomplish ? William Allan, the son of a Scotch 
 cotton-mill manager, was an engineer, in 1843 a member 
 of the " Journeymen Steam Engine and Machine 
 Makers Society," and in 1847 its general secretary. 
 He and William Newton, another engineer (subsequently 
 a prominent member of the old Metropolitan Board of 
 Works), brought together the various engineering 
 societies, and in 1851 these societies were united in the 
 Amalgamated Society of Engineers. Allan was the 
 general secretary of this society from 1851 till his death 
 in 1874. At the close of 1851 the A.S.E. had 11,752 
 members, 121 branches, and £21,705 in the bank. 
 In September 1912 the total membership of the A.S.E. 
 was 138,947 ; the branches throughout the world 
 numbered 764 (in the United Kingdom, 610) ; and the 
 funds in hand, December 1911, amounted to £69,543. 
 
 B
 
 18 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 Newton stood three times for Parliament (1862, 1868, 
 1875) as an Independent Labour candidate, without 
 success. Two members of the A.S.E., Mr. G. N. Barnes 
 (general secretary, 1896-1908) and IVIr. Charles Duncan, 
 have sat in ParHament as Labour representatives since 
 1906. A third member, the Right Hon. John Bums, 
 has been M.P. for Battersea since 1892 and the President 
 of the Local Government Board since 1906. 
 
 The A.S.E. keeps green the memory of its founders 
 by the Allan and Newton Memorial Fund, which suppHes 
 prizes every year to members of the union or their 
 sons for success in South Kensington Science and Art 
 Examinations. 
 
 Robert Applegarth, the son of a quartermaster in the 
 Royal Navy, was bom in 1833. Twenty years later he 
 was a working carpenter in Sheffield, and a member of 
 the local trade union. In 1861 the Amalgamated 
 Society of Carpenters and Joiners was formed, and 
 Applegarth became its general secretary the following 
 year, holding office till his voluntary resignation in 1871. 
 
 By his inclusion in the Royal Commission on the 
 Contagious Diseases Acts, 1871, Applegarth was the 
 first trade unionist to sit on a Royal Commission ; this 
 and his active interest in national education, in the 
 old " International Association of Working Men," and 
 in various movements for poHtical and social reform, aU 
 tended to improve the standing of an officer of a trade 
 union in the eyes of the country. 
 
 Daniel Guile, bom 1814, the son of a Liverpool shoe- 
 maker, was an ironfounder by trade, and the general 
 secretary of the National Association of Ironfounders 
 from 1863 tiU his retirement in 1881. " ' Old Dan Guile,* 
 as he was and always will be known, was as unbendable 
 as an iron product from the mould. An old-fashioned,
 
 HISTORICAL 19 
 
 iincompromising trade unionist, had he been able to 
 have his will no State interference would have been 
 necessary one way or the other. He advocated and 
 sincerely beHeved that if every worker in a trade be- 
 longed to his union its perfect unity would be equal, and 
 more than equal, to cope with capital. He contended 
 if in addition to this unity all trades united in a federa- 
 tion no power capital possessed could withstand the 
 march of labour to higher wages and shorter hours." ^ 
 Guile opened the third Trade Union Congress, held in 
 London, 1871, and was an early member of its Parha- 
 mentary Committee, and for some years its treasurer. 
 
 Edwin Coulson, the general secretary of the London 
 Bricklayers, was a man of similar mind with Guile. 
 Under his generalship the bricklayers became a strong 
 National Union. Coulson presided at the Trade Union 
 Congress in London, 1881, and from his address to the 
 delegates we may take the following passage, because 
 it fairly represents the views of the older trade union 
 leaders of that time : " We are not violent revolutionists 
 expecting an immediate cure, or wishing to have every- 
 thing arranged and provided by a paternal Government, 
 but we are prepared to demand that no obstacles shall 
 be placed by ParHament or the ruHng classes in the way 
 of our complete industrial independence. "We have not 
 a fair field, neither have we favour." 
 
 George Odger, bom 1820, the son of a Cornish miner, 
 was a highly skilled shoemaker by trade, and a member 
 of the Ladies' Shoemakers' Society. A leading spirit 
 in all labour movements in London was Odger, and an 
 extremely popular speaker. He helped to form the 
 London Trades Council, was for ten years its secretary 
 
 ^ W. J. Davis, History and Recollections of British Trade Union 
 Congress.
 
 20 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 ( 1862-72), and t\\ice (1870 and 1874) contested Southwark 
 unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate against both 
 Liberal and Conservative opponents. " An orator of 
 remarkable power, he swayed popular meetings at his 
 wiU, and was the idol of metropohtan Radicahsm. But 
 he was no mere demagogue. Beneath his briUiant 
 rhetoric and emotional fervour there lay a large measure 
 of poUtical shrewdness, and he shared with his col- 
 leagues the capacity for dehberately concerted action 
 and personal subordination." ^ While the rest of the 
 Junta were entirely engaged in their trade union offices 
 Odger remained a working shoemaker. He died in 1877, 
 and liis funeral was attended by enormous crowds of 
 London workmen. 
 
 John Kane, a Northumbrian, bom in 1819, was an 
 ironworker at Gateshead, and from youth an ardent 
 enthusiast for trade unionism. When the Amalgamated 
 Ironworkers' Association was formed in 1868 he became 
 its general secretary, and held the post till his death in 
 1876. Kane sat on the Parliamentary Committee of 
 the Trade Union Congress, contested Middlesborough 
 as a Labour candidate in 1874 (polling over 1000 votes 
 in a three-cornered fight), and, in the words of his trade 
 union colleagues, " was a man of singular power, im- 
 mense grasp of mind, and one in whom deceit never 
 found a resting-place." So general was the respect in 
 the north for this Labour leader that many employers 
 not only attended his funeral, but subscribed towards a 
 monument in his memory at Darlington. 
 
 Alexander MacDonald, bom 1821, a working miner 
 
 at the age of eight in a Lanarkshire coal-pit, was the 
 
 man by whose efforts a National Union of IVIiners was 
 
 formed. With a Scotchman's zeal for education he 
 
 ^ Webb, History of Trade Unionism.
 
 HISTORICAL 21 
 
 managed to pass through Glasgow University, and then 
 after a period of school-teaching devoted himself to the 
 work of organising miners, amongst whom trade unionism 
 was practically extinct in 1855. In 1863 the National 
 Union was formed, and MacDonald, who now possessed 
 independent means, became its president. In 1874 he 
 was elected M.P. for Stafford ; at the same time Mr. 
 (now the Right Hon.) Thomas Burt was elected for 
 Morpeth, and these two men were the first Labour repre- 
 sentatives in Parliament. MacDonald was chairman of 
 the Trade Union Congress Parliamentary Committee in 
 1875, but on accepting an invitation to serve on the 
 Royal Commission on trade unions he retired from the 
 committee. Till his death in 1881 Alexander Mac- 
 Donald remained the miners' leader and M.P. and the 
 untiring advocate of legislation. His three great 
 questions were employers' liability for accidents, the 
 aboUtion of all truck, and the adoption of safeguards 
 in mines so as to reduce to a minimum the dangers 
 miners were exposed to in their daily work.^ In 1874 
 the Miners' National Union numbered 100,000 members. 
 To-day the Miners' Federation of Great Britain has over 
 350,000 members, and counts some eighteen miners' 
 representatives in the House of Commons. 
 
 Both George Howell (bricklayer) and Henry Broad- 
 hurst (stonemason) held office as secretary of the 
 Parhamentary Committee (Howell, 1871-5 ; Broadhurst, 
 1875-85, 1886-90) ; both sat in Parliament ; and both 
 wrote their reminiscences of the trade union movement. 
 
 ^ " MacDonald may be fairly accepted as the first statesman of 
 organised legislative effort. From the passing of the Metalliferous 
 Mines Act in 1872 to the day of his death he never tired of 
 appealing for more legislative protection for the colliers." — W. J. 
 Davis.
 
 22 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 ]Mr. George Shipton, also of the building trade, who is 
 stUl ahve, was George Odger's successor as secretary of 
 the London Trades Council, and a prominent figure 
 at the Trade Union Congress. 
 
 It is important to dwell on the work of these men, 
 for they created the movement and guided the destinies 
 of our trade unions for some twenty-five years. And 
 by their work trade unionism not only became a per- 
 manent institution in our national life, it won recogni- 
 tion for its leaders as men of national repute. In 
 Parhament, in Town and County Councils, on the local 
 Bench of Magistrates, on Royal Commissions, and in- 
 stalled at the Board of Trade, the officials of the 
 larger trade vmions are seen in steadily increasing num- 
 bers since the days of the Junta, and are known and 
 respected as men of character and of serious responsi- 
 bility. The change in public opinion, with the know- 
 ledge that trade union leaders with their experience of 
 working-class conditions of life and their training in 
 organisation and administration are useful and efficient 
 servants of the community, is primarily due to the Junta 
 and its allies. These men had passed from the field 
 when the unskilled labourers sought organisation in 
 the eighties, and new ideals of unionism inflamed their 
 successors. 
 
 In the years when the Junta ruled, the annual Congress 
 of trade unions was estabhshed, the agricultural labourers' 
 movement rose and feU, and direct representation in 
 Parhament began. 
 
 Congress and parhamentary representation are dis- 
 cussed more fully in a later chapter ; here a word must 
 be given to the rural labourers' union and its short- 
 lived prosperity. 
 
 Trade unionism is rarely stationary, and the flow of
 
 HISTORICAL 23 
 
 183^4 was repeated in 1871-4, when " labour unrest " 
 was again a common phenomenon. Once more the 
 agricultural labourers were touched by the general 
 movement, and this time they had for their leader and 
 organiser Joseph Arch, a fervent and gifted speaker. 
 Arch, bom at Barford, Warwickshire, in 1826, was 
 himself an agricultural labourer, and when his feUow- 
 labourers from several parishes in the country met 
 together to discuss their grievances, in February 1872, 
 his eloquence roused them to action. A strike for 
 higher wages took place, which attracted wide sym- 
 pathy, and this was followed in March by the formation 
 of the Warwickshire Agricultural Labourers' Union. 
 Arch then carried the propaganda throughout agricul- 
 tural England, and everywhere, but more especially in 
 the Midland and Eastern Counties, the labourers ralhed 
 to his impassioned appeal. At the end of 1872 the 
 National Agricultural Labourers' Unions had a member- 
 ship of 100,000, and a large number of independent 
 local unions were in existence. This was high-water 
 mark. The persistent and bitter hostility of the farmers, 
 the rural land-owners, and the country magistrates to 
 the union soon overpowered the labourers. Within a 
 very few years of its birth the National Union was 
 reduced to a few thousand members, and the local 
 societies were dissolved. Arch remained faithful to his 
 call, and after the enfranchisement of the rural house- 
 holder, became the labourers' M.P. for N.W. Norfolk 
 in 1885. In many districts, too, a rise of wages for the 
 labourer followed the formation of a branch of the 
 union ; and the agitation generally encouraged a spirit 
 of independence amongst the labourers, and attracted 
 an attention in the country, that brought the parlia- 
 mentary vote to the agricultural labourer. But the
 
 24 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 isolation of the rural labourer was, and is still, against 
 trade unionism. Where men or women are employed 
 in large masses and work daily side by side a sense of 
 fellowship and a social feeling arise which make asso- 
 ciation Avhen the day's toil is over natural and easy. 
 Sharing the same work, receiving the same wages, and 
 working the same number of hours, at a common em- 
 ployment, to belong to a trade union is a simple per- 
 formance for factory operatives, miners, bricklayers, 
 and aU mechanics and artizans in cities. 
 
 It is quite otherwise with the agricultural labourer. 
 Little of his work is done in any companionship with his 
 fellows, and he is directly under the eye of his employer, 
 and not merged in a crowd. He lacks the backing of 
 members when he is dissatisfied and would seek an 
 improvement in his conditions ; and the fear of dismissal 
 from his work, and eviction from his cottage, is a power- 
 ful deterrent from action. That he has remained an 
 agricultural labourer, when so many of his mates have 
 migrated to the town or left the country for the Colonies, 
 reveals a hking for rural life deeply rooted in his nature. 
 
 The trade union camiot guarantee him against the 
 loss of Uvehhood should he displease his employers, and 
 so no trade union — ^unless it be strictly a friendly society 
 — can enlist him. And as the rural exodus continues 
 and the labourers diminish from the land, the appeal of 
 trade unionism ceases to be heard. There has been no 
 serious return to trade unionism in rural England since 
 Joseph Arch's crusade in 1872. 
 
 Parliament was concerned in the status and the 
 doings of trade unions in those years of the Junta and 
 Joseph Arch's campaign, provoked to interference in 
 the first place by the " Sheffield outrages " in 1866. 
 These outrages took the form of " rattening," i.e. the
 
 HISTORICAL 25 
 
 removal of the tools of non-unionist workmen, and of 
 exploding cans of gunpowder, and were done by 
 members of the Saw-Grinders' Union.^ Indignant pubhc 
 opinion refused to discriminate between the acts of the 
 Sheffield grinders and the general policy of the trade 
 unions ; and to make matters worse the Lord Chief 
 Justice decided, in the Court of Queen's Bench in 1867, 
 that a trade union could not as a friendly society proceed 
 against a defaulting or dishonest officer for embezzle- 
 ment of funds, because it was in itself since 1825 an 
 illegal if not an actually criminal association. A 
 Royal Commission was at once appointed to report 
 on trade unionism, and in 1871 a Trade Union Act and 
 a Criminal Law Amendment Act were passed, the former 
 legahsing the existence of trade unions, the latter making, 
 by stringent provisions, picketing, even when the 
 " watching and besetting " was accomplished by a single 
 individual, a serious offence. 
 
 A small band of middle-class men (of whom the chief 
 were Mr. Frederic Harrison, Professor E. S. Beesly, 
 Henry Crompton, and Thomas Hughes, then M.P.) 
 stood by the trade unionists, as the " Christian SociaHsts " 
 had stood by the co-operators when they were seeking 
 legislative recognition, and gave assistance at the 
 Royal Commission that considerably modified pubHc 
 opinion. 
 
 The Conservatives were returned to power at the 
 general election in 1874 ; another Royal Commission was 
 appointed (nominally to inquire into the working of 
 " Labour Laws "), and in 1875 the Government brought 
 in Bills, which were speedily passed, for the repeal of 
 the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the recognition of 
 
 ^ Charles Reade's novel, Put Yourself in his Place, givcB a clear 
 view of hostile contemporary opinion.
 
 26 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 employers and workmen (no longer master and 
 servant ") as parties to a civil contract, and for making 
 legal peaceful picketing during a strike.^ 
 
 The Trade Union Congress passed a special vote of 
 thanks to IVIr. R. A. Cross, the Home Secretary, for 
 steering the Bill through ParUament, and George Odger 
 declared enthusiastically that " the laws which Mr. 
 Cross had carried through were of all the laws he ever 
 was acquainted with the very best affecting the labour- 
 ing population of this country." 
 
 This was in 1875. Ten years later George Odger and 
 his colleagues had passed away, and a " new unionism " 
 inspired by Socialist doctrine had arisen. Two members 
 of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Mr. John 
 Bums 2 and Mr. Tom Mann,^ were the brilliant spokes- 
 men of the creed of militant and aggressive unionism 
 between 1885 and 1890. Their complaint was that 
 the trade union was too much of a friendly society and 
 not enough of an instrument for securing better con- 
 ditions for its members. 
 
 The spirit of the new unionism manifested itself in 
 the " labour unrest " of 1888-90, when the dockers', 
 the gas workers', and other labourers' unions were 
 formed. These unions, which are considered more 
 fully elsewhere, were first and foremost for shorter 
 hours and better wages, and for political action, and 
 gave little attention to friendly society benefits. Their 
 
 ^ " Collective bargaining, in short, with all its necessary 
 accompaniments, was, after fifty years of legislative struggle, 
 finally recognised by the law of the land." — Webb, History of Trade 
 Unionism. 
 
 ^ Right Hon. John Burns, M.P., President of the Local Govern- 
 ment Board since 1906. 
 
 ' Mr. Tom Mann is now the leading exponent of Syndicalism in 
 England.
 
 HISTORICAL 27 
 
 leaders have mostly become Members of Parliament, 
 or, unsuccessful as parliamentary candidates, remain 
 apostles of revolutionary Socialism. The ideal of both 
 is the same — that the working class, through collective 
 pohtical action, should become the directing and gover- 
 ning force in the country. But parhamentary responsi- 
 bility tempers revolutionary desires, and the Labour 
 leader in the House of Commons or in the City Council 
 finds that he has to take part in the work of legislation 
 and administration with a number of other pereons of 
 variously different opinions, persons with httle patience 
 for ideals. 
 
 Hence it has come about the " new unionism " of 
 the eighties, with its ardour for Independent Labour re- 
 presentation and the election of Sociahsts to Parliament, 
 is already " old-fashioned " and " out of date " accor- 
 ding to the still newer unionism of the twentieth 
 century. For this unionism is Syndicahst, and the 
 general strike is its weapon. It is as though Robert 
 Owen had risen from the dead when the earnest talk 
 of the Syndicahst is heard. 
 
 Meantime, the great bulk of trade unionists proceed 
 steadily on the old lines — distrusting revolutionary 
 sentiments, favouring the return to ParHament of their 
 officers — of whose abilities and honesty they are aware — 
 believing that by collective bargaining they can achieve 
 a more comfortable life for themselves and their famihes, 
 and that legislation of a social character is also needed 
 to improve their position. They have seen in the last 
 few years a steady stream of trade unionist officials 
 into the permanent Civil Service of the country ; they 
 have heard the justice of many of their demands ad- 
 mitted by people of all ranks and parties ; they cannot 
 foresee a time when their unions will not be wanted.
 
 28 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 The trade union, through its committees, branch 
 meetings, general executive, and numerous offices, 
 supplies a training-ground and a discipline for the work- 
 man that is of immense value in a democratic country. 
 It teaches him conduct in pubHc debate, responsibiHty 
 for the expenditure of large sums of money not his own, 
 and makes demands for a high standard of character. 
 It also teaches him that we are mutually inter-dependent 
 in an era of complex machinery and high civiHsation, 
 and that no man who enjoys this civilisation or uses this 
 machinery can order his life as he will, without con- 
 sideration for his neighbours. 
 
 As far as the law is concerned, trade unionists may 
 now picket peacefully, but the unions, by the Osborne 
 judgment, may not spend their money on pohtical 
 purposes, and they cannot be sued as a corporate body. 
 The payment of Members of Parliament out of the 
 national exchequer has not satisfied the keener poKticians 
 in the trade unions, and they are still, through their 
 leaders, seeking legislation that wiU enable a reasonable 
 majority in any union to devote such portion of its 
 funds as it may think fit to local and parHamentary 
 expenditure. 1 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 TRADE UNION CONGRESS AND PARLIAMENTARY 
 COMMITTEE 
 
 Every year the various trade unions in Great Britain 
 elect representatives, and these meet together for a 
 week's discussion of industrial and political questions 
 
 ^ A Trade Union Bill is now (February 1913) before Parliament 
 (and has passed the House of Commons), to allow expenditure of 
 trade uuion funds on political purposes.
 
 TRADE UNION CONGRESS 29 
 
 affecting the working class. This meeting, held at the 
 beginning of September, is called the Trade Union Con- 
 gress ; and at the Congress a Parliamentary Committee 
 is chosen, whose business it is to explain to Cabinet 
 Ministers and to impress upon Members of Parliament 
 the need for specific reforms either in legislation or in 
 administration of the law.^ 
 
 Certain standing-orders govern the constitution and 
 procedure of Congress. A trade union claiming repre- 
 sentation must be a genuine trade society of unimpeach- 
 able bona fdes, which has paid the necessary fees to 
 Congress according to its membership : £1, 10s. for 
 every 1000 members or fraction thereof. The ac- 
 credited delegate must be either a person working at 
 his or her trade or a permanent official of the union 
 represented. The expenses of the delegate attending 
 Congress, and the delegate's fee, 10s., must in each case 
 be paid by the society represented. 
 
 The representation and voting quahfication is one 
 delegate per 2000 members or fraction thereof, so that 
 a society with less than 1000 members is recognised as 
 a unit. 
 
 Voting is by card, and therefore it is not necessary 
 for the Miners' Federation, for instance, with its 550,000 
 members, to send 275 delegates. Its full voting strength 
 can be displayed if it has but one delegate, and only for 
 
 1 The exact objects of the Trade Union Congress and the 
 Parliamentary Committee are thus defined officially : 
 
 1. To watch all legislation affecting labour. 
 
 2. To initiate such legislation as Congress may direct. 
 
 3. To arrange programme for Congress from resolutions sent 
 
 from trades. 
 
 4. To verify all delegates' credentials. 
 
 5. To arrange for the meeting of Congress. 
 
 6. To ballot for position and order of the resolutions. 
 
 7. To transact the business between each Congress.
 
 30 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 purposes of debate do a larger number attend.^ Speeches 
 are strictly limited by time. Ten minutes is allowed 
 to the mover of a resolution, seven to the seconder, and 
 five to all succeeding speakers. 
 
 Formerly a trades council could send delegates, but 
 as the societies affiliated to a trades council already had 
 representation at Congress,this overlappingwas abohshed 
 at Cardiff, 1895, when the rule as to the present status 
 of delegates was settled. 
 
 The ParHamentary Committee consists of sixteen 
 members (generally secretaries of important unions) 
 elected by ballot at and from the Congress, not more 
 than one niember being eligible for the cormnittee. 
 The committee meets in London, where its offices are, 
 and 12<s. M. per day for country members, 10s. for 
 London members, is allowed with travelling expenses 
 from the same trade or same group of trades. The 
 committee elects its own chairman, vice-chairman, and 
 treasurer, but the Congress elects a secretary, whose 
 salary is £300 a year. 
 
 The first Congress was held at Manchester, at Whit- 
 suntide 1868, on the invitation of the Manchester and 
 Salford Trades Council, but a General Conference of 
 trade delegates had taken place in London the previous 
 year. This London Conference was called by the London 
 Working Men's Association, which had George Potter, 
 a carpenter, for its president. (Potter was an important 
 figure in the trade union world for many years. A critic 
 of the Junta and its cautious methods, and the editor 
 of a paper called the Beehive, a weekly organ of trade 
 unionism from 1861 to 1877, and the only fuU record 
 that exists of trade union activity in those years.) The 
 
 * As a matter of fact the Miners' Federation had 120 delegates 
 at the 1912 Congress.
 
 TRADE UNION CONGRESS 31 
 
 delegates of the numerous smaller metropolitan societies 
 were the main body of the Conference, for George Potter 
 and his Working Men's Association were cordially dis- 
 hked by the officials of the larger unions, but from the 
 miners came Alexander MacDonald, from the iron- 
 workers John Kane, from Sheffield William Dronfield, 
 as delegates. The chief business done was the drawing 
 up of a petition to Parliament for the legal recognition 
 of trade unions, the decision in the Queen's Bench that a 
 trade society had no legal existence calling for some sort 
 of immediate action on the part of the outlawed unionists. 
 It was felt that the trade unions must put themselves 
 right with the general public. 
 
 At Manchester, in 1868, thirty-four delegates at- 
 tended, representing 118,367 members. The circular 
 convening the Congress was signed by the president and 
 secretary of the local Trades Council, and in the spirit 
 of the London Conference urged that " prompt and de- 
 cisive action be taken by the working classes them- 
 selves." The order of proceeding was also stated in 
 the circular : 
 
 " The Congress will assume the character of the 
 annual meeting of the Social Science Association, in 
 the transactions of which society the artizan class is 
 most excluded ; and papers will be laid before the 
 Congress on the various subjects which at the present 
 time affect the trade societies, each paper to be followed 
 by discussion on the points advanced, with a view of 
 the merits and demerits of each question being thoroughly 
 ventilated through the medium of the pubUc press." 
 
 A lengthy Hst of subjects for discussion was proposed • 
 
 1. Trade unions an absolute necessity. 
 
 2. Trade unions and political economy.
 
 32 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 3. The effect of trade unions on foreign competition. 
 
 4. Regulation of the hours of labour. 
 
 5. Limitation of apprentices. 
 
 6. Technical education. 
 
 7. Courts of arbitration and conciliation. 
 
 8. Co-operation. 
 
 9. The present inequahty of the law in regard to con- 
 spiracy, intimidation, picketing, &c. 
 
 10. Factory Acts Extension Bill, 1867 ; the necessity 
 of compulsory inspection and its application to all 
 places where women and children are employed. 
 
 11. The present Royal Commission on trade unions 
 — how far worthy of the confidence of the trade union 
 interests. 
 
 12. LegaUsation of trade societies. 
 
 13. Necessity of an annual Congress. 
 
 Several of the items in this comprehensive programme 
 were to come up for discussion over and over again in 
 the next forty years, but no papers were read upon 
 them in 1868. The first authorised report of the pro- 
 ceedings of Congress was not issued till 1873, and Httle 
 seems to have been done at Manchester ^ beyond con- 
 solidating some of the trade unions for common defensive 
 pohtical action, advertising to all England the reason 
 for these combinations, and clearing up popular mis- 
 conceptions as to their aims and rules. 
 
 i^iexander MacDonald, Kane, Dronfield, and George 
 Potter were amongst the delegates, and it was decided 
 that the Trade Union Congress should become an annual 
 parHament of trade unionists. 
 
 ^ " It was a preliminary Congress, and in the main confined its 
 consideration to future action, laying its foundations, and deciding 
 its policy." — W. J. Davis, History and Recollections.
 
 TRADE UNION CONGRESS 33 
 
 The second Congress, held at Birmingham in 1869, 
 marked a distinct advance upon the first. Forty-seven 
 delegates, including George Odger, George Howell, 
 W. R. Cremer, and Mr. (now Right Hon.) Thomas Burt, 
 M.P., attended, representing 250,000 members. Many 
 topics, including a paper on " The best means to secure 
 the direct representation of labour in the House of 
 Commons," were discussed, and a Parliamentary Com- 
 mittee appointed. 
 
 Then the cautious minds of the Junta decided to 
 support the Congress, and although no meeting took place 
 in 1870, the third Congress, held in London, 1871, was 
 memorable for its inclusion of all the trade union leaders 
 — brought together by the anti-picketing clauses of the 
 Government Bill in Parliament. After the London 
 meeting the Parliamentary Committee took the place 
 of the Committee of Amalgamated Societies, the 
 Junta dissolved, and the Trade Union Congress became 
 the chosen instrument for expressing the pohtical and 
 social faith of the organised workmen in this country. 
 
 To be more exact, let us say for expressing the well- 
 considered opinions of the official leaders of trade unions. 
 For with the trade union, as with every ordinary club, 
 league, or other human society in England, the bulk of 
 the members of the rank and file are content to leave the 
 management and direction of their society to its elected 
 officers. Given the power to appoint, retain, and dismiss 
 the officials, and freely to criticise, when displeased, their 
 poHcy, the average trade unionist pays his contribution 
 and has little desire and less ambition for active partici- 
 pation in the business of the union, granting cheerfully 
 to others the right to speak and act in his name. If 
 this is true to-day, when only on the most vital trade 
 union issues can anything fike a full poll of members be 
 
 O
 
 34 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 obtained, it was far more obviously the case forty years 
 ago. 
 
 Hence, when the leaders of the trade union move- 
 ment were men such as the Junta and their immediate 
 successors were — men strong in the belief that workmen's 
 combinations, given full hberty of action, could achieve 
 the social salvation of the working class without State 
 interference — the Congress reflected these opinions ; and 
 the chief resolutions passed either called for alterations 
 in the laws affecting the status of trade unions, or ex- 
 pressed a desire for poUtical reforms commonly included 
 in the current Liberal and Radical programme. 
 
 Since 1890 the active spirits and many of the leading 
 officials of the trade unions have been Sociahsts rather 
 than Liberals, and so the character of Congress resolu- 
 tions has changed accordingly, the older school yielding 
 to the younger men. To-day the revolutionary in- 
 novators of twenty years ago are themselves in many 
 cases regarded as " old fogeys," to be voted down if 
 possible by Syndicalists. And aU these forty years, 
 whUe Congress has been declaring its faith to the world 
 in various resolutions, the average trade unionist has 
 gone his own way in untroubled iadifference, feeling 
 no call to endorse the poHtical and economic opinions 
 set forth at the annual parUament of his fellows, and 
 remaining Liberal, Conservative, or ^ociaUst according 
 to his taste and fancy. If to-day the trade unions 
 appear socialistic in their doctrine, it is partly because 
 their leaders are inclined to Socialism, but much more 
 because the old individualism of the nineteenth century, 
 with its dogmas of free competition and anti-State inter- 
 ference, no longer has any considerable number of ad- 
 vocates ; and trade unionists are merely with ordinary 
 Liberals and Conservatives in seeking social betterment
 
 TRADE UNION CONGRESS 35 
 
 by legislation and by extended Government powers 
 over numerous departments of human Hfe. On one 
 point the Trade Union Congress cleaves to its old tradi- 
 tion : it wiU have none of compulsory arbitration by the 
 State for the prevention or settlement of strikes. New 
 Zealand has adopted compulsory arbitration, and Mr. 
 Ben Tillett has long and vainly urged at Congress that 
 Great Britain would profit by a similar proceeding — 
 trade unionist leaders generally still hold that working- 
 class organisations should be free to strike when oc- 
 casions demand, testing their strength and endurance 
 against the might of employers. Not that strikes are 
 desirable in the eyes of trade unionist leaders. They 
 are extremely undesirable ; for a serious strike, in- 
 volving thousands of men, entails heavy labour and 
 anxiety on the ofiicers of the union whose members 
 have ceased to work. More than once the worry, the 
 exceptional responsibility, and the overwork caused by 
 a strike have destroyed the life and health of a trade 
 union official. And an unsuccessful strike always 
 means the dissatisfaction and ill-will of the defeated 
 trade unionists directed against their leaders — though 
 the latter may have done their best to dissuade from 
 any stoppage of work. 
 
 The Trade Union Congress has no authority to enforce 
 its resolutions on the unions, and a resolution is often 
 passed as a pious opinion only to be ignored in the 
 workaday world. The abolition of children's half-time 
 labour m the factories has been condemned over and 
 over again by the assembled delegates in the Trade Union 
 Congress, but numbers of Lancashire trade unionists 
 have steadily resisted, and do still resist, the abohtion 
 of this labour. 
 
 The legal eight hours' day for miners was opposed
 
 36 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 by a majority of miners in Northumberland and Durham 
 for many years after Congress had declared in its favour, 
 and Mr. Charles Fenwick, the M.P, of these opposing 
 Durham miners, was actually elected secretary to the 
 ParHamentary Committee of the Congress in 1870 and 
 re-elected for the next four years by the very delegates 
 who voted for the eight hours' day. 
 
 A resolution in favour of complete Sociahsm was 
 carried as far back as 1894 at the Trade Union Congress, 
 but that did not prevent the delegates from electing as 
 parliamentary secretary for ten years (1894-1904) 
 S. Woods of the Miners' Federation, a sturdy old- 
 fashioned Radical. The present secretary, Mr. C. W. 
 Bovverman, M.P., had made no profession of Sociahst 
 views, but is not on that account regarded unfavourably 
 by the delegates who would vote for a sociahstic re- 
 solution. 
 
 If the question be asked, of what use is this Trade Union 
 Congress which is without authority to compel obedience 
 to its decrees, tliis annual parhament of labour whom 
 no one need obey ? several repHes may be given : 
 
 (1) The very discussions at Congress are a relief to 
 members of trade unions with grievances on their minds 
 and with visions of human progress within their souls. 
 
 (2) A better understanding is promoted between the 
 various unions and their officers by the interchange of 
 opinions and the social intercourse during Congress week. 
 
 (3) The Parliamentary Committee can lay requests 
 before Cabinet Ministers and " lobby " Members of 
 Parhament with the assurance that a large body of 
 the electorate is at their back. 
 
 (4) From the discussions and resolutions of the Con- 
 gress both the Labour party and the General Federation 
 of Trade Unions have come into being.
 
 TRADE UNION CONGRESS 37 
 
 (5) Congress and the Parliamentary Committee have 
 been a training-ground for many Members of ParHament 
 and permanent officials in Grovemment service. A seat 
 on the Parliamentary Committee is a high honour in the 
 eyes of enthusiastic trade unionists. 
 
 The Right Hon. Thomas Burt, M.P., was president of 
 Congress in 1891. The Right Hon. John Bums, M.P., 
 was chairman of the ParHamentary Committee in 1893. 
 Mr. W. Thome, M.P., was chairman of the ParHamentary 
 Committee in 1896, and again in 1911, and was president 
 of Congress in 1912. JVIr. J. O'Grady, M.P., was president 
 in 1898 ; Mr. C. W. Bowerman, M.P., in 1901. Mr. John 
 Burnet (A.S.E.) served for a long period on the Parlia- 
 mentary Committee before his appointment as first 
 labour correspondent of the Board of Trade. Mr. C. J. 
 Drummond (London Society of Compositors) was also 
 on the ParHamentary Committee before his appointment 
 to the Board of Trade. Mr. Richard Bell (Railway 
 Servants), and Mr. T>. C. Cummings (Boilermakers), both 
 in the Board of Trade, are past presidents of Congress 
 and were chairmen of the ParHamentary Committee in 
 1903 and 1905 respectively. Mr. D. J. Shackleton 
 (Weavers), who now holds an important Government 
 position under the Insurance Act, was chairman of the 
 ParHamentary Committee (1907-8) and president of 
 Congress (190"^8-9). 
 
 Formerly the president of Congress was a local trade 
 union celebrity in the town where Congress met, but 
 twelve years ago a rule was made that the chairman of 
 the ParHamentary Committee should be the president of 
 the next Congress. 
 
 Although the number of trade unions represented at 
 Congress is reHable evidence as to the strength of trade 
 union membership in the country, it is not a complete 
 
 Kji 
 
 JG83
 
 38 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 return ; for some societies generally decline to send 
 delegates, and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, 
 with its 138,947 members, has not for several years been 
 represented. In 1910 the total number of trade union 
 members represented at Congress was 1,647,715, while 
 the actual membership in the United Kingdom was, 
 according to the Board of Trade, 2,435,704. 
 
 On the whole, however, the steady increase of member- 
 ship at Congress shows very fairly the progress made. 
 From 118,367 at Manchester in 1868, the figures have 
 gone up to 2,001,633 at Newport in 1912. There has 
 not been unbroken advance, for the years and seasons 
 of bad trade and unemployment always bring a falling- 
 off in trade union membership, but this falling-off is 
 more than exceeded at the next revival of business. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 TRADE UNION FEDERATION 
 
 Trade union federations in Great Britain are of two 
 kinds. They are either a federation of unions in the 
 same or kindred trade, or a general federation, irre- 
 spective of the particular employment. 
 
 The Miners' Federation of Great Britain — with its 
 membership fluctuating between 500,000 and 600,000 — 
 is the strongest example of the former. 
 
 The General Federation of Trade Unions — with 135 
 affiliated societies and 711,994 members at the close of 
 1911 — is the only recognised general federation now in 
 existence. 
 
 In both cases federation clearly to be distinguished 
 from amalgamation was long in coming, sectional in-
 
 TRADE UNION FEDERATION 39 
 
 terests blocking the way to unity over and over again. 
 In 1874, for instance, after the Sheffield Trade Union 
 Congress, an attempt was made to estabhsh a " Federa- 
 tion of Organised Trade Societies," but nothing came 
 of it. The Boilermakers and Amalgamated Society of 
 Engineers strove the following year to federate kindred 
 trade societies for mutual defence, and their efforts were 
 frustrated by disputes between the various societies. 
 No better fortune attended a similar attempt on the 
 part of the Boilermakers in 1881 ; and it was not till 
 1889 that Robert Knight, the general secretary of the 
 Boilermakers' Society, succeeded in estabhshing the 
 Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades of 
 the United Kingdom, which now includes twenty-six 
 imions, with a total membership of 372,186. This 
 federation chiefly exists to arbitrate between affiliated 
 unions and employers and between unions disputing as 
 to the demarcation of work. 
 
 At the Edinburgh Congress, 1879, the cry was raised 
 for federation, but when the ParUamentary Committee 
 drafted rules and issued an appeal to the trade unions 
 throughout the country to consider plans for a federation 
 of organised trade societies the request was completely 
 ignored. In 1882, when the subject was again before 
 Congress, Thomas Ashton, one of the chief leaders of 
 the cotton operatives, declared bluntly that it was all 
 nonsense to pass a resolution in favour of federation, 
 and that " it was impossible for the trades of the 
 country to amalgamate, their interests were so varied, 
 and they were so jealous with regard to each other's 
 disputes." 
 
 But the growth of employers' federations, the presence 
 of vast combinations of capital, and the spectacle of 
 the trust, have taught trade unionists that they too must
 
 40 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 combine far more closely if wages are to be maintained 
 or improved conditions of labour secured. 
 
 In 1888 the Miners' Federation of Great Britain was 
 formed, and twenty local independent miners' unions 
 (including the Yorkshire Miners' Association with 58,000 
 members, and the Lancashire Miners' Federation with 
 43,000 members, and numbering altogether some 
 200,000 working miners) linked up in a new and strongly 
 built alliance. For a long time the coal-fields of South 
 Wales, Durham, and Northumberland were outside the 
 federation, the miners in those places preferring the 
 complete independence of their local unions. They are 
 all within the federation now, and throughout Great 
 Britain the miners present a compact body of men. 
 Although each county association is self-governing, 
 when a baUot has been taken of the whole federation — 
 as it must be taken in the event of a general coal strike 
 or lock-out — the minority loyally abides by the decision 
 of the majority. As the miners were the first trade 
 unionists to elect Labour members to Parhament, so 
 to-day there are far more miners in the House of 
 Commons than there are representatives of other trade 
 unions. Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lanca- 
 shire, Fifeshire, Staffordshire, Derby, Nottingham, 
 Warwick, and South Wales all send miners' represen- 
 tatives to Parliament, and in each case they are men 
 who have worked at the pits. A perniy per member 
 per quarter is the sum paid by the various miners' 
 associations to the federation, and 75. Qd. per week per 
 member is paid out by the federation when a strike or 
 lock-out takes place. 
 
 In addition to the Miners' Federation and the Engineer- 
 ing and Shipbuilding Federation — by far the largest of 
 the sectional federations — we may note the British Metal
 
 TRADE UNION FEDERATION 41 
 
 Trades Federation (established 1906, and now embrac- 
 ing twenty- three unions with a total membership (1910) 
 of 204,331), which aims at the prevention of overlapping, 
 the institution of greater uniformity and co-operation, 
 the interchange of information, the fostering of inter- 
 national relations, &c., and makes no benefit payments ; 
 and the federations of the cotton and textile trades. 
 The Amalgamated Weavers' Association (estabhshed 
 1884), with its membership of 112,462 persons, is a 
 benefit-pajTug federation, and is also the principal 
 member of the Northern Counties Textile Trades 
 Federation, an advisory and organising body estabhshed 
 in 1905. The United Textile Factory Workers' Associa- 
 tion, 1883, includes the federations of weavers, spinners, 
 cardroom workers, and three smaller federations and 
 unions in the cotton trade, and has for its object " the 
 removal of any grievance from which its members may 
 be suffering, for which parHamentary or governmental 
 interference is required." 
 
 Twenty of the more important trade unions in the 
 letterpress printing, hthographic printing, and book- 
 binding trades are aflSliated to the Printing and Kindred 
 Trades Federation, which was estabhshed in 1891, and 
 had a total membership in 1910 of 68,476. Besides 
 these large and national federations in a great many 
 places, small local federations exist, especially for the 
 building and cotton trades. The local trades council, 
 too, has something of the nature of a federation, though 
 it is without powers to enforce any decision, and can do 
 little but pass resolutions, organise trade unionists for 
 parHamentary and municipal elections, and assist by 
 voluntary collections of money during a strike or lock- 
 out. About 1,000,000 members of trade unions are 
 represented at 252 trades councils in Great Britain.
 
 42 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 The Transport Workers' Federation came into exis- 
 tence in 1911, at the instigation of the Dockers' Union, 
 and for the purpose of increasing wages at the Port of 
 London. It included the unions of dockers, carmen, 
 stevedores, gasvvorkers, and general labourers, and 
 sailors and firemen, and is essentially a militant organi- 
 sation. As to the total membership of the Transport 
 Workers' Federation, it would be difficult to give even 
 an approximate figure, for its component unions 
 fluctuate enormously, gathering in thousands of members 
 when a strike threatens, and losing thousands when the 
 disjDute is over and the battle has been lost or won. 
 /''xhe General Federation of Trade Unions was formed 
 at Manchester in January 1899, and is the fruit of 
 persistent action at the Trade Union Congress. Mr. 
 W. A. Appleton, the secretary of the federation, has ex- 
 plained to his fellow trade unionists why it was formed : 
 
 " The dominant idea of the founders was a strong 
 central organisation, gathering to itself all the scattered 
 forces of the movement ; unifying these, welding them 
 into a well-ordered and definite army, capable of con- 
 certed movement, and backed by a gigantic central 
 fund, the whole of which should be at the service of any 
 society fighting to maintain its existence, or to improve 
 the lot of its members." 
 
 That the federation has not entirely satisfied the hopes 
 of its founders Mr. Appleton freely admits. He further 
 suggests the cause of the shortcoming : 
 
 " This ideal has not been altogether reahsed ; the old 
 selfishness and jealousies are not quite dead. There is 
 still the tendency in some directions to regard the 
 federation as an institution into which you must pay 
 the minimum contribution and from which you must 
 extract the maximum benefit ; while the stupid fear
 
 TRADE UNION FEDERATION 43 
 
 that the federation may become stronger in money and 
 influence than the individual organisations who are 
 affiliated to it, still affects some persons. 
 
 " There are still many unions outside the federation 
 who indirectly benefit by its work and influence. Some 
 of these stand outside for exactly the same reason as 
 the non-unionists give for refusing to join the union, 
 viz. that they cannot see an immediate opportunity 
 of getting out twice as much as they pay in. A number 
 fail to affiliate because they would rather risk annihila- 
 tion than any suggestion of central direction, while a 
 few remain out because their conceit leads them to 
 assume that they are in aU things sufficient unto them- 
 selves, or because their snobbishness prevents them 
 associating with their fellow- workers." 
 
 The huge consoHdations of capital make trade union 
 federation a necessity, according to the last annual 
 report of the General Federation : 
 
 " The necessity for more thoughtful and co-ordinated 
 trade union effort cannot be too strongly insisted upon. 
 The organisation of the employers' associations is much 
 more complete and effective than it was twenty or 
 thirty years ago ; they mostly possess highly skilled 
 technical advisers, and it is easier for them to act quickly 
 because of their smaller numbers and because senti- 
 ment has little or no place in their calculations. Labour 
 is just one of the commodities they must buy, and they 
 pay for labour the price which labour, by reason of its 
 supply in relation to their demand, or by reason of its 
 capacity for collective bargaining, can exact. To the 
 employer every industrial proposition must represent 
 a profit and loss transaction to be regarded purely from 
 a business point of view, and it is natural for him to 
 insist that the profit is as large as possible, and that the
 
 44 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 greater portion of it come to his side of the account. 
 It is up to workmen to see that a fair share of this profit 
 is translated into wages ; their only chance of doing this 
 is to put their own trade unions into a position more 
 nearly equal to that now occupied by the federated 
 associations of employers. Amalgamation and federa- 
 tion must, therefore, continue until there is a scientifi- 
 cally organised trade union movement, capable of 
 thro"«ing its strength in any needed direction, and using 
 the whole of its resources in the defence or promotion 
 of the industrial rights and privileges of its members." 
 
 The same feeUng towards the concentration of 
 capital has created federations of trade unions in 
 America and on the Continent, and an International 
 Federation of National Federations : with the result 
 that financial assistance is often forthcoming from the 
 unions in other countries when a strike of exceptional 
 gravity takes place, while steps are taken to prevent 
 foreign workmen imported by employers from taking 
 the place of the strikers. 
 
 The General Federation does not interfere in poHtics 
 " except when legislation threatens the interests of 
 trade unions, and then only through the Parhamentary 
 Committee or the Labour party, with whom it acts 
 harmoniously upon all labour questions." It confines 
 itself " to what it believes to be purely trade union 
 work." 
 
 Societies afiiliated to the General Federation pay, on 
 the higher scale, 4d. per quarter per member, and receive 
 55. per week for every member involved in a dispute, 
 whether strike or lock-out, approved by the federation ; 
 or on the lower scale, 2d. per quarter per member, with 
 2s. 6d. per week for strike pay. In 1910-11 the 
 federation paid out £72,322 to afiiliated societies ; its
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 45 
 
 receipts for the year amounted to £31,974, and its total 
 funds in hand at the end of the year stood at £61,235. 
 
 While the General Federation with its 710,996 members 
 is supported by the cotton operators and textile workers 
 (but not by the miners, who are content wth their o"wti 
 federation of 500,000 members), and by the chief unions 
 of the boilermakers, boot and shoe operatives, engineers, 
 general labourers, ironfounders, painters and decorators, 
 shipwrights, and tailors, and includes a hundred smaller 
 societies, there still remain some 1,168,727 trade unionists 
 not identified v/ith the national movements. Of these, 
 the secretary of the General Federation declares in his 
 annual report : " Their abstention is a source of weak- 
 ness. By standing outside they prejudice themselves 
 and prejudice the rest of the movement. Most of them 
 tell you they beHeve in the principle of federation, but 
 they are not prepared to make any sacrifice for prin- 
 ciple." 
 
 The " immediate ideal " of the General Federation, 
 according to its secretary, is " a million members and a 
 million pounds reserve." 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TBADE imiONS AND POLITICAL ACTION 
 
 Labour Representation, Socialism, Syndicalism 
 
 While it may be said that the majority of members in 
 all the British trade unions joined for the sake of the 
 direct financial benefits in the event of sickness or un- 
 employment, or in the hope of gaining some advantage 
 in hours or wages, it is equally tnie that a minority, 
 politically minded and alert, has ever sought to obtain
 
 46 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 improved conditions by parliamentary legislation. And 
 since this minority has included the responsible leaders 
 and officers of the unions it has constrained the rank 
 and file to support poUtical action. 
 
 It is no new thing the concerted poUtical action of 
 trade unionists. It sprang from the belief of the more 
 intelHgent of the working class at the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century that parliamentary representation 
 through enfranchisement would bring better conditions 
 of life to the labourer and artizan. Trade unionists in 
 this belief were conspicuous supporters of the Chartist 
 movement, and after the enfranchisement of the town 
 workman by the Act of 1867, their leaders turned hope- 
 fully to the task of winning seats in the House of 
 Commons. At the Trade Union Congress of 1869 in- 
 dustrial constituencies were advised to adopt as Labour 
 candidates men who were either working at a trade 
 or were the paid officers of trade unions. And in 1874 
 trade unionist Labour candidates went to the poll as 
 third candidates in ten constituencies, while Alexander 
 MacDonald and Mr. T. Burt were returned by the 
 miners (without opposition from the Liberals) for Stafford 
 and Morpeth respectively. In 1885 ten trade unionist 
 M.P.s were returned, and from that time forward the 
 number of trade unionist representatives in Parliament 
 has slowly but steadily increased, the members of the 
 Miners' Federation alone now taking eighteen seats in 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 The older trade unionist leaders grew up in the 
 Liberalism that was current in England in the middle of 
 the nineteenth century, and the Liberal tradition stiU 
 holds more than half the Labour members in the House 
 of Commons, Never has a Conservative trade unionist 
 been returned to Parliament, and it is only in Lancashire
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 47 
 
 (where the opposition of the Manchester school of 
 Liberals to the Factory Acts drove the bulk of the cotton 
 operatives to support Conservatives) that a trade 
 unionist leader has even stood as a Conservative trade 
 unionist candidate for Parhament : the late James 
 Mawdsley, for many years secretary of the cotton- 
 spinners, contesting Oldham, unsuccessfully, in that 
 capacity in 1900. 
 
 Reared in the chapels of the Primitive Methodists 
 and Wesley ans, learning by long practice as local 
 preachers and temperance advocates to become accept- 
 able and proficient pubHc speakers, the trade 
 unionist M.P.s naturally are attached to the Liberal 
 party. Those not professing the Nonconformist faith — 
 the studious men who came under the influence of 
 Herbert Spencer and Huxley, the Positivists — or 
 Bradlaugh — were also Liberals. The Church of England 
 trade unionist leader, if not absolutely unknown, is rarely 
 found, and has not been seen at any time in the House 
 of Commons. Only in recent years in England has the 
 Roman CathoHc trade unionist been so numerous that 
 trade union officials, and Labour M.P.s of the Roman 
 CathoUc faith, have been elected. These, too, are averse 
 from Conservatism since, being Irish Nationalists, they 
 desire Home Rule. 
 
 The Liberahsm of the older trade union leaders was a 
 mental attitude. Trade unionists were quite aware 
 that what is called " labour legislation," that is, factory 
 acts and other measures for ending the worst abuses of 
 the modem industrial system, were not the work of 
 Liberals more than Conservatives, but had been placed 
 on the statute-book by the joint action of men on both 
 sides. That both poHtical parties looked upon a third 
 party with profound dishke was also apparent. The
 
 48 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 records of Liberal and Conservative Grovernnients evi- 
 denced equally definite objection to trade union action 
 in general. If Lord Shaftesbury, a Conservative, was 
 the lifelong and entirely disinterested advocate of 
 factory acts, he regarded trade unions with no friendly 
 eye. While John Bright, who approved of trade 
 unions, objected to factory acts and to trade unionist 
 (or as he called it " class ") representation in ParUament. 
 
 But none of these things could turn the trade unionist 
 leader from his general allegiance to the Liberal party. 
 There might be, as there was in 1874, a temporary dis- 
 pleasure ynth. the Liberal Government for its anti-trade 
 union laws, and a momentary glow of appreciation for 
 the Conservative Government in 1875, when it passed 
 the " Employers' and Workmen Act," and repealed the 
 objectionable Criminal Law Amendment Act of its pre- 
 decessors ; these things were not to cause any lasting 
 breach. As it was, when a vote of thanks was given at 
 the Trade Union Congress of 1875 to ]\Ir. R. A. Cross, the 
 Conservative Home Secretary, for the passage of the BOl 
 through Parhament, there was some opposition, and 
 only on the assurance of such uncompromising Radicals 
 as George Howell, Henry Broadhurst, and George Odger 
 that no vote of thanks was intended for the Conservative 
 party, and that it was to Mr. Cross personally they were 
 expressing their indebtedness, was the vote carried with 
 but three or four dissentients. 
 
 Nonconformity, free thought in religion, a rooted 
 behef in pohtical democracy, an individuahsm that re- 
 garded State interference as a necessary evil, and a 
 sympathy with nationaHsm on the Continent (without 
 any very clear view as to what the nationahsts and re- 
 volutionaries were contending for), explain the ad- 
 herence of the old trade union leaders to the Liberal
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 49 
 
 party. And all the beneficent legislation of Conservative 
 Governments could not shake that belief. Apart from 
 the cotton operatives, the trade unionist leaders of 
 forty years ago were more anxious for freedom of action 
 for their unions than for social legislation, believing that 
 by collective bargaining and the strike they could 
 achieve the fair wage for the fair day's work, which was 
 all they supposed the workman was entitled to. They 
 desired to sit in Parliament because, in the words of 
 Mr. George Shipton, " no other class can speak with such 
 authority on labour questions," but were innocent of 
 any vision of working-class predominance or a separate 
 working class in Parhament. Such legislation as the 
 early Labour leaders sought was rather of a politically 
 democratic than a social character. The admission 
 of workmen to juries and to town councils by an amend- 
 ment of the quaUfication, reform of the patent laws, and 
 of the magistracy, were demanded by the Trade Union 
 Congress regularly every year in the seventies and 
 eighties of the nineteenth century, and the chief in- 
 dustrial demands were for employers' liability, an in- 
 creased factory inspectorate, and technical measures for 
 the prevention of accidents. In 1886 legislation for 
 national insurance was condemned by Congress as con- 
 trary to the interests of trade unions. 
 
 In matters of political opinion the leaders of the 
 movement must not be taken as representing the rank 
 and file of the trade unions. Politics and religion were 
 outside the business of the ordinary trade union lodge, 
 and the doings of the annual Congress have never been 
 of real concern to the majority of trade unionists. 
 Generally, where the trade union paid for a repre- 
 sentative in Parhament, or subscribed to his election 
 expenses, it was satisfied that he would be a useful man 
 
 D
 
 50 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 in the House of Commons ; and those who might not 
 care for the LiberaUsm of their official leader recognised 
 and respected his knowledge of technical points of law 
 and his whole-hearted championship of the trade union 
 cause. 
 
 Still, with every admission that the incursions into 
 pohtics of the pubHc-spirited trade union leaders were 
 sanctioned passively by their followers, the poHcy of 
 parliamentary representation was challenged more than 
 once at the Trade Union Congress by delegates who would 
 keep the unions from the strife of party pohtics. In 
 1882, at the Congress, only by 63 to 43 votes was the 
 following resolution carried : 
 
 " That, in the opinion of this Congress, a larger 
 measure of direct representation of labour in ParHament 
 is desirable in the interests of the working classes, and 
 that the time has arrived when this question should 
 pass from the region of abstract discussion to tte domain 
 of practical labour politics ; and for the support of such 
 representatives when in ParUament by the State." 
 
 Four years later the Trade Union Congress estab- 
 hshed the Labour Electoral Association for the purpose 
 of obtaining more labour representatives in Parliament, 
 and increased representation on local governing bodies. 
 
 Trade unions and trades councils were to pay 55. a 
 year, and individual subscribers Is. a year. 
 
 The trouble with the Labour Electoral Association 
 was that its officers, though earnest trade unionists, 
 were 411 Liberals, and Sociahsm was becoming the 
 poHtical and economic faith of the younger men in the 
 trade miion world. Mr. John Wilson, M.P. (Durham 
 Mners), and Mr. W. Abraham, M.P., " Mabon " (South 
 Wales Miners) filled the posts of chairman and vice- 
 chairman respectively of the first committee of the
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 51 
 
 L.E.A. in 1886, and Mr. WiLson declared emphatically 
 at Congress the following year that he advocated the 
 formation of a Labour party that should be separate 
 from the Liberal and Conservative parties. The Labour 
 Electoral Association, however, never won the con- 
 fidence of the trade unions, and though it helped to 
 secure the return of a few trade unionists to municipal 
 councils it could not create a separate Labour party. 
 
 Mr, J. Keir Hardie, now M.P., who came to the Trade 
 Union Congress for the first time in 1887 as a delegate of 
 the Ayrshire miners (and at once became a prominent 
 member by fiercely attacking Henry Broadhurst, M.P., 
 then secretary of the ParHamentary Committee and the 
 typical leader of the old school), was more than any 
 other trade unionist the real creator of a separate 
 Labour party. The Independent Labour party, known 
 familiarly as the I.L.P., 'came into existence as a 
 national organisation in 1892, not as the direct offspring 
 of the Trade Union Congress, but by the fusion of a 
 number of already existing local labour representation 
 parties. Its membership was never confined to trade 
 unionists, but was open to all who accepted Socialism 
 and were not members of Liberal or Conservative parties. 
 With the exception of Mr. John Bums and !Mr. W. 
 Thome, M.P., the younger trade union leaders at the 
 close of the nineteenth century who believed in 
 SociaHsm were generally members of the I.L.P. In 
 •addition to Mr. Keir Hardie, Mr. G. N. Barnes, M.P., 
 then general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of 
 Engineers T Mr. J. R. Clynes, M.P., and the late Pete 
 Curran, organisers of the Gas workers' Union ; Mr. D. 
 Cummings, then general secretary of the Boilermakers, 
 and now an • bfiicial at the Board of Trade ; Mr. I. 
 Mitchell, A.S.E., and late secretary of tho General
 
 52 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 Federation of Trade Unions, now at the Board of Trade ; 
 IVIr. Tom Mann, A.S.E, ; Mr, Ben Tillett, general secretary 
 of the Dockers' Union ; Mr. R. Smillie, now president of 
 the IVliners' Federation of Great Britain ; and Mr. J. 
 Sexton, secretary of the Liverpool Dockers, were 
 amongst the active supporters of the Independent 
 Labour party in the days when Socialism to most people 
 in England was stiU suspect as a dangerous novelty. 
 
 The I.L.P. still exists, but it is now but an affihated 
 society to the Labour party. For the trade unions, at 
 their Congress in 1899, again took up the business of 
 direct labour representation, and this time successfully ; 
 with the result that in 1900 the national Labour Repre- 
 sentation Committee came into existence. 
 
 The Labour Representation Committee was at first a 
 pohtical federation of trade unions, trades councils, 
 Sociahst societies, and local labour associations, and it 
 very quickly had four members in the House of Commons: 
 Mr. J. Keir Hardie, Mr. W. Crooks, Mr. D. J. Shackleton, 
 and ]Mr. A. Henderson. In 1906 it returned thirty 
 Members of Parhament, and subsequently changed its 
 name to the Labour party. Then trades councils were 
 excluded from membership, on the same ground that 
 they were excluded from the Trade Union Congress, and 
 the only Sociahst societies affiliated were the I.L.P. and 
 the Fabian Society. In 1910 the IVliners' Federation, 
 which had hitherto held aloof, preferring to send its own 
 members to Parhament unpledged to separate action, 
 formally joined the Labour party, and the House of 
 Commons membership went up to forty. Mr. J. 
 Ramsay MacDonald, M.P. — not himself a trade unionist, 
 but a representative of the I.L.P. — was the secretary 
 of the party from its formation in 1900 till 1911, when 
 he became the chairman of the parhamentary party.
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 53 
 
 Although a separate political organisation, in sym- 
 pathy \^ith Socialist proposals, the Labour party still 
 adheres to the traditional allegiance to LiberaHsm, re- 
 taining the behef in free trade and nationaHsm, and on 
 that account supporting the present Government in 
 its Irish and Welsh legislation, and opposing the Con- 
 servative programme of tariff reform. The entrance 
 of the Miners' Federation, whose parHamentary repre- 
 sentatives hitherto have been in most cases earnest Non- 
 conformists, strengthened the Labour party's friendly, 
 though unofficial, alKance A\ith the present Govern- 
 ment; and the fact that in many constituencies the 
 Labour member meets ■with no opposition from Liberals 
 also helps to maintain the existing mutual good feeling. 
 
 The SociaMsm that alarmed and terrified so many 
 people twenty years ago is now no longer a bugbear ; 
 for the individuahsm of the Victorian economists and 
 Manchester Liberals has passed away, and to-day men 
 and women of all parties and creeds, inspired by social 
 sympathies, are ready and anxious to experiment in 
 coUectivist enterprises, and to extend the authority of 
 the State for the promotion of public health, better 
 housing, and the removal of destitution. The trade 
 unionist leaders of the present day are as naturally 
 under the influence of Sociahst thought as their pre- 
 decessors were under the influence of the individuahst 
 laissez-faire philosophy of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The constitution of the Labour party required that 
 every affiHated society should pay one penny per member 
 per annum, the Labour party in return pay one quarter 
 of the retuming-officer's expenses, and £200 a year for 
 every member in Parliament. But the larger trade 
 unions made their own levies for parhamentary can- 
 didates — as the miners had done for years — and the
 
 54 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the Textile Workers, 
 the Railway Servants, the Gasworkers and General 
 Labourers, the Compositors, and the Shop Assistants 
 were all conspicuous in this respect at the general 
 election of 1906. A majority in each society voted the 
 levy and chose the candidates for Parliament ; not a 
 majority of the total membership, but a majority of 
 those who took the trouble to ballot on the question. 
 The average trade unionist, as before, was content to 
 leave things in the hands of those who were active 
 politicians. Then a muiority, which disliked the idea 
 of Socialism and the political independence of the 
 working class, took action, objecting to the compulsory 
 payment of a levy for purely political purposes. Mr. 
 Osborne, a member of the Amalgamated Society of 
 Railway Servants, brought the matter into the Law 
 Courts, and judgment (the now historic Osborne judg- 
 ment) was given, declaring that no trade union could 
 lawfully compel its members to pay money for labour 
 representation or for purposes other than those of a 
 non-poHtical character. The judgment was upheld in 
 the highest court in the realm, not\vithstanding that 
 many trade unions made labour representation one of 
 the objects set out in their registered rules and con- 
 stitutions. Mr. Osborne's example was followed in 
 other societies, and the political movement of the unions 
 received a distinct check. Not only were parhamentary 
 levies forbidden, but henceforth unions were excluded 
 from iinancing their own members for municipal elec- 
 tions, and it was doubtful whether fees paid to local trades 
 councils and to the Trade Union Congress were legal. 
 
 A voluntary levy was, of course, perfectly laA^iul. 
 But then voluntary levies are uncertain in their results, 
 and trade unionists, like other people, willing enough 
 to pay if they must for objects they approve of, are
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 55 
 
 quite happy to escape payment if they can. (What 
 proportion of public -spirited householders would be up 
 to time ^vith their payments for rates and taxes if such 
 payments were strictly voluntary and could not be 
 enforced by law ?) 
 
 The decision of the House of Commons to pay 
 Members of Parliament £400 a year has only partially 
 reUeved the situation, and a Trade Unions Bill is now ^ 
 before Parliament, which may without absolutely over- 
 riding the Osborne judgment do something to restore 
 to the unions the powers they formerly exercised in 
 poHtical matters. 
 
 Opposition to parHamentary action has not, however, 
 come only from Mr. Osborne ; in the last two years a 
 minority in certain unions has revolted against the 
 parUamentary Labour party for its slowness and its 
 lack of miUtant spirit. It would have its Labour M.P.s ; 
 make " scenes " in the House of Commons, quite for- 
 getting that the bulk of the electorate — the pubHc 
 generally — dislike and disapprove of such " scenes," 
 and that trade unionist leaders are men of orderly habits 
 and disciplined Ufe, who would not be in Parhament at 
 all but for their training in business experience and 
 sense of responsibility. The Labour members, since 
 Mr. Burt's arrival in 1874, have always been amongst 
 the best behaved in the House of Commons, and by their 
 exemplary conduct they have won the respect of the rest 
 of the House. When a " scene " is made by a Labour 
 member the offender is never a trade union leader, 
 and his constituents always express their displeasure 
 at the proceeding by rejecting him at the next election. 
 
 So it is in vain that the Labour party is reproached 
 for its " tameness " and orderly conduct. 
 
 Another minority in the trade unions, and these are 
 
 1 February 1913.
 
 5Q TRADE UNIONS 
 
 the men called SjTidicalists, have no belief in parUa- 
 mentary action at all, and openly declare that unions 
 waste their time and money over parliamentary can- 
 didatures. To the Syndicalist the future of society is 
 in the development of trade unions and trades councils 
 and the superseding of the State. Hence Sociahsm, 
 impljHmg the transf rence of the natural sources of 
 wealth to the nation, and the control and management 
 of industry to its accredited officers — ^the process to be 
 accomplished by parliamentary enactment — ^is a clumsy 
 and out-of-date scheme in the Syndicalist view, improb- 
 able and undesirable. 
 
 At present SyndicaHsm has few supporters in the 
 British trade unions, despite the fervent preaching of 
 its chief advocate in this country, IMr. Tom Maim, 
 A.S.E. But there is a growing opinion in the unions 
 that State interference has not been always wisely de- 
 vised of late, and the result is an ine\dtable reaction 
 against the State as employer. 
 
 Trade union Syndicalists are the latest critics of the 
 Labour party, and time has yet to show whether their 
 criticism can permanently divert trade unions from 
 poUtics or persuade trade unionists to be of one mind 
 in poHtical and economic doctrine. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 " NEW " UNIONISM 
 
 The trade unions of dockers, gasworkers, seamen and 
 firemen, and general labourers, sent delegates to re- 
 present 342,424 members at the Trade Union Congress 
 of 1912, and these trade unions have all come into 
 existence in the last five-and-twenty years.
 
 "NEW" UNIONISM 57 
 
 To be quite exact, it was in July 1887 the Dockers' 
 Union — now the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General 
 Labourers' Union, but called at first the " Sea Coopers' 
 and General Labourers' Association " — was bom. 
 Mr, Ben Tillett, then working as a sea cooper at the 
 " monument " warehouse hard by London Bridge, was 
 the agitator and organiser of the revolt which produced 
 the union, and from the beginning he has been the 
 secretary of the Dockers. 
 
 The aim of the " Sea Coopers," and of other laboui 
 unions which came into existence in the course of the 
 next few years, was an immediate improvement in the 
 conditions of labour : a living wage, less irregular 
 employment, a shorter working day. But the leaders 
 of this " new unionism," for thus it was called in contra- 
 distinction to the old-established trade unionism of the 
 skilled workmen, were stirred by the Socialist teaching 
 of their day, and had faith that revolutionary changes 
 in society were about to take place. Beyond the 
 immediate gain in wages they strove for the uplifting 
 of the whole working class, and had a vision of miseiy 
 and destitution ended and a brotherhood of man set 
 up on earth in place of the hard competitive struggle for 
 the right to live. Hence the " new unionism " was not 
 concerned with friendly society benefits, but was 
 political, seeking to place labouring men of the new 
 social faith in the seats of legislators and administrators. 
 
 The powers of the House of Commons, Town and 
 County Councils, and Boards of Guardians, were all to be 
 in the hands of the new trade unionists, and the world 
 would be changed. So it seemed to Mr. Ben Tillett, 
 Mr. Tom Mann, Mr. John Bums, Mr. W. Thorne, and 
 their comrades five-and-twenty years ago. And if our 
 present-day Sjnidicalists recall the teaching of Robert 
 Owen, no less true is it that the new unionists with their
 
 58 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 Socialism seemed, in their day, to amiounce the speedy 
 comiag of a new moral world as Robert Owen had done 
 fifty years before. 
 
 The object of the " Sea Coopers' and General 
 Labourers' Association " (set out in the " Dockers' 
 Bitter Cry," July 1887) was : " The regulation of the 
 hours of labour and the reform of the present system 
 of contract and sub-contract, which manufactures a 
 class of men and profits by them, who are glad enough 
 of an hour's work to pay for a ' fo'p'ny doss.' To bring 
 about the employment of the men on a system of greater 
 regularity and better pay, we are hoping to effect our 
 purpose by legitimate combination, beHeving that such 
 a course will be more conducive to permanent good than 
 an elaborate soup-kitchen scheme." 
 
 For two years the work of rousing the London dockers 
 went on, and then came the famous Dock Strike of 1889. 
 Mr. Ben Tillett, " twenty-seven and a fanatic ; mad 
 wdth determination in the face of odds, and the odds the 
 very class one gave vitahty and courage so gladly to," 
 was to most people leading the forlomest of forlorn 
 hopes in the two years preceding the strike. The title 
 of the union did not appeal to the average docker, and 
 it was hard uphill work. " We assailed the Victoria 
 Docks, going to the Albert ; then back to the Indian 
 group called the east, west, south-west, and south 
 docks ; then back into the London and the St. Katharine's 
 Docks. Morning meetings, talks, tramps, hunger, 
 expostulation, coaxing, entreaty, curses, aU of those 
 appeals were made amid the shouts and the curses of 
 those whom the more brutal sub-contractors had bribed 
 to ' boo ' and shout against me." ^ 
 
 The comer of Beckton Road, Canning Town ; East 
 India Dock gate, tidal basin ; the south dock entrance, 
 
 ^ Tillett, Brief History of the Dockers' Union.
 
 "NEW" UNIONISM 59 
 
 Millwall ; the entrance to the Surrey commercial docks. 
 Mill Pond Bridge, were all centres of the agitation. 
 Growth for the union was slow. " We garnered a few 
 members at each place, only to overstay our welcome ; 
 but we struck new ground. It was hunger for us ; but 
 it was starvation for others ; and so we kept the flag 
 flying, stuck to the broken mast of our httle imion ship. 
 
 " We had wool strikes : we got extra time for meals, 
 extra money for the work, but the men drifted out of 
 organisation from the moment they received advantage." ^ 
 
 The " Call on " at the docks was a horrible feature of 
 the casual employment : " the last remnants of strength 
 exerted in an effort to get work for an hour, a half hour, 
 for a few pence. Such strugglings, shoutings, cursings, 
 with a grinning brute selecting the chosen of the poor 
 wretches. 
 
 " At ' The Cage,' so termed because of the stout iron 
 bars made to protect the ' CaUer on,' men ravening for 
 food fought like madmen for the ticket, a veritable 
 talisman of life. 
 
 " Coats, flesh, and even ears were torn off each other ; 
 men were crushed to death in the struggle, helpless if 
 fallen. The strong literally threw themselves over the 
 heads of their fellows, and battled with kick and curse 
 through the kicking, punching, cursing crowds to the 
 rails of the cage, which held them like rats — mad, 
 human rats who saw food in the ticket. 
 
 " Calls at any period of the day or night kept men for 
 a week at a time hungry and expectant for the food and 
 the work which never came. Night and day watches, 
 the scraping of refuse heaps, the furtive miserly 
 storing of refuse rice the cooHes had thrown away, to 
 keep body and soul together. 
 
 " Men would risk life for the boss who carried a ticket 
 1 Tillett, Brief Ifistory of the Dockers' Union.
 
 60 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 of employment ; no abasement was too abject, and so 
 the petty tyrants flourished on a system promoting 
 starvation and death." ^ 
 
 This was the " Call on," and to substitute some better 
 arrangement was the purpose of the Dockers' Union. 
 
 In August 1889 came the London Dock Strike, when 
 the men, in sheer despair, were roused to action. In a 
 few weeks the battle was won. The dock management 
 recognised the minimum of 6d. an hour — the " dockers' 
 tanner " — regular calls for the man, and other details 
 of reform asked for. The gain in wages touched not 
 only the labourers, but every class of workmen at the 
 London Docks. " Some of the men along the river 
 front, who had been working for a paltrj' I85. and 205. 
 per week, became the proud possessors of 40s. and 50."?,, 
 and wages went up by leaps and bounds." A spirit of 
 independence was infused, and was recognised by the 
 management. " The whole tone and conduct of work, 
 of management of the men, was altered and for the best. 
 From a condition of the foulest blackguardism in direct- 
 ing the work, the men found a greater respect shown 
 them ; they, too, grew in self-respect, and the men we 
 saw after the strike were comparable to the most self- 
 respecting of the other grades of labour. 
 
 " The calls worked out satisfactorily ; organisation 
 took the place of the haphazard ; the bosses who lazed 
 and loafed on their subordinates were perforce obliged 
 to earn instead of thieving their money ; the work was 
 better done ; the men's lives were more regular as their 
 work was — the docker had in fact become a man ! " 
 
 Mr. Tillett, in this summing up, describes quite fairly 
 what the union and the strike of 1889 did for the London 
 docker. Since 1887 he, the first organiser of the union, 
 has been its chief ofiicer ; and two other men, Mr. Harry 
 
 1 Tillett, Brief History of the Doclcers' Vnwti,
 
 "NEW" UNIONISM 61 
 
 Orbell and Mr. Harry Kay, identified with the Dockers' 
 Union in its first year, are still its officials. 
 
 Of others who took an active part in helping the 
 dockers in the strike of 1889 : ]VIr. John Bums has been 
 a Cabinet Minister since 1905 ; Mr. Tom Mann has Hved 
 continuously the agitator's wandering hfe ; Mr. Llewellyn 
 Smith has been knighted, and holds an important office 
 in the permanent Civil Service ; Mr. Vaughan Nash has 
 resigned a private secretaryship to the Prime IMinister to 
 become vice-chairman of the Development Commission ; 
 ]\Ir. Clement Edwards is a Member of Parliament and 
 barrister-at-law. Tom M'Carthy, of the stevedores, was 
 worn out by the life of a dockers' organiser after ten 
 years and died in September 1899. Cardinal Manning, 
 to whom more than to any other man was due the settle- 
 ment, was eighty at the time, and lived but three years 
 longer. 
 
 No sooner was the London strike won, and the Dock, 
 Wharf, Riverside, and General Labourers' Union firmly 
 established, than the other ports were attacked and 
 branches of the union were formed in Bristol, Hull, 
 Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, and Southampton. 
 
 Liverpool soon had its own dockers' organisation, with 
 branches at Hull and in Scotland — the National Union 
 of Dock Labourers, founded by Mr. Richard M'Ghee 
 and Mr. Ed. M'Hugh — and Mr. James Sexton has been 
 the general secretary of this society for twenty years. 
 
 Both these unions have had a very fluctuating 
 membership all the time. Numbers join and leave 
 annually ; branches are created, flourish, and then melt 
 away. In 1912 the membership of the Dock, Wharf, 
 Riverside, and General Labourers' Union stood at 
 50,000, and the National Union of Dock Labourers at 
 24,000, according to the report of the Trade Union 
 Congress. Yet in 1910 the membership was only
 
 62 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 18,240 and 14,253 respectively. From 1901 to 1910 the 
 Dock, Wharf, and Riverside Union membership varied 
 between 13,929 and 18,240— faUing to 11,908 in 1905— 
 and the National Dock Labourers swung from 13,307 
 to 14,253 in the same period of years. 
 
 In neither society are sick, accident, or unemployed 
 benefits paid, but the weekly contribution of 3d. a week 
 ensures a funeral benefit of £4 in the event of death, and 
 125. Qd. weekly dispute pay during a strike or lock-out. 
 
 Both ]\Ir. Ben Tillett and Mr. James Sexton have 
 stood as parliamentary (Independent Labour) cP;ndidates 
 on many occasions and for various seats, but without 
 success. Mr. Sexton, however, is now a J.P. 
 
 If the Docket's' Union was first in the field of the new 
 unions, the Gasworkers' and General Labourers' Union 
 has been consistently the strongest. Founded by Mr. 
 Will Thome, himself a gasworker, in 1889, its work has 
 been the organisation of the unskilled labourer all over 
 Great Britain, and the reduction of the daily hours of 
 labour — especially in a gasworks — from twelve to eight. 
 The eight hours' day is now the common rule not only 
 at the gasworks but in many other places of toil, and 
 for its acceptance as a normal working day Mr. Thome 
 and the Gasworkers' Union may justly take some credit. 
 
 Beyond all other labour unions the Gasworkers' has 
 maintained that poHtical power must be placed in the 
 hands of the organised working class, and the funds of 
 the union have been freely spent on parhamentary 
 elections. Mr. Thome, general secretary of the union 
 from its birth, has been a member of the West Ham 
 Corporation for nearly twenty years. He contested 
 South West Ham for Parliament, unsuccessfully, in 
 1900, but was returned by enormous majorities in 1906, 
 and in 1910 at both elections. The late Pete Curran, 
 chief organiser of the union from 1889 till his death in
 
 "NEW" UNIONISM 63 
 
 1910, fought five parliamentary elections during that 
 time, and was only successful on one occasion, sitting as 
 M.P. for Jarrow for two years in the House of Commons. 
 Mr. J. R. Clynes, M.P., organiser of the Lancashire 
 district of the Gasworkers' Union, has been elected three 
 times (1906 and 1910) for North-east Manchester. In 
 many other districts the local officials of the union have 
 been elected to seats on City Councils, and it is an under- 
 stood thing by the rank and file that their officers will 
 take part in poHtical life as fully as possible. The Gas- 
 workers' Union was bom in the years of the Sociahst 
 agitation ; hence its general secretary and its officers 
 have always declared their faith in SociaHsm, and at 
 pohtical elections — parhamentary or municipal — have 
 always stood as Independent Labour candidates. 
 
 The constitution of the Gasworkers' Union allows a 
 good deal of local autonomy. The headquarters are 
 in London, and there are various districts of not less 
 than 2000 members — London, Birmingham, Bristol, 
 South Wales, Lancashire, Yorkshire, N.E. Coast, &c. 
 Each of these districts elects its own secretary and 
 organiser and its own local council. A general quarterly 
 councU of aU the districts is held in London, and the 
 final authority in the union is the Triennial Conference 
 of the districts. To the local council each branch — that 
 is, every section of labourers — sends its delegates. When 
 the present writer was a member of the Yorkshire district 
 councU of the union — some twenty years ago — it was 
 customary to meet once a fortnight on Saturday after- 
 noon, and the chief business done was the consideration 
 of claims from various bodies of workmen in the union 
 for assistance. Either an mcrease of wages was de- 
 sired, or a reduction of hours was to be obtained, or 
 some irritating grievance remedied. Often enough no 
 sooner were men in the union than they would press
 
 64 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 their claim for immediate benefits, and clamour for a 
 strike for another halfpenny an hour if the demand was 
 not conceded within a few days of their joining the 
 union. Much of the time at those old council meetings 
 was spent on vetoing strikes, and explaining to im- 
 patient delegates that the district officials would 
 negotiate ^ ith the employers on the matters in dispute. 
 While it is true that trade unions have made many 
 strikes successful that would otherwise have been lost, 
 and that the fear of a strike has very frequently driven 
 employers to grant advances to their workpeople, it is 
 equally true that the authority of the union has over 
 and over again prevented rash and hot-headed members 
 from hastily ceasing work, and has even commanded a 
 return to work when an unsanctioned strike has taken 
 place. The extra work entailed, the anxiety, the un- 
 certainty of the issue, the possibility of defeat, and 
 subsequent demorahsation and loss of membership, all 
 tend to make trade union officials averse from strikes. 
 Only when discussion leads to nothing and arbitration 
 is refused will the governing committee of a union fall 
 back upon the strike to remedy some intolerable state 
 of affairs. On several occasions, however, in recent 
 years the strikers have ceased work without any per- 
 mission or sanction from their Executive Committee, and 
 the said committee has not been strong enough to enforce 
 obedience. Generally when the hands of trade union 
 leaders are forced in this way it seems that the only 
 thing to be done is to make the best of the situation and 
 contend for victory — on the ground that an official is a 
 salaried servant of the union and must carry out the 
 wishes of the members. Sometimes this course is im- 
 possible to a self-respecting official, and ]\Ir. G. N. 
 Barnes, M.P., resigned the general secretaryship of the 
 Amalgamated Society of Engineers rather than jdeld
 
 "NEW" UNIONISM 65 
 
 to what he held to be a mistaken pohcy on the part of a 
 large number of members. 
 
 The Gasworkers' Union has known the common 
 troubles of new unionism in the matter of unstable 
 membership. The weekly pajnuent of twopence does 
 not bind men so closely to the union as a larger sum 
 would. The mechanics' unions, with their shilling and 
 more per week in contributions, soon draw an amount 
 so considerable from each member than he will not 
 lightly forfeit the promised benefits by letting his pay- 
 ments lapse. 
 
 But men wiU pay their shiUing entrance fee into the 
 Gasworkers' Union and their twopence weekly contribu- 
 tion under some stress of emotion ; and then perhaps 
 the casual work they were engaged upon comes to an 
 end, and they go off to another town where no branch 
 of the union exists, and the union is forgotten in a few 
 weeks. Or it may be a season of trade depression and 
 unemployment that makes thousands of xjenniless men 
 lapse from the union, from sheer want of pence to keep 
 up their contributions, no out-of-work pay being granted 
 except at a strike or lock-out. 
 
 In 1901 the Gasworkers' Union membership stood at 
 46,014. It sunk to 29,631 in 1904, rose to 39,805 in 
 1907, dropped agam to 32,040 in 1910 (with 360 branches), 
 and then cHmbed up to 71,000 in 1912. Other labour 
 unions formed in 1889 and still existing are the folloAv- 
 ing : the National Amalgamated Labour Union, head- 
 quarters at Newcastle-on-Tyne, membership 47,000 ; 
 the Gasworkers', Brickmakers', and General Labourers' 
 Amalgamated Society, headquarters Birmingham, 
 membership 6525 ; the National Amalgamated Labourers' 
 Union of Great Britain and Ireland, headquarters 
 Swansea, membership 5000 ; and the Navvies', BuOders' 
 Labourers', and General Labourers' Union, general 
 
 E
 
 66 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 secretary ]VIr. John Ward, M.P., membership 2909. In 
 each of these cases the figures of membership are for 
 1912. 
 
 The Sailors' and Firemens' National Union was 
 formed in 1887, but it was not a registered society in 
 1910, and its membership has been far more irregular 
 than that of any other new union. According to the 
 Board of Trade its members in thirty-nine branches 
 numbered 7000 in 1906, and had risen to 12,000 in 1910. 
 Then at the Trade Union Congress of 1912 its delegates 
 represented 60,000 members. Mv. J. Havelock Wilson, 
 for many years the seamen's M.P. for Middlesborough, is 
 responsible for bringing the union into existence and has 
 been its foremost leader. 
 
 Two societies that are distinctly " new " unions, and 
 yet whose members cannot by any stretch of imagina- 
 tion be classed as " unskilled " workers, may also be 
 noted here : the Shoj) Assistants' Union, formed in 1891 ; 
 and the Amalgamated Musicians' Union, formed in 1893. 
 
 The former has steadily increased its membership 
 from 10,041 in 1901 to 21,426 m 1910, wdth 441 branches ; 
 but dropped to 19,828 in 1912. In line with the new 
 unionism the Shop Assistants attach great importance 
 to poUtical action, and their representative, IVIr. J. A. 
 Seddon, sat in Parhament for the New^ton division of 
 Lancashire from 1906 to 1910. The Musicians' Union 
 also shows a steady increase of members, the total 
 membership standing at 3167 in 1906, and at 6000 in 
 1912. Its general secretary, JVIr. J. B. WilHams, a 
 member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade 
 Union Congress, sat for some years on the Manchester City 
 Council as a labour member ; while its London organiser, 
 Mr. Jesson, was a labour member of the L.C.C. 
 
 The distinctive note then, of all recent trade unions, 
 is the behef in political action.
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT 67 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE 
 
 Trade unions are seK-managed and directed in con- 
 stitutional fashion by rules approved by the Board of 
 Trade. They are subject to the common law of the 
 land, and are usually, but not invariably, registered; 
 as co-operative and friendly societies are registered. 
 
 A member of a trade union acting, in the opinion of 
 the elected governing committee of the union, against 
 the interests of the union, or directly violating the rules 
 he has promised to keep on his admission, is Mable to 
 expulsion, and being expelled, forfeits aU prospective 
 benefits his payments would otherwise have ensured. 
 In this respect the trade unionist is in a similar position 
 to the barrister, the solicitor, the medical practitioner, 
 and the clergyman, aU of whom are subject to de- 
 privation of professional status and occupation on con- 
 viction of professional misconduct. It rarely happens 
 that a trade unionist is expelled from his society, and 
 still more rarely that he makes appeal to the Law Courts 
 against the sentence. 
 
 To understand what the management and discipline 
 of a large and important trade union mean, let us glance 
 at what the Amalgamated Society of Engineers is 
 doing and note how the work of this society — so famous 
 in the annals of trade unionism — is done. 
 
 Founded, as we have already seen, in 1851, by the 
 amalgamation of smiths', mechanics', and engineers' 
 societies, the A.S.E. had at the start 11,829 members. 
 By October 1912 it has become a world-wide organisa- 
 tion, with a total of 138,947 members, 600 branches in 
 Great Britain, 25 branches in Ireland, 40 in Austraha,
 
 68 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 4 in Tasmania, 20 hi South Africa, 1 in Malta, 1 at 
 Gibraltar, 1 in India, 1 in Spaiti, 13 in Canada, and 41 
 in the United States, in addition to 27 new branches 
 recently opened in Great Britain, South Africa, Austraha, 
 and America. The increase of membership has been very- 
 marked, rising steadily and at quickened speed decade 
 by decade at the following rate : 
 
 1861—22,862 members. 
 1871—37,790 „ 
 
 1881—46,101 „ 
 
 1891—71,221 „ 
 
 1901— 90,943 members 
 1910—110,733 „ 
 
 1912 (Oct.) 138,947 „ 
 
 The responsibiUty for the welfare of these members is 
 in the hands of an Executive Council in London ; an 
 American and Canadian Council, New York ; an Austral- 
 asian Council, Melbourne ; a South African Council, 
 Johannesburg ; Organising District Delegates, District 
 Secretaries, Branch Committee men, and other minor 
 officials, all duly elected to their respective offices by 
 baUot of members. The revision of rules and constitu- 
 tion is left to a meeting of delegates elected by aU mem- 
 bers, and these delegates are the supreme authority. 
 
 At the head office, Peckham Road, London, the 
 Executive Council — a body of eight representing and 
 chosen from the members in that number of divisions 
 in Great Britain — sits daily. The general secretary of 
 the A.S.E. (Mr, Jenkin Jones) and four assistant 
 secretaries are also in daily attendance. Every month 
 a report is issued to members giving, amongst other 
 matters, an abstract of the proceedings at the Executive 
 Council. Difficulties concerning rates of wages, the 
 demarcation of work between kindred societies, and 
 the attitude of employers to trade unions, which have 
 not been settled locally are referred to the E.G. for 
 adjustment.
 
 TRADE UNION IVIANAGEMENT 69 
 
 The Organising District Delegates were formerly 
 elected from and for seven areas in the United Kingdom, 
 but increasing membership has necessitated an increase 
 of organisers, and there are now twelve. According to 
 rule : " They shall be elected for three years, and be 
 ehgible for re-election. Each district delegate shall be 
 nominated and elected from and by one of the twelve 
 districts in which he has worked and resided for the 
 twelve months immediately preceding such nomination." 
 Subdivided as they are these areas cover a wide field, and 
 a considerable amount of travelling must be done by 
 the Organising District Delegate. The present arrange- 
 ment of organisers' districts makes Ireland, with branches 
 at Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Waterford, &c., one division. 
 Scotland, from Ayr to Aberdeen, forms the second 
 division. Liverpool, Barrow, Preston, Chester, Douglas 
 {Isle of Man), Holyhead, Carlisle, and Dumfries are in 
 the third. The North-east Coast from Jarrow to 
 Middlesborough, and the Tyneside, make the fourth. 
 Yorkshire, excepting Sheffield, Doncaster, and Rother- 
 ham, are the fifth. Manchester, Bolton, and Oldham 
 are the chief centres m the sixth ; and Lincoln, Notting- 
 ham, Derby, and Sheffield in the seventh. The midlands, 
 including Birmingham, Coventry, Crewe, Leicester, 
 Shrewsburj^, Stafford, and Wrexham, form the eighth ; 
 Kent, Middlesex, Essex, Oxford, Northampton, Norfolk, 
 Sufifolk, Hertford, and Bucks, the ninth. The London 
 area is the tenth ; Hampshire, Berks, Wilts, Sussex, 
 Dorset, and Devon, the eleventh ; and South Wales, 
 with Bristol and Gloucester, the twelfth. 
 
 In the monthly report each O.D.D. gives an account 
 of his stewardship — the branches visited, employers 
 interviewed, joint conferences attended. 
 
 The District Secretaries of the A.S.E. are under the 
 control of the Executive Council, and are not to be
 
 70 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 confused wdth the Organising District Delegates. The 
 tasks of the latter involve far Avdder and heavier responsi- 
 biUties. The secretaries are elected according to the 
 following rule : " They shaU be nominated bj^ and from 
 the branches in their respective districts, and shall have 
 worked and resided in their respective districts for twelve 
 months immediately preceding such nomination. Candi- 
 dates shall have been seven years members of the 
 society, and shall not be IO5. in arrears. They shall 
 be nominated not less than twelve weeks, and elected 
 not less than four weeks, before taking office." 
 
 Each branch has also its committee, \tith secretary, 
 treasurer, and sick stewards — the business of the 
 stewards being to look after those members incapaci- 
 tated from work by illness or accident, and consequently 
 in receipt of benefit allowance. 
 
 The wages of the general office staff in 1911 amounted 
 to £2897, 9s. ; the salaries and travelling expenses of the 
 district delegates to £2161, 125. 9hd. ; salaries of local 
 treasurers to £1732, II5. 6ld. ; auditors, £2058, Us. 5d. ; 
 branch secretaries, £7873, 17s. 5d. ; other branch 
 officers, £4043, 6s. lie?. ; district committees and their 
 officers, £5862, IQs. 2d. Altogether the bill for salaries 
 in the A.S.E. amounted to £32.856, 18s. 3M. in 1911, 
 and the total expenses of management to £49,955, 15s. 9d. 
 — working out at 8s. 6|c?. per member. 
 
 And what of the benefits to members ? Trade unions 
 loom so large in the pubHc eye when strikes or lock-outs 
 are taking place that the benefits thej'' dispense all the 
 year round as friendly societies, and the advances in 
 wages gained by peaceful negotiations, are apt to be 
 overlooked. Take the benefit monies paid to members 
 by this one typical trade union, the Amalgamated Society 
 of Engineers, in 1911. By far the heaviest item of 
 expenditure is the superannuation benefit, which
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT 71 
 
 amounted to £141,807, 95, lOd. Then comes the ex- 
 penditure on unemploj^ment (including dispute pay 
 during strikes), and for sending members to situations, 
 amounting to £82,714, 3s. 4|c?. The sick benefits 
 took £59,327, 13s. Id. ; accidents and loss of tools, 
 £8956, Is. Id. ; funeral payments, £16,335, 10s. ; bene- 
 volent grants, £3320, 10s. ; and variovis local levies to 
 trades councils and payment of fuU wages to members 
 on union business, £7247, 15s. lid. ; making a grand 
 total of £314,709, 3s. d^d., and working out at £2, 14s. 2|(Z. 
 per member. 
 
 Some idea can be formed from these figures of the 
 finances of a great trade union, and the honesty, care, 
 and business ability required and displayed by workmen 
 ill the management of their own afiPairs. For it must 
 be remembered that all the official posts in such a 
 society as the A.S.E. are restricted absolutely to 
 members, and a jealous exclusion of non-workmen 
 makes any interference in the management by well- 
 meaning outsiders, or any notion of a " career " in the 
 trade union movement for political adventures, equally 
 impossible. 
 
 The only persons not in the A.S.E. who are paid by 
 the society for their services are the chartered ac- 
 countants called in for the annual audit. 
 
 The advances in SYSiges and reductions in hours 
 gained by the A.S.E. for its members in 1911 are also 
 to be considered. In spite of the labour " unrest " no 
 serious dispute troubled the society, and discussion and 
 conference prevailed. 
 
 " Advances have been obtained " (so writes the 
 General Secretary in his annual report) " for the Clyde 
 and Scotland generally ; also thirty-one districts in 
 England, including the North-east Coast. Advances 
 have been granted in Belfast and Ireland generally, and
 
 72 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 practically every town in Wales has received substantial 
 advances, and in some to'WTis a substantial reduction in 
 the weeldy working hours. We have also made an 
 agreement with the Employers' Federation estabhshing 
 a imiform code of rules, with reduction in hours, in 
 Government yards when our men are employed by 
 Government contractors. In all M'e have about forty 
 districts where advances in wages have been made, 
 ranging from Is. to 45. per week. These advances have 
 been obtained for the operative engineers by interviews 
 or local conferences by our officials, and failure to effect 
 settlement by local conference advances have been ob- 
 tained through the second court in the form of central 
 conferences with the Employers' Federation." 
 
 The A.S.E. is affiliated to the General Federation of 
 Trade Unions, has three of its members in Parhament, 
 but for some years past has sent no delegates to the 
 Trade Union Congress. 
 
 As with the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, so 
 with other trade unions of long standing. 
 
 The rules may, and do, vary. In some cases the 
 Government is highly centrahsed, as it is with the 
 Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, and all 
 powder is vested in headquarters. In other cases we 
 have the district councils and delegates, and an execu- 
 tive sitting as a court of reference or appeal. 
 
 Generally a conference or delegate meeting is required 
 ever^^ few years for revision of rules and constitution. 
 
 Current opinion favours local autonomy, and it is 
 urged that the spasmodic and unauthorised strikes of 
 railwaymen, often entered upon not only without per- 
 mission but in defiance of headquarters, are partly caused 
 by the want of a stronger local authority and the re- 
 moteness of the seat of government. 
 
 The behef in parhanientary representation and in
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT 73 
 
 coining economic changes to the advantage of the 
 workmen, and the wlUingness of members to contribute 
 to pohtical levies to further these changes by legislation, 
 are deeper and stronger in some trade unions than in 
 others. 
 
 The General Secretary of the A.S.E. declares in the 
 last annual report of his society that " The primary 
 objects and functions of a trade union are to obtain 
 and maintam satisfactory conditions of labour and 
 wages, and the hours of labour to suit modem times ; 
 also to promote an ideal social condition through the 
 union and through ParUament." 
 
 It is doubtful whether the average trade unionist is 
 interested in the " ideal social condition " more ardently 
 than the average person outside the unions ; but it is 
 quite certain that a very large number of the members 
 of the skilled trades unions are convinced as heartily 
 as the leaders of the labourers' unions are convinced 
 that direct representation in Parliament is invaluable 
 if wages are to b'j maintained or improved and hours of 
 labour reduced. 
 
 In the matter of friendly society benefits all the 
 older unions have their responsibilities ; and the honesty, 
 care, and abiUty displayed by the A.S.E. are seen in the 
 management of these unions. 
 
 Where the work is of a highly technical character, 
 as in the cotton industry, the union officials are required 
 to have expert knowledge of all the details of factory 
 work ; and generally the trade union organiser must 
 know to a nicety the intricacies and refinements of the 
 employment whereat the members of the society, whose 
 accredited agent he is, are engaged, to the end that he 
 may judge clearly the extent of a fair day's work. Only 
 with such knowledge can the trade union organiser 
 deal competently with the demands of members for
 
 T4 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 better terms or resist encroachments of employers on 
 existing conditions. 
 
 Some account of the management of the A.S.E. has 
 been given ; very briefly we may touch upon the finances 
 of certain other old-estabHshed societies, taking in each 
 case the figures pubHshed in the last Board of Trade 
 report. 
 
 The Operative Bricklayers, formed in 1848, show the 
 dechning membership found in all the trade unions 
 connected with the building trade. From 38,743 in 
 1901 the membership had gone down to 23,284 (in 328 
 branches) in 1910. In that year £594 was paid to un- 
 employed members ; £1389 in dispute pay ; £24,724 for 
 sick and accident benefits ; £12,501 for superannuation 
 benefits ; £3799 for funeral benefits ; and the expenses of 
 management, salaries, &c., came to £10,478. The Brick- 
 layers are affihated to the Trade Union Congress, but not 
 to the General Federation of Trade Unions. 
 
 The Operative Stonemasons of England and Wales, 
 formed in 1833, have declined from 18,684 members in 
 1901 to 7055 (m 258 branches) in 1910. They paid 
 (1910) £425 unemplojonent ; £3 dispute pay ; £1243 
 sick and accident benefits ; £5999 superannuation 
 benefits; £1134 funeral benefits; and spent £3805 on 
 management. The Stonemasons are affiliated neither 
 to Congress nor to the General Federation, and have 
 sent no member to Parliament since the retirement of 
 the late Henry Broadhurst. 
 
 The General Union of Operative Carpenters and 
 Joiners, formed 1827, had 7301 members in 1901 and 
 5653 (in 161 branches) in 1910. The benefit payments 
 for 1910 were as follows : unemployed and travelling, 
 £3495 ; dispute pay, £180 ; sickness and accident, £1847 ; 
 superannuation, £2477 ; funeral, £423 ; other benefits and 
 grants to members, £224. Cost of management, £3169.
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT 75 
 
 The general secretary of the union, Mr. W. Matkin, J.P., 
 has a seat on the ParHamentary Committee of the Trade 
 Union Congress, but the old pohtical activities of the 
 society have ceased to be conspicuous. 
 
 The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, 
 formed 1860, had 67,018 members in 1901 and 55,785 
 (884 branches) in 1910. Its benefit payments in 1910 
 were as follows : unemployed and travelling, £63,530 ; 
 dispute pay, £1309 ; sick and accidents, £40,741 ; super- 
 annuation, £53,617 ; funerals, £6377 ; tool and other 
 benefits, £4568. Cost of management, £30,351. The 
 Amalgamated is affiliated neither to the General Federa- 
 tion nor to Congress. Local federations of the building 
 trades societies are the rule. Twenty such federations 
 exist, and six of these federations are united in a union 
 of Building Trades Federations of the United Kingdom 
 formed m 1897. 
 
 The Durham Miners' Association, formed 1869, is the 
 largest union m the Miners' Federation. It has strenu- 
 ously and successfully worked to bring all the miners 
 in the county within its fold, and the membership has 
 risen from 81,858 in 1901 to 121,805 in 1910. It paid 
 the following benefits in that year : unemployed, 
 £39,279 ; dispute pay, £2654 ; sick and accidents, 
 £85,319 ; funerals, £7169. No superannuation benefits 
 are paid. Management expenses, £13,211 — a remarkably 
 low figure in comparison mth many societies. The 
 Durham miners have many of their representatives on the 
 Durham County Council ; and their veteran chief officer, 
 ]\Ir. John Wilson, M.P., who was born in 1837, and helped 
 to found the association, has sat in the House of Commons 
 for Mid-Durham since 1890. 
 
 The Associated Ironmoulders of Scotland, formed 
 1831, keep a very steady membership, the numbers only 
 varying from 7832 in 1901 to 7880 in 1910, and the
 
 76 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 highest figure in the interval showing 8296 in 1908. 
 The benefits paid in 1910 were as follows : unemployed 
 and traveUing, £7271 ; sick and accidents, £300 ; super- 
 annuation, £12,920 ; funerals, £2695 ; dispute pay, nil. 
 Working expenses, £2533. The Associated Ironmoulders 
 are affiliated both to the Congress and the General 
 Federation. 
 
 The Steam Engine Makers' Society, formed 1824, 
 could not be persuaded to come in when the amalgama- 
 tion of engineers' societies took place, 1850-1, and it 
 has preserved a separate and not unprosperous existence. 
 Its membership has risen from 8976 in 1901 to 13,401 
 in 1910. The following benefits were paid in that year : 
 miemployed and travelling, £9698 ; sick and accident, 
 £6799 ; superannuation, £9406 ; funerals, £1781 ; other 
 benefit grants, £118 ; dispute pay, nil. Management 
 expenses, £4221. The Steam Engine Makers are 
 affiHated to Congress, but not to the General Federation. 
 The headquarters of the society are at Manchester, and 
 there are 144 branches. 
 
 The United Machine Workers' Association, formed 
 1844, is another old and small society which keeps its 
 independence and flourishes.' Here too a steady 
 membership, with an upward tendency, is recorded, the 
 figure rising from 3917 m 1901 to 4886 (in 71 branches) 
 in 1910 and 6700 in 1912. The follo^\'ing benefits were 
 paid in 1910 : unemployed, £4674 ; sick and accidents, 
 £2281 ; superannuation, £511 ; funerals, £361 ; other 
 benefit grants, £33 ; dispute pay, nil. Management, 
 £2406. Mr. M. Arrandale, J.P., the general secretary 
 of the United Machine Workers, is a member of the 
 Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, 
 but the union is not afiihated to the General Federation — 
 the engineering and shipbuilding trades having their 
 OTfn national federation. The United Boilermakers'
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT 77 
 
 and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders' Societj^ formed 1834, 
 also shows a steady upward tendency, with 48,113 
 members in 1901, 49,393 in 1910, and 56.000 represented 
 at the Trade Union Congress of 1912. The unemployed 
 benefits were small in 1910, only amounting to £170 ; 
 but the dispute pay reached £93,731. Sick and accident 
 benefits were £37,934 ; superannuation, £47,879 ; 
 funerals, £8207 ; benevolent grants, £9527. Manage- 
 ment (including a depreciation of investments to the 
 serious extent of £12,806), £36,823. The Boilermakers 
 are affiliated to the General Federation ; and their 
 secretary, Mr. John Hill, has contested more than one 
 parHamentary election. 
 
 The Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton 
 Spinners, founded 1870, increased its membership from 
 39,787 in 1901 to 54,475 in 1910. It paid in 1910 
 £93,533 unemployed benefits ; £18,328 dispute pay ; 
 £7039 sick and accident benefits ; £8161 superannua- 
 tion ; £1082 funerals , and £1040 leaving trade benefits. 
 Management, £10,798. The Cotton Operatives are 
 affiliated to the General Federation, invariably have one 
 member on the Parhamentary Committee of the Trade 
 Union Congress ; and their representative, Mr. A. H. Gill, 
 M.P., of the Bolton Cotton Spinners, has sat in the House 
 of Commons for Bolton since 1906. 
 
 The National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives, 
 founded 1874, is another society of increasing member- 
 ship, the figures being 28,011 in 1901, 30,197 m 1910, 
 and 37,000 in 1912. Unemployed benefits in 1910 
 amounted to £9955 ; dispute pay, £1695 ; sick and 
 accident benefits, £12,345 ; funerals, £1436. Manage- 
 ment (central executive office only), £3418. The union 
 is affiliated to the General Federation and to Congress ; 
 and had a representative, Mr. T, F. Richards, in Parha- 
 ment, 1906-1910. In Leicester and in other towns
 
 78 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 of the boot and shoe industry it sends representatives 
 to the local corporations. 
 
 The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, 
 founded 1871, has more than doubled its membership 
 in the last ten years, the numbers going up from 55,941 
 in 1901 to 75,153 in 1910 and 116,516 in 1912. In 1910 
 it paid £5100 unemployed benefits ; £4460 dispute pay ; 
 sick and accidents, £2235 ; superannuation (lump sums 
 for disablement), £7101 ; funerals, £1895 ; orphan fund, 
 £9720. Management, £46,880. Three of its officers 
 are in Parliament — Mr. W. Hudson, M.P., Newcastle ; 
 Mr. Thomas, M.P., Derby ; and Mr. G. J. Wardle, M.P., 
 Stockport. The general secretary of the A.S.R.S. is 
 a member of the Parhamentary Committee of the 
 Trade Union Congress, but the society is not affihated 
 to the General Federation. 
 
 The Typographical Association (provincial), founded 
 1849, and the London Society of Compositors, founded 
 1785, and probably the oldest of existing trade unions, 
 keep up their membership, the former advancing from 
 16,600 in 1901 to 21,436 in 1910, the latter from 11,355 
 to 12,231 during the same period. Both societies have 
 representatives in the House of Commons ; Mr. G. H. 
 Roberts, M.P., KorAvich, belonging to the provincial 
 association, and Mr. C. W. Bowerman, M.P., Deptford, to 
 the London Society. Mr. Bowerman is also the secretary 
 of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Con- 
 gress. The Typographical Association paid the follow- 
 ing benefits in 1910 : unemploj^ed, £16,357 ; dispute 
 pay, £462 ; sick and accidents, £65 ; superannuation, 
 £12,911 ; funerals, £2074. Management, £5865. The 
 London Society, 1910 : unemployed, £23,697 ; dispute 
 pay, £893 ; sick and accidents, £235 ; superannuation, 
 £11,005 ; funerals, £2756. Management, £4657. 
 
 The Amalgamated Union of Cabinet Makers, founded
 
 TRADE UNION MANAGEMENT 79 
 
 1833, is a small and ancient society which preferred its 
 independence when the Alliance Cabinet Makers and 
 Cabinet and Chairmakers (Scotland) joined forces and 
 became the National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades 
 Association in 1902. Its membership in 1901 was 
 2518, and 2587 in 1910. It rose to 3093 in 1907, but 
 was unable to keep at that level. The following pay- 
 ments were made in 1910 : unemployed, £2983 ; dispute 
 pay, £41 ; sick and accidents, £1164 ; superannuation, 
 £1219 ; funerals, £300 ; other benefits, £157. Manage- 
 ment, £1332. It is affiliated to Congress. 
 
 The twelve societies whose finances we have here over- 
 looked are thoroughly representative. They are societies 
 of long standing and of many trades, and their informa- 
 tion is sufficient for some understanding of trade union 
 management and methods. There is no uniform scale 
 of benefits, and the sums paid by the different societies 
 vary considerably ; but the proportion of expenditure on 
 disputes, on friendly society benefits, and on manage- 
 ment may be seen in the following summary made by 
 the Board of Trade of the average annual expenditure 
 for the last ten years (1901-1911) of the hundred princi- 
 pal trade unions : disputes, £245,534 ; unemployed, 
 £613,968 ; superannuation, funerals, and benevolent 
 grants, £954,325 ; management, £480,790. 
 
 We can see perhaps more clearly how the money goes 
 in the following extract from the Board of Trade Report : 
 
 Out of every £l spent by tlie hundred unions during the three 
 years 1908-10, 2s. 8d. was expended upon dispute benefits; 
 Gs. 2d. upon unemployed benefits ; 7s. Gd. upon sick, superan- 
 nuation, funeral, and other friendly benefits ; and 3s. 8d. upon 
 working and miscellaneous expenses. The corresponaing 
 distribution for the years 1901-10 taken together was : dispute 
 benefits, 2s. 2d. ; unemployed benefits, 5s. 5d. ; sick, f^uper- 
 annuation, funeral, &c., benefits, 8s. 3d. ; working and 
 miscellaneous expenses, 4s. 2d.
 
 80 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 
 
 In the days of the " Grand National Consolidated 
 Trades Union," 1833-4, when Robert Owen's pro- 
 paganda brought a rush of the working class into 
 unionism, many women's societies existed. " The 
 Grand Lodge of Operative Bonnet Makers vies in 
 activity with the miscellaneous Grand Lodge of the 
 Women of Great Britain and Ireland ; and the Lodge of 
 Female Tailors asks indignantly whether the Tailors' 
 Order is really going to prohibit women from making 
 waistcoats." ^ 
 
 Depression followed quickly, the lodges of female 
 bonnet makers and tailors disappeared, and for forty 
 years women had neither part nor lot in trade unions, 
 the spasmodic attempts at organisation during those 
 years bringing no accomplishment. 
 
 In 1874 IVIrs. Emma Paterson, the daughter of a 
 London schoolmaster and wife of a cabinetmaker, set 
 on foot the Women's Trade Union League (originally 
 the Women's Protective and Provident League) and 
 the National Union of Working Women. Mrs. Paterson, 
 " the real pioneer of the modem women's trade unions," 
 attended the Trade Union Congress for ten years, and 
 ror.sed sympathy and attention amongst the delegates 
 for the large army of unorganised, overworked, and 
 underpaid working women in the country. Mrs. 
 Paterson was several times nominated for a seat on 
 the Parliamentary Committee, but never obtained 
 election. At the instigation of Mrs. Paterson and Miss 
 J. G. Wilkinson, in 1885, Congress for the first time 
 
 ^ Webb, History of Trade Unionism,
 
 WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 81 
 
 voted a resolution in favour of women's suffrage. But 
 Congress always supported restrictions on women's 
 labour in opposition to IMrs. Paterson's view.^ 
 
 Miss Gertrude Tuckwell and Mss Mona Wilson (now 
 an Insurance Commissioner) were later the moving 
 spirits in the Women's Trade Union League, and active 
 support was given to the formation of trade unions among 
 workwomen (the object of the League) by the late Sir 
 Charles Dilke and the leaders of the unions of cotton 
 operatives. 
 
 The folloAving are the declared objects of the Women's 
 Trade Union League : 
 
 ORGANiSATiOiSr. — The League is willing to send organisers to 
 any London or provincial district to form new or strengthen 
 existing trade unions. 
 
 Legislation. — The League acts as the agent of women trade 
 unionists in making representations to Government Authorities 
 or Parliamentary Committees with regard to their legislative 
 requirements, or in bringing forward specific grievances in 
 individual trades or factories, by means of questions and 
 representations by Members of Parliament in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 Complaints as to grievances and breaches of the Factory and 
 Workshops Acts, when sent to the League, are investigated 
 carefully and referred to the proper quarters. 
 
 Cases under the Compensation, Truck, and other industrial 
 laws referred to the League, are investigated and advice given 
 by the secretary of the Legal Advice Department and the 
 League's legal advisers. 
 
 Social Work. — The League arranges entertainments and 
 weekly club nights and social evenings for members and their 
 friends. 
 
 By the Women's Trade Union League came the 
 National Federation of Women Workers into existence 
 
 ' Mrs. Paterson died December 1886, and Congress was repre- 
 sented at her funeral by Henry Broadhurst, M.P. " Her views on 
 restrictions of women's work were always unpopular, but she 
 expressed them fearlessly, and no lady delesrate was ever more 
 respected." — W. J. Davis, History and Recollections of British Trade 
 Union Congress. 
 
 V
 
 82 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 in 1906, for the purpose of uniting " for their mutual 
 protection workwomen who are engaged in unorganised 
 labour." 
 
 The Federation in 1912 had seventy-four branches 
 and " close on 15,000 " members, and its aims and 
 activities are similar to those of the average trade union. 
 It sets out : 
 
 To improve the conditions of employment of working 
 women ; to watch their interests, and secure the redress of 
 individual or collective grievances. 
 
 To regulate the relations between employer and employed. 
 
 To secure fair payment for services rendered. 
 
 To give legal aid to members as far as the law allows. 
 
 To provide a weekly allowance for members when ill or in 
 distressed circumstances. 
 
 To support financially members who may be involved in a 
 dispute with the sanction of the Federation. 
 
 To administer benefits under the National Insurance Act. 
 
 Miss Gertrude Tuckwell and Miss Mary R. Macarthur 
 are president and secretary respectively of the Women's 
 Trade Union League and the National Federation of 
 Women Workers. 
 
 The extent of the work of the National Federation 
 may be gathered from the fact that it disbursed 
 £1150, 125. 10^;. in strike pay in 1912. 
 
 Some of the advances m wages obtained (1911-12) in 
 London must be recorded if the value of the work is to 
 be appreciated. 
 
 In Bermondsey : 
 
 At Pinks' jam factory the wages were raised from 9s. to lis. 
 per week. 
 
 Biscuit-makers : Is. rise all round for time workers. 
 
 Bottle-washers : Minimum wage, 12s. (being a weekly increase 
 of 2s. to 2s. 6d.). 
 
 Metallic capsule manufacturers : All day workers to have 
 Is. Qd. advance after three months' service. Minima of 13s. and 
 14s. in different departments ; piece rates increased.
 
 WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 83 
 
 Tin-box makers : Minimum wage, 10s. ; advance of Is. a week 
 all round to day workers ; increased piece rates. 
 
 Box and packing-case makers : All-round advance of 2s. ; 
 beginners to have 7s. weekly for three months' learning ; giria 
 under 16, 9s. a week ; girls over 16, 12s. a week. 
 
 Cocoa-makers : Graded scale, with minimum wage to start at 
 14 years of age 4s. 7rf., increasing every year until 18, 12s. 4d. ; 
 piece-workers on day work to be allowed 3d. an hour ; piece 
 rates to be increased. This means improved wages for every 
 worker. 
 
 Glue and size makers : Is. advance all round. 
 
 Tin-box makers : Increases of Is. 9d. to 4s. weekly. 
 
 It is estimated that the rises in wages obtained bj the 
 Federation amount to some £7000 per annum. 
 
 In Clerkenwell : 
 
 Confectionery works : A minimum wage of 12s, weekly for 
 girls of 19 years was fixed. Before this time many women had 
 earned 6s. lO^d. and 8s. for a full week's work. The firm state 
 that these increases are costing them at the rate of £3000 per 
 year. 
 
 This Clerkenwell dispute was finally referred to a 
 Court of Arbitration, when the following award was 
 given : 
 
 In no case shall a female working on piece rates receive less 
 than the following time rate for her particular age : 
 
 Time Kate for Piece Workers 
 
 Under 15 years of age 
 
 . 5s. per week 
 
 16 and under 16 years of age . 
 
 . 6s. 6c?. „ 
 
 16 „ 17 „ „ 
 
 . 8s. 
 
 17 „ 18 „ „ 
 
 . 9s. 
 
 18 and over 
 
 . 10s. 
 
 Any difference between the piece rate earned and such time rate 
 shall be made up to her by her employers. 
 
 All female workers in the above trade working by time shall 
 be paid a time rate of not less than the amount set out below, 
 varying according to age : —
 
 84 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 Time Rate for Female Workers working by Time 
 Under the age of 15 . . . .5s. per week. 
 
 15 and under 16 years of age 
 
 16 „ 17 „ „ 
 
 17 „ 18 „ „ 
 
 18 „ 19 „ „ 
 
 19 years of age and over 
 
 6s. 6d. 
 
 8s. 6d. 
 
 9s. Qd. 
 lis. 
 12s. 
 
 Provided that any female worker entering the trade at or 
 over the age of 17, having had no previous experience therein, 
 and not coming under the provisions of paragraph 1 of this 
 award, and being employed in time work, shall receive at least 
 the following rates for such time work in lieu of the above : 
 
 1st six months of employment . . .8s. per week. 
 2nd „ „ „ ... 9s. „ 
 
 and after that at least the rate applicable to her particular age 
 as set out above. 
 
 A constant obstacle to the progress of the National 
 Federation is the heavy percentage of lapsed members 
 every year. In this respect the unions of badly paid 
 workers — whether male or female — are all equally 
 handicapped. 
 
 Comparatively only a handful of women belong to the 
 National Federation, for the trade unions of the textile 
 trades take over 83 per cent, of the women trade unionists 
 in the country. It is not often reahsed by those outside 
 the trade union world how very considerable are the 
 numbers of women unionists in Lancashire alone, and 
 that these numbers steadily increase, as the ranks of 
 the women unionists in other trades increase. 
 
 The Cotton Weavers have forty-four unions, and 
 105,560 female members and 43,470 males ; ^ while 
 the Cardroom Operatives, with seventeen unions, have 
 43,421 female members (an increase of 4587) and 9299 
 males (an increase of 1002). In the linen and jute 
 trade there are thirteen unions, and the female members 
 
 ^ Board of Trade Report on Trade Unions, 1908-10.
 
 WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 85 
 
 outnumber the male by 17,319 to 8283, the female 
 membership sho^^dng an increase of 2852 and the male 
 a decline of 514. Altogether the total number of 
 women trade unionists in the textile trades at the end 
 of 1910 was 183,019, the increase on the returns of 1907 
 being 8200. The only decline was amongst the weavers, 
 where, since 1907, the women unionists have lost 4866 
 members and the men 3420. 
 
 Of the other trades where women are enrolled in 
 unions with the men the boot and shoe claims 1401 ; 
 tailoring, 2301 (an increase of 1200) ; the hat and cap, 
 3333 ; printing and paper, 2724 ; shop assistants, 6021 
 (increase 1000) ; miscellaneous and general labour, 
 14,764 (increase 3940) ; and employment under public 
 authorities, 6349 (increase 1541). 
 
 It may be seen that where women are employed in 
 large numbers, and in associated labour as in the cotton 
 trade, the trade union has become recognised as a 
 necessary institution. Female shop assistants, clerks, 
 and post-office employees have also in recent years 
 accepted the trade union ; though here, as with the 
 male, the difficulty of class feeUng exists, the trade 
 union being still regarded in many cases as essentially 
 a workman's organisation, unworthy of those who in 
 manners and customs hold themselves to be of the 
 middle class, (For the same reason the National Union 
 of Teachers holds itself aloof from the trade union 
 movement and joins neither the Trade Union Congress 
 nor the General Federation of Trade Unions.) 
 
 There are many evidences that this social pride is 
 diminishing, and that the employees of the retail shop 
 and the office are turning to trade unionism, as mechanics 
 and labourers have done, to secure better wages and 
 shorter hours. Especially is this the case in the larger 
 business, where courage and confidence are begotten
 
 86 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 in a multitude of employees. Wliere only one or two 
 clerks or assistants are employed the probability is they 
 will not be unionists. 
 
 As for domestic servants, waitresses, and barmaids, 
 the idea of trade union organisation no more appeals to 
 them than it does to footmen, waiters, and barmen. In 
 the case of a large staff of domestic servants, male and 
 female, engaged in one house, the trade union would be 
 as heartily disUked as a " democratic " institution — 
 savouring of revolutionary violence — in the servants' 
 hall as it would be in the drawing-room. While the 
 solitary general servant, in the house where only one 
 servant is kept, is generally far too tired when her 
 leisure comes to think of industrial amehoration and 
 organisation. 
 
 It is possibly because barmaids and waitresses do 
 not regard their occupation as a permanent profession 
 that the appeals of unionism leave them cold. For to 
 the majority of women marriage and its attendant 
 housekeeping mean prospectively release from other 
 employment. The actress, the singer, the writer, the 
 factory worker, and the charwoman can remain in their 
 calhngs when married, but not the waitress, the barmaid, 
 the female clerk, or shop assistant. 
 
 The woman worker of the textile factory, and of the 
 National Federation of Women Workers, enjoys all the 
 benefits from trade unionism enjoyed by men. The 
 women workers outside and untouched by trade 
 unionism are either satisfied with their conditions of 
 employment, or despair of getting them altered and 
 hope for escape by marriage.
 
 CONCLUSION 87 
 
 CHAPTER IX . 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 The stability of the British trade union, its constitu- 
 tional and orderly methods of procedure, its anxiety 
 to be recognised as an entirely lawful and useful 
 ingredient of society, are phenomena observed and 
 remarked upon — generally with astonishment mingled 
 with respect — by foreign critics. 
 
 No less remarkable is the readiness of trade union 
 leaders to take part in the making and administration 
 of the laws ; to sit as Justices of the Peace side by side 
 with employers of labour on the local Bench of Magis- 
 trates, and m similar company on Municipal Councils 
 and in the House of Conunons. All this willingness to 
 be accepted as good citizens, and this easy capacity 
 for co-operation in the business of government with 
 capitalists and employers, puzzle the social revolutionist, 
 for whom the class struggle is a fact only to be ended 
 by the economic extinction of aU who are not of the 
 A^orking class. 
 
 Again, the stability of our trade unions is a good deal 
 connected with their financial investments. The total 
 funds in hand, at the end of 1910, of the hundred principal 
 trade unions amounted to £5,121,529, and this was 
 no exceptional figure, for the amount in 1901 was 
 £4,129,927, and the balance has advanced fairly steadily 
 year by year. 
 
 Of this £5,121,529, banks held £1,689,060; £156,484 
 was invested in consols ; £1,814,956 in corporations and 
 public trusts ; £67,553 in railways ; £343,967 in freehold 
 and leasehold property ; £616,508 in mortgages ; £50,371 
 in trading firms, including co-operative societies ; and
 
 88 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 £20,439 in building societies. Possessing this balance 
 of five million pounds — invested in corporation and 
 railway stock, in land and houses — the leading trade 
 unions have a very considerable stake in the country, 
 and their officials have, naturally, scanty patience for 
 the notion of destroying, or superseding, the State by a 
 social revolution. 
 
 This partly accounts for the lack of support given to 
 Social Democrats at elections and to the proposals of 
 Syndicahsts ; for there is a grave doubt in the minds of 
 trade union treasurers whether the funds of each man's 
 particular union might not be tampered with or 
 diminished — at the worst be lost — should a social re- 
 volution occur. The preservation and maintenance 
 of a substantial balance at the bank is quite properly 
 an all-important matter to the trade union treasurer. 
 An impoverished exchequer leaves the union defenceless 
 against possible demands of employers for reduction of 
 wages ; for mthout provision of dispute pay for some 
 weeks ahead no union of any considerable membership 
 can threaten a strike or hope to resist successfully a 
 lock-out. Money is the armament that decides most 
 commonly every campaign fought between capital and 
 labour by strike or lock-out, and trade unions and 
 federations of employers are aware often enough that a 
 stout reserve fund is the only guarantee against attack. 
 
 With all the existing concihation boards, joint con- 
 ferences, and other machinery of industrial arbitration 
 in this country, there always remains on both sides the 
 knowledge that any disputed point of hours or wages 
 may finally only be decided by a total stoppage of work. 
 And this must be so in any country where compulsory 
 arbitration is not the law of the land. 
 
 As neither employers nor trade union leaders — with 
 a few notable exceptions — are in favour of compulsory
 
 CONCLUSION 89 
 
 arbitration, and there is division of opinion as to the 
 success o£ the experiment in New Zealand, the strike, 
 or lock-out in the last resort, remains the battle-ground 
 of industrial warfare, and the length and strength of 
 purse will as a rule, but not invariably, determine the 
 result. 
 
 Nevertheless the costliness of a strike or lock-out, 
 and the heavy expense it frequently imposes on 
 thousands (occasionally millions) of non-combatants, 
 are seen and deplored very widely to-day, and voluntary 
 arbitration boards, for the settlement of disputed points 
 in the conditions of daily work, abound. 
 
 While the evidence is all against the probability of our 
 British trade unions moving consciously towards re- 
 volutionist and syndicahst ideas — for the elected officers 
 of the unions are men of orderly mind and habit, and 
 the money and other property of the unions are too 
 big to be thrown lightly away in a social upheaval — it 
 is advisable to note in some of the unions the frank 
 discontent of the younger generation with the methods 
 of their official leaders. This hvely discontent has, on 
 more than one occasion in the last few years, produced 
 a strike unsanctioned by the authority of the union, 
 and has compelled that authority to countenance what 
 it lacked strength to prevent. 
 
 Advisable is it also to note that this younger genera- 
 tion are favourably inclined to the sympathetic strike, 
 and the direct action of the general strike, and will 
 " down tools " without formahty of notice and in de- 
 fiance of contracts. Is this the rashness of glorious 
 youth, the heroic courage of inexperience, or a definite 
 poHcy, the outcome of certain economic dogmas and 
 social convictions ? Something of both probably, and 
 as yet no one can tell the depth of the convictions. 
 Meanwhile a new precedent has been set in strike
 
 90 TRADE UNIONS 
 
 settlements, December 1912, by the infliction of a 
 fine of a week's wages as the condition of returning to 
 work after an unauthorised and spasmodic stoppage on 
 the North-Eastem Railway. That the condition has 
 been accepted is not without its significance too. For 
 in spite of effervescent outbursts of rebellion against 
 the constituted authority of the trade union, rising 
 at times to actual mutiny, the loyalty to the elected 
 officers is deep-rooted in the rank and file, and is not 
 speedily to be upset. 
 
 High office in a trade union is the reward of faithful 
 service, and election to the chief posts is the tribute of 
 members to a zealous devotion to their cause. 
 
 No one can foretell the future developments of trade 
 unionism. Changes will occur, must occur, here as 
 elsewhere in the body politic. But we are a slow- 
 moving people, doubtful of novelties, quick to resent 
 innovation. Convinced that trade unions have wrought 
 countless advantages to the working people, and there- 
 fore to the nation, men of all classes and creeds approve 
 their existence. We cannot indeed picture modem 
 industry on the large scale without trade unionism. 
 Should the large industry be transferred from private 
 to public control the trade union would still be necessary, 
 for Government employees in the post-office service and 
 in other departments have been persuaded by experience 
 of the need of association for self-defence. 
 
 The principle of trade unionism is the principle of 
 mutual aid — a powerful factor in human evolution. 
 
 Trade unions impose a restraint and a discipline on 
 the egotism that would sacrifice all for self-advancement. 
 They help to pull the weak and unstable into line and 
 develop self-respect by kindhng the sense of fellowship 
 and esprit de corps. 
 
 In spite of all the mistakes and foUies of trade unionists
 
 CONCLUSION 91 
 
 their good work is amply acknowledged, their leaders 
 are honoured, the memory of their pioneers is respected. 
 
 Not for many a year will it be possible to say with 
 truth that trade unions are no longer wanted, that the 
 day has come when the working class would be better 
 without trade unions. 
 
 The dawning of such a day is not yet within the vision 
 of mankind.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Webb, Beatrice and Sidney : History of Trade Unions. 
 
 Industrial Democracy. 
 
 Amalgamated Society of Engineers: Jubilee Souvenir, 1901, 
 
 pp. 127. 
 Arch, Josepli : Autobiography. 
 Bell, Richard : Trade Unionism, 1907. 
 Brentano, L. : History and Development of Guilds, and the Origin 
 
 of Trade Unions. 
 Broadhurst, Henry : Autobiography. 
 Davis, W. J. : History and Recollections of British Trades Union 
 
 Congress. (Published by Co-operative Printing Society, 
 
 Ltd., 1910.) 
 Howell, George : Conflicts of Capital and Labour. 
 
 Trade Unionism, New and Old. 
 
 Labour Legislation, Labour Movements, Labour Leaders. 
 
 Odger, George : Life and Labours of. 
 
 Schulze-Gaevernitz : Social Peace : A Study of the Trade Union 
 
 Movement in England. 
 Smith, H. Llewellyn, and Nash, Vaughan : Story of the Docker^ 
 
 Strike. 
 Tillett, Ben : Brief History of the Dockers' Union, 1910. 
 
 History of the London Transport Workers' Strike, 1911. 
 
 Watson, Aaron : Life of Eight Hon. T. Burt, M.P. 
 
 Wilson, John, M.P. : History of Durham Miners^ Association, 
 1870-1904. 
 
 Atitobiography. 
 
 The official Report and the Labour Gazette of the Board of 
 Trade ; the annual Reports of the Trades Union Congress; of 
 the General Federation of Trade Unions, and of the various 
 
 92
 
 ADDRESSES 93 
 
 trade unions, federations of trade unions, and trades councils, 
 must be studied for statistical knowledge. The American and 
 Continental trade unions have literatures of their own. 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 Trades Union Congress Parliamentary Committee : General 
 
 Buildings, Aldwych, London, W.C. 
 General Federation of Trade Unions : 8 Adelphi Terrace, 
 
 London, W.C. 
 Dockers' Union : 425 Mile End Road, London, E. 
 Engineers, Amalgamated Society : 110 Peckham Road, 
 
 London, S.E. 
 Gasworkers' and General Labourers' Union : 172 Peutonville 
 
 Road, London, N. 
 Miners' Federation of Great Britain : 925 Ashton Old Road, 
 
 Manchester. 
 Railway Servants' Amalgamated Society : Unity Hoiise, Euston 
 
 Road, London, N.W. 
 Weavers, Northern Counties Amalgamated Association : 17 St. 
 
 James' Street, Accrington. 
 Women's Trade Union League : 34 Mecklenburgh Square, 
 
 London, W.C. 
 Women Workers' National Federation : 34 Mecklenburgh 
 
 Square, London. W.C.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Agricultural Labourers' 
 
 Union, 23 
 Allan, William, 16, 17 
 America, 10 
 
 Applegarth, Robert, 16, 18 
 Appleton, W. A., 42 
 Arch, Joseph, 23, 21 
 Arrandale, M., J.P., T6 
 Australia, 10 
 Barcelona, 10 
 Barnes, G. JSt., M.P., 18, 
 
 51, 64 
 Beehive, 30 
 
 Beesly, Prof. E. S.,25 
 Belgium, 10 
 Bell, Richard, 37 
 Boilermakers' Society, 77 
 Boot aud Shoe Operatives, 
 
 77 
 Bowerman, C. W., M.P., 
 
 36, 37, 78 
 Bricklayers' Society, 74 
 Bright, John 48 
 Broadhurst, Henry, 16, 21, 
 
 48, 81 
 Burnett, John, 37 
 Burns, Rt. Hon. John, 18, 
 
 26, 37, 51. 57, 61 
 Burt, Rt. Hon. T., 21, 33, 
 
 37,46 
 Cabinet Makers, 79 
 Carpenters and Joiners, 74, 
 
 75 
 Clynes, J. R., M.P., 51, 63 
 Combination Laws, 12, 13 
 Cotton Spinners, 77 
 Coulson, Edwin, 16, 19 
 Cremer, W. R., 33 
 Crompton, Henry, 25 
 Crooks. W., M.P., 52 
 Cross, Rt. Hon. R. A., 26, 48 
 Cummings, D. C, 37, 51 
 Curran, Pete, 51, 62 
 Dockers' Union, 57, 58 
 Dorchtster labourers, 14. 15 
 Dronfleld, W., 16, 31, 32 
 Drummond, C. J., 37 
 Duncan, C, M.P., 18 
 Edwards Clement, M.P., 
 
 61 
 Engineers, Amalgamated 
 
 Society, 17, 67 
 
 Feuwick. Chas., M.P., 36 
 France, 9, 10 
 Gasworkers' Union, 62, 63, 
 
 65 
 Germany, 10 
 Gill, A. H., M.P., 77 
 Guile, Daniel, 16, 18 
 Hardie, J. Keir, M.P., 51, 
 
 52 
 Harrison, Frederic, 25 
 Henderson, A., M.P., 52 
 Hill, John, 77 
 Howell, George, 16, 21, 33, 
 
 48 
 Hudson, W., M.P., 7S 
 Hughes, Thos., 25 
 Hume, Joseph, 13 
 Independent Labour 
 
 Party, 51, 52 
 Insurance Act, 10 
 Ironnioulders' Society, 75 
 Italy, 9, 10 
 Junta, The, 16 
 Kane, John, 16, 20, 31, 32 
 Kay, Harry, 61 
 " Mabon," 50 
 
 MacArthur, Miss Mary, 82 
 M'Carthy, T., 61 
 MacDonald, Alexander,16, 
 
 20, 21, 31, 32, 46 
 MacDonald, J. Ramsay, 
 
 M.P., 52 
 M'Hugh, Ed., 61 
 Mann, Tom, 26, 52, 56, 57 
 Manning, Cardinal, 61 
 Matkin, \V., 75 
 Mawdsley, Jas., 47 
 Miners' Federation, 21, 29, 
 
 38, 40, 46 
 Miners, Durham, 75 
 Mitchell, J., 51 
 Musicians' Union, 66 
 Nash, Vaughan, 61 
 New Zealand, 35 
 Newton, William, 16, 17, 
 
 18 
 Odger, George, 16, 19, 20, 
 
 26, 33, 48 
 O'Grady, J.,M.P.,37 
 Orbell, H., 61 
 Osborne Judgment, 28, 54, 
 
 55 
 
 Owen, Robert, 14, 16, 27, 
 
 57 
 Paterson, Mrs. Emma, 80, 
 
 81 
 Place, Francis, 13 
 Potter, George, 30, 31, 32 
 Railway Servants, Amal- 
 gamated Society, 78 
 Richards, J. F., 77 
 Roberts, G. H., M.P., 78 
 Sailors' and Firemen's 
 
 Union, 66 
 Seddon, J. A., 66 
 Senior, Nassau, 14 
 Sexton, J., 52, 62 
 Shackleton, D. J., 37, 52 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, 48 
 "Sheffield outrages," 24, 
 
 25 
 Shipton, Geo., 16, 22, 49 
 Shop Assistants' Union, 66 
 Smillie, R., 52 
 Smith, Adam, 12 
 Smith, Sir Llewellyn, 61 
 Socialism, 34, 36, 51, 53 
 Spain, 9, 10 
 
 Steam Engine Makers, 76 
 Stonemasons, Operative, 
 
 74 
 Syndicalism, 10, 27, 56 
 Thome, W., M.P., 37, 51, 
 
 57, 62 
 Tillett, Ben, 35, 52, 57, 58, 
 
 60, 62 
 Tuckwell, MissG.,81, 82 
 Typographical Associa- 
 tion, 78 
 United Machine Workers, 
 
 76 
 United States, 10 
 Ward, John, M.P., 66 
 Wardle, J. G., M.P., 78 
 Weavers, Amalgamated, 
 
 41 
 Wilkinson, Miss J. G., 80 
 Williams, J. B., 66 
 Wilson, John, M.P., 50, 51, 
 
 75 
 Wilson, J. Havelock, 66 
 Wilson, Miss Mona, 81 
 Women's Suffrage, 81 
 Woods, S., 36 
 
 3/13 
 
 Printed by Ballanttne, Hanson 6^ Co. 
 Edinburgh fi^ London 
 
 IS
 
 THE PEOPLE'S BOOKS 
 
 THE FIRST HUNDRED VOLUMES 
 
 The volumes issued (Spring 1913) are marked with an asterisk 
 SCIENCE 
 
 *i. The Foundations of Science . . By W. C. D. Whetham, F.R.S. 
 *2. Embryology— The Beginnings of Life By Prof. Gerald Leighton, M.D. 
 
 3. Biology— The Science of Life . . By Prof. VV. D. Henderson, M.A. 
 *4. Zoology: The Study of Animal Life By Prof. E. W. MacBricie, F.R.S. 
 *5. Botany; The Modern Study of Plants By M. C. Slopes, D.Sc, Ph.D. 
 
 6. Bacteriology By W. E. Carnegie Dickson, M.D. 
 
 •7. The Structure of the Earth . . By the Rev. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. 
 •o. Evolution. By E. S. Goodrich, iM. A., F.R.S. 
 
 9. Darwin . By Prof. W. Garstang, M.A., D.Sc. 
 
 *io. Heredity By J. A. S. Watson, B.Sc. 
 
 * 1 1. Inorganic Chemistry .... By Prof. E. C. C. Balv, F.R.S. 
 
 * 12. Organic Chemistry .... By Prof. J. B. Cohen, BSc, F.R.S. 
 *i3. The Principles ot Electricity . . By Norman K. Campbell, M.A. 
 *I4. Radiation By P. Phillips, D.Sc. 
 
 •15. The Science of the Stars ... By E. W. Maunder, F.R.A.S. 
 *i6. The Science of Light .... By P. Phillips, D.Sc. 
 
 *i7. Weather-Science By R. G. K. Lempfert, M.A. 
 
 *iS. Hypnotism By Alice Hutchison, M.D. 
 
 •19. The Baby: A Mother's Book . . By a University Woman. 
 
 *2o. Youth and Sex— Dangers and Safe-/ ByMarySch.rlieb, M.D., M.S., and 
 
 guards for Boys and Girls . .\ G. E. C. Pritchard, M.A., M.D. 
 *2i. Motherhood— A Wife's Handbook . By H. S. Davidson, F.R.C.S.E. 
 
 *22. Lord Kelvin By A. Russell, M. A.. D.Sc. 
 
 *23. Huxley By Professor G. Leighton, M.D. 
 
 24. Sir W. Huggins and Spectroscopic /By E.W. Maunder, F. K.A.S., of the 
 
 Astronomy . . . . .\ Royal Observatory, Greenwich. 
 •62. Practical Astronomy . . . . By H. Macpherson. Jr., F.R.A.S. 
 •63. Aviation |By ^Sydnev, F. Walker. R.N.. 
 
 ♦64. Navigation By W.'liaif R.N., B.A. 
 
 ♦65. Pond Life By E. C. Ash, M.R A.C. 
 
 •66. Dietetics By Alex. Bryce, M.D.. D.P.H. 
 
 *94. The Nature of Mathematics . . By P. G. B. Jourdain, M.A. 
 
 95. Applications of Electricity ... By Alex. Ogilvie, B.Sc. 
 
 *g6. Gardening By A. CecifBartlett. 
 
 97. The Care of the Teeth . . . By J. A. Young, L.D.S. 
 
 V- Atlas of the World .... By J. Bartholomew, F.R.G.S. 
 
 *iio. British Birds By F. B. Kirkman, B.A. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION 
 
 23. The Meaning of Philosophy . . By Prof. A. E. Tay'or, M.A.,F.B.A. 
 
 •26. Henri Bergson By H. Wildin Carr. 
 
 ♦27. Psychology By H. J. Watt, M. A., Ph.D. 
 
 •28. Ethics ByCanonR^ishdall,D.Litt.,F.B.A. 
 
 29. Kant's Philosophy By A. D. Liiidsav, M.A. 
 
 30. The Teaching of Plato . . .By A. D. Lindsay, M.A. 
 
 •67. Aristotle By Prof. A. E.Taylor, M. A., F. B.A. 
 
 *68. Nietzsche Bv M. A. Miigge, Ph.D. 
 
 *6q. Eucken By A. J. Jones, M.A. , B.Sc, Ph.D 
 
 70. The^Experimental Psychology of jg^, ^ ^^, Valentine, B.A. 
 
 •71. The Problem of Truth " ." ." .' By H. Wildon Carr. 
 99. G^%f ^jdf^^lCk^^^y • ^^^ Philosophy J By ^ j^^^^^ Hicks, Litt.D. 
 
 31. Buddhism . .' .* .' .' .' By Prof. T.W. Rhys Davids, F.B.A. 
 •32. Roman Catholicism . . . . Bv H. B. Coxon. 
 
 •33. The Oxford Movement . . .By Wilfrid P. Ward. 
 
 •34. The Bible in the Light of the Higher/ By Rev. W. F. Adeney, M.A., and 
 
 Criticism \ Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett, Litt.D 
 
 35. Cardinal Newman By Wilfrid Meynell. 
 
 •72. The Church of England . • .By Rev. Canon Masterman
 
 PHILOSOPHY AND It^IjlClOrt— (can iinued) 
 73. Anglo-Catholicism . . . . By A. E. Manning Foster. 
 
 •74. The Free Churches . . . .By Rev. Edward Shillito, M.A. 
 
 •75. Judaism By Ephraim Levine, B.A. 
 
 •76. Theosophy By Annie Besant. 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 •36. The Growth of Freedom . . . By H. W. Nevinson. 
 
 37. Bismarck By Prof. F. M. Powicke, M.A. 
 
 •38. Oliver Cromwell By Hilda Johnstone, M.A. 
 
 •30. Mary Queen of Scots . . . . By E. O'Neill, M.A. 
 
 •40. Cecil Rhodes By Ian Colvin. 
 
 *4i. Julius Caesar By Hilary Hardinge. 
 
 History of England — 
 
 42. Engrland in the Making . . . By Prof. F. J. C. Heamshaw, LL.D. 
 *43. England in the Middle Ages . . Bv E. O'Neill, M..\. 
 
 44. The Monarchy and the People . . By W. T. Waugh, M.A. 
 
 45. The Industrial Revolution ." . .By A. Jones, M.A. 
 
 46. Empire and Democracy 
 *6i. Home Rule 
 
 77. Nelson .... 
 •78. Wellington and Waterloo 
 100. A History of Greece 
 
 . ByG. S. Veitch, M.A. 
 
 . By L. G. Redmond Howard. 
 
 . By H. W. Wilson. 
 
 . By Major G. W. Redway. 
 
 . By E. Fearenside, B.A. 
 
 101. Luther and the Reformation . . By L. D. Agate, M.A. 
 
 102. The Discovery of the New World . By F. B. Kirkman, B.A. 
 •103. Turkey and the Eastern Question . By John Macdonald. 
 
 104. A History of Architecture . . .By Mrs. Arthur Bell. 
 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC 
 •47. Women's Suffrage . . . . By M. G. Fawcett, LL.D. 
 ''■ ■''%rgo^i"r^mt?fo-?S"'' System} p^y p,,, ^^^^.^ ,,^,^^ ,,.^. 
 
 49. An Introduction to Economic Science By Prof. H. O. Meredith, M.A. 
 
 50. Socialism By F. B. Kirkman, B.A. 
 
 *79. Mediaeval Socialism .... By Rev. B. Jarrett, O.P., M. A. 
 
 •80. Syndicahsm By J. H. Harley, M.A. 
 
 81. Labour and Wages . . . . By H. M. Hallsworth, M.A., B.Sc. 
 
 •82. Co-operation By Joseph Clayton. 
 
 ♦83. Insurance as Investment . . . By W. A. Robertson, F.F. A. 
 
 *92. The Training of the Child . . .By G. Spiller. 
 
 •105. Trade Unions By Joseph Clayton. 
 
 *io6. Everyday Law By J. J. Adams. 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 *5i. Shakespeare By Prof. C. H. Herford, Litt.D. 
 
 •52. Wordsworth By Rosaline Masson. 
 
 *53. Pure Gold— A Choice of Lyrics and") g„ jj q O'Neill 
 Sonnets . . . . . ./"'■■' 
 
 *54. Francis Bacon By Prof. A. R. Skemp, M.A. 
 
 *55. The Brontes By Flora Masson. 
 
 •56. Carlyle By the Rev. L. MacLean Watt. 
 
 *57. Dante .... ... By A. G. Ferrers Howell. 
 
 53. Ruskin By A. Blyth Webster, M.A. 
 
 59. Common Faults in Writing English By Prof. A. R. Skemp, M.A. 
 
 *6o. A Dictionary of Synonyms . . . By Austin K. Gray, B.A. 
 
 84. Classical Dictionary . . . . By A. E. Stirling. 
 
 •85. History of English Literature . . By A. Compton-Rickett. 
 
 86. Browning By Prof. A. R. Skemp, M.A, 
 
 •87. Charles Lamb By Flora Masson. 
 
 88. Goethe By Prof. C. H. Herford, Litt.D. 
 
 89. Balzac By Frank Harris. 
 
 go. Rousseau By H. Sacher. 
 
 91. Ibsen By Hilary Hardinge. 
 
 •93. Tennyson By Aaron Watson. 
 
 107. R. L. Stevenson By Rosaline Masson. 
 
 *io8. Shelley By Sydney Wat»-rlow, M.A. 
 
 109. William Morris By A. Blyth Webster, M.A. 
 
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 NEW YORK: DODGE PUBLISHING CO.