eluding any member who is for the time being in receipt of
a salary as an officer of the House or as a minister, or as an
officer of His Majesty's Household." Most of the Unionists
were opposed to the proposal, and a good many Liberals did
not like it, but the Government had determined to introduce
payment of members as a way out of the difficulty they had
with the Labour party, owing to the Osborne Judgment hav-
ing made illegal the payment of salaries to working-class
members out of trade-union funds (see 27.143). To legislate
in the way the Labour party demanded, so as directly to
reverse the Osborne Judgment, was impossible, though the
Government were prepared with a bill unsatisfactory to the
Labour party and not proceeded with, a second edition being in-
troduced in 1912 for enabling trade unions to make special
provision for voluntary political funds, separately from the
general funds to which every member of the union had to con-
tribute; but it was hoped that payment of all M.P.'s out of
public money would do away with the particular grievance of
the Labour members. In the country generally a good deal of
disgust was felt at the calm way in which M.P.'s had voted
themselves 400 a year, and some members who were too well-
off to want the subsidy declined to take it.
Further complications with Labour were being threatened all this time outside Parliament. Industrial unrest was taking
a peculiarly acute and dangerous form. Though trade "Barest." g enera lly was busy, and " unemployment " steadily
diminished, 1 the demand of the wage-earning classes for a proportionately larger share of the good things of life better pay and less work for it had become more articulate and better organized. Socialist and particularly " Syndi- calist " theories had for some time been getting a strong hold of the younger generation of trade unionists; and a grow- ing sense of the impotence of the Labour members in Par- liament, added to increasing suspicion that Liberals and Tories alike were in league with the " money power," encouraged the idea that " direct action " by means of strikes was the only way of successfully asserting the claims of the operatives to a larger share of the profits of industry. The fact that wages, under existing agreements, practically remained stationary, while the cost of living, owing to higher prices, was going up, gave a solid basis for discontent. The result was seen, not only in numerous local conflicts between Capital and Labour, but in the threat of more extended " general " strikes, which aimed at holding up whole industries throughout the country and compelling parliamentary intervention.
For the first time in the history of English labour troubles a " national " strike was precipitated in 1911, and private war Railway was ma de on the whole community by the members strike, of the railway unions. Since 1907 there had been a
continual agitation among members of the Amalga- mated Society of Railway Servants for better wages and shorter hours, and for " recognition " of their trade union by the railway companies, which had been steadily refused by all except the North Eastern Company (after an arbi- tration in 1897). A general railway strike was only averted in 1907, as the result of negotiations carried on by Mr. Lloyd George as president of the Board of Trade, by an agreement between both sides to accept a scheme of conciliation and arbitration proposed by him. But the actual working of the conciliation boards then set up proved very disappointing to the railwaymen; and the movement came to a head again in Aug. 1911. Strikes had been going on in Liverpool, Man- chester, London and elsewhere, among various other classes of transport workers seamen, dockers and carters. In Lon- don a violent dock strike was only terminated early in Aug. by an award of Sir Albert Rollit, increasing wages; and a carmen's strike, which had been accompanied by serious dis- order and had driven the Government to order troops from Aldershot, was brought to an end with considerable difficulty
1 The only official figures for " unemployed " issued by the Board of Trade were for the trade unions. In these the percentage, which was 9 in 1908 and 1909, fell to 5 in 1910 and 3 in 1911.
at the same time by the intervention of the Board of Trade, the men securing concessions both as to hours and wages. At Liverpool a protracted dock strike had driven the ship- owners on Aug. 3 to agree to " recognize " the Dockers' Union and make other concessions; but a number of strikers refused to go back to work; and the ship-owners then an- nounced a general lock-out to begin on Aug. 14. The answer of the dockers' strike committee, led by Mr. Tom Mann, was to call on all transport workers to assist them by striking in sympathy, and wild scenes of rioting resulted, requiring the introduction of troops to help the Liverpool police. The general unrest now spread in an active form to the railwaymen too. At Liverpool the goods porters at the Lanes. & Yorks. stations; struck on Aug. 5 because of the delay in dealing with their grievances, and at other stations the men came out in sympathy. On Aug. 15 the joint executives of the four railwaymen's unions Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Associ- ated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, General Railway Workers' Union, and Signalmen's and Pointsmen's Union decided to order a general strike unless in 24 hours the companies agreed to meet them and discuss terms. The companies at once refused to do so, or to admit that the con- ciliation scheme of 1907 could be thrown over in this way. The leaders of the men on the other hand contended that the spirit, if not the .letter, of the agreement of 1907 had never been carried out, and that they must have direct recognition of their unions. The machinery of the Board of Trade was set to work to try to delay a rupture, but meanwhile the com- panies were guaranteed military protection, and preparations, were made for placing soldiers along the lines.
On Aug. 17 Mr. Asquith had an interview with the men's- representatives, and offered a royal commission to inquire into the working of the conciliation scheme, but at the same time he warned them gravely and firmly that the Government could not allow the railway service of the country to be paralysed.. Resenting the tone of his speech, and suspicious of a royal commission as simply a means of shelving the whole matter, they refused this offer and ordered the strike, which began next day in spite of continued efforts by Mr. Lloyd George (Mr. Asquith having left further action to him) to overcome what seemed to be a misunderstanding. As the result of his explana- tions to the men's leaders negotiations still went on; a vote of censure on the Government which the Labour party at first decided to move in the House of Commons was not proceeded with; and instead of Parliament being adjourned on Aug. 18 until the autumn session, as had been arranged, it was decided to meet again on Aug. 22 in order to deal with the situation. The strike was in actual operation for practically two whole days and did not terminate till Aug. 20. On the igth, however, a settlement was effected. It was agreed that a special com- mission should at once investigate the working of the con- ciliation scheme and report quickly what changes were de- sirable, and that the trade-union leaders should persuade the men to return to work, the strikers being reinstated. The special commission started work on Aug. 23 and took evidence from both sides up to Oct. 3, its report being issued .on Oct. 20. It was unanimously recommended that the conciliation scheme should be amended in various ways, the central board being abolished and any differences within the sectional boards being settled by an independent chairman chosen from a panel drawn up by the Board of Trade; trade-union "recognition" by the companies was not directly conceded the commissioners pointed out that the companies could not permit intervention on the subject of discipline and management but some satis- faction was given in this direction by a recommendation that the men should have anybody they wanted (e.g. a trade-union official and not actually an employee) on the sectional boards as their secretary and advocate. The Labour party and trade- union leaders were by no means satisfied, however, with the result of the commission. The union leaders decided to take a ballot in Dec. on the question whether the findings of the com- mission should be accepted or another strike for " recognition "
