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Monthly Circular.
No. 5.	September.	1915.
TO THE MEMBERS.

Gentlemen,

Trades Union Congress.

The Annual Meeting of the Trades Union Congress was held in the Association Hall, Bristol, on September 6th, and the rest of the week.

I do not propose to review in detail the somewhat extensive programme down for consideration and dealt with during the week; but it may not be out of place to briefly comment on some of the most salient points, together with the impressions that were indelibly implanted on our minds.

I was among the gradually decreasing number of delegates who were privileged to be present at the Trades Union Congress which was held at Bristol in 1898, and well do I remember that particular meeting.

It was made memorable from the fact that the Colston Hall, one of the most important in Bristol, in which the meeting took place was burnt down. This disastrous event, fortunately unique in the history of Trades Union gatherings, could scarcely fail to leave a vivid and lasting impression upon the memory of those who were present on that occasion.

Fortunately, no untoward contretemps of a like character happened on this occasion, and the Congress was permitted to continue its course to a finish under as ordinary conditions as the unprecedented National circumstances rendered possible.

It was obvious that the whole tenor of the discussion was almost imperceptibly being influenced by the present dreadful upheaval.

In reviewing this Congress, it is impossible to avoid making comparisons with the former one held in time same city; and the first thought which occurred to me was that time, in its onward march, had brought many changes in its train.

I was forcibly reminded that during the seventeen years interval between the two meetings, the Grim Harvester had not failed to exact his toll, and many of the stalwarts of last occasion lived only in memory and one could not fail to be impressed with the far too palpable fact that, after all, the span of human life is a comparatively short one ; and the lesson was driven home that our usefulness in promoting the welfare of mankind is largely measured by the strenuousness with which we apply ourselves to that purpose, and that being so, how true is the saying that we should "never weary in well doing."

Out of the 28 members who formed the Parliamentary Committee and officials of the Trades Union Congress held in Bristol in 1898, no less than fifteen of that number have gone to join the great majority Many of them were men whose places were difficult to fill.

One feature of the Congress that I am sure could not fail to strike the observer who has had the good fortune to attend these Congresses over a long period of years, was that the debating power and culture of the delegates has reached a higher standard than previously existed; and, in all probability, this is largely. if not entirely, attributable to the growth of Free Education, together with the better, if not perfect opportunities of Secondary Education. It is, however. a moot point whether that convincing sincerity, which was so obvious a feature of the past, exists to the same extent to-day.

I have no desire to be misunderstood and fearing that might happen, I hasten to say that I am not in any way, even remotely, impugning the integrity or honesty of purpose of the present school of Trades Union leaders, but simply endeavouring to point out that the depth of feeling, intense conviction and hard fighting qualities, so apparent in the old school, was the inevitable attribute of men who had been tested in the fiery furnace of bitter opposition and not found wanting.

Another and regrettable feature I was impressed with, was what I should term an incipient spirit of antagonism on the part of the smaller Societies to the larger ones.

As you are all aware, the Trades Union Congress is composed of all and every type of Trades Unionism, embracing, as it does, societies whose numbers are limited to hundreds and others, notably the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, whose membership reaches the hundreds of thousands ; and I am afraid there is a much to be deplored tendency on the part of the smaller Societies to allow themselves to be actuated by what I may be allowed to describe as a feeling of jealousy, which detracts from the usefulness of these Congresses.

If this destructive feature is allowed to develop to any considerable extent, then the future welfare of the movement is likely to be grievously impaired.

How far this spirit of veiled distrust has been given birth to by the impression that the larger Societies are thought to be making an attempt to dragoon the smaller ones into their line of thought and policy, I am not in a position to say; but I am firmly convinced that many of the delegates would come away, as I did, with the impression that an undercurrent of antagonism, quite apart from the ordinary difference of opinion as to the policy, was, to a considerable degree, permeating the proceedings.

I can only express the sincere hope that, by the exercise of mutual tolerance, this spirit of discord may be finally dispersed. Otherwise, an almost irreparable injury to the movement in general will be the inevitable result.

Red Coss Ambulance.

The result of the voting in relation to supplementing the provision for the care of the wounded at the Front is now in the hands of our members.

A more painful or mortifying result it has never been my lot to experience.

In spite of the many burdens the mining classes, with others, have been called upon to shoulder, as a result of the Nation being at war — burdens that are bound to increase the longer the conflict lasts — I still had an overweening faith in their readiness to accept this additional sacrifice, in the interest, of humanity itself.

I am really concerned to know what the influences are which have contributed to this most disappointing response to an appeal that was dictated by the highest form of moral inspiration. If any phase of warfare can appeal to our sense of what is right, then surely it ought to be the care of the wounded.

Many may claim that it is the bounden duty of the Government to make adequate provision for the came of those who are stricken when fighting their Country's battle, and with this opinion I entirely concur ; but the fact remains that it is not, never has been, and probably never will be done; the chief concern of Governments (and it must be confessed that ours is no exception to the rule) is to bring their wars to a successful issue, all other considerations being made subservient to this ; and directly a man is wounded he ceases to be a fighting asset, and the attention devoted to him is, I am afraid, accepted more as a perfunctory duty than a real live obligation. Can it be wondered that, under these circumstances, the provision for the wounded, based as it probably is on certain elementary calculations is utterly inadequate ?

It is common knowledge that in all our wars of any dimensions in the past the arrangements for the care of the wounded have always had to be largely supplemented by voluntary effort ; and it redounds to the credit of the British people that in wars gone by they have always nobly responded to this humane call.

Remembering this, also the important fact that no war in history is even remotely comparable with the present one, together with the additional knowledge that North-country people in particular had acquired a reputation for hospitality and large heartedness, is it surprising that I was convinced that this appeal made, as it was, to all that was noblest and best in mankind would even find support from those who may be opposed to the War, and no matter how we might grumble at other burdens, this one, at all events, would be cheerfully accepted ? And to find that, after all, one's confident expectations were built upon an unreliable foundation is, to say the least, a most painful delusion.

It is surely permissible to examine what in effect the response actually means, and the only conclusion that can be reasonably arrived at is, that we are prepared to accept the possibility of thousands of our relations being left on the field of battle, racked with indescribable agony, and in all probability slowly bleeding to death, simply because it should be some one else's duty to provide against such a contingency. This conception of our duty displays a deplorable want of sympathy and feeling that does not redound to our credit.

Only those who have gone through the painful ordeal of being seriously wounded can readily appreciate the inestimable boon that immediate and proper attention to their injuries means ; and when we remember that it not only means the difference between preserving and losing a limb to thousands, but in hundreds of cases may actually result in the preservation of life itself, our standing aloof, because the duty should have devolved upon some one else, is indefensible from a moral point of view.

Although difficult to justify, it is possible to realise the refusal to add the sum of ten shillings (at the rate of 3d. per week) to our present sacrifices, had the claim been made on behalf of men of some foreign nationality ; but when it is remembered that it was, to a large extent, mn the interest of those who are welded to us by ties of blood, it is almost beyond human comprehension to think that so trivial a sum is more than our measure of the sacrifices that they are making for the maintenance of the democratic and other liberties of future generations.

It may be contended that this is a most distorted view of the situation, but after a most careful consideration of the whole facts, I can see no other construction that can be deduced from them ; and the more thought given to the subject, the more deep-rooted becomes the conviction that it has never received that careful consideration it unquestionably merited.

We are now compelled to ask for voluntary subscriptions for this noble effort to do all that is humanly possible to alleviate the sufferings of those who have the misfortune to be wounded in this world-wide War, and it is my earnest hope that the voluntary response will be of such an ample character as to completely rehabilitate us in the eyes of the general public.

Death of Keir Hardie, M.P.

An outstanding personality, and a man gifted with ability that enabled him to pay a most prominent part in the affairs of the Nation, has passed away by the death of Keir Hardie.

No matter how one might differ with the policy and opinions he was so able an exponent of, no broad minded man could fail to appreciate the singleness of purpose with which he unfalteringly trod a path that in his opinion, led to the emancipation of the working classes.

No man connected with the Labour Movement has been so frequently maligned, yet no amount of personal abuse or public odium, served to turn him from the course he had mapped out for himself.

Some men court opposition for the love of it, but I do not think that Keir Hardie was of this type. I have no doubt but that much of the opposition he met with was the cause of deep and probably abiding sorrow to him, but it only served to prove time depth and sincerity of his convictions that in face of it all he never swerved from what he considered to be his duty.

He may, to some extent, have been an opportunist ; but I don't think his worst enemy can say that his opportunism was of a selfish character. It was all in the interest of the cause he espoused ; and I have no hesitation in saying that had Keir Hardie used his outstanding ability for his personal aggrandisement and welfare, his worldly possessions would have been considerably greater than they were at the time of his death.

Mr. House reports the decisions of the Compensation Committee, held on September 13th :—

Fatal Cases.

Fatal Cases

Lodge	Name	Age	Occupation
Low Beechburn	George, Appleby	27	Hewer
Browney	D. J., Beck	15	Driver
South Pelaw	Thomas, Coates	41	Hewer
Brancepeth	J., Etherington	23	Hand Putter

Non-fatal Cases.

Non-fatal Cases

Lodge	Name	Age	Occupation
Sleekburn	Hugh, Arthurs	35
Mainsforth	Thomas, Ashett	18	Driver
Old Sherburn	Thomas, Bewick	68	Wasteman
Thornley	Thomas, Brownless	57	Hewer
Blaydon Burn	Joseph, Burden	14	Driver
Brancepeth	Patrick, Casey	15	Off Takes Lad
Sherburn Hill	James, Clarkson	28	Hewer
Felling	Joseph, Cummings	19	Driver
Seaham	George, Davison	34	Hewer
Shotton	Thomas, Dilks	20	Token Lad
Eldon	Alfred, Filer	42	Shifter
Seaham	William, Giles	19	Putter
Sunnybrow	Lister, Goldsborough	52	Hewer
Thornley	John, Hall	43	Hewer
Thornley	Thomas, Henderson	65	Hewer
Thornley	Henry, Lamb	63	Hewer
Thornley	Ely, Marsh	53	Hewer
Seaham	John Henry, McKenna	50	Stoneman
Houghton	William, Mellor	14	Driver
Shotton	Michael, Murphy	16	Driver
Addison	Alfred, Rowe	27	Spare Banksman
Bearpark	James, Trow	19	Driver
Philadelphia	Herbert, Vickers	18	Pony Putter
Thornley	Michael, Walton	41	Hewer
East Hetton	Shadrack, West	72	Shifter
Croxdale	Robert, Young	59	Hewer

Durham, Sept. 1915. T. H. Cann.

 

Source:

NEEMARC - Ref: NUMDA/1/6/40, D.M.A. Minutes, Circulars etc. for 1915 (two volumes: covers Jan-Jun, Jul-Dec)