The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 25, 1906, Page 21

& : i l Pages 21 t0 30 + — ’ Pages 21 — —3 to 30 | v CAPITAL AND LABOR LINE UP FOR BATTLE IN ENGLAND {%—’1]\’L]4JIEA\‘7 70 BE THE SCENE OF ONE OF THE GREATEST CONTES HCORAP, © M.P. Workmen Will Fight to Break Up the Monopolies. Desire to bor la all but } like liament the views of the the Pl pa w. SR IR S, La House the t to n him st w remains to be der to give v J represent hout “Jockouts the TO AID. ment has al several of the sor platform ixation of land revolutionary t before the . s the op- r oking to the checkmate the great ssed by the r ombined. Lords will go of t essant hich it sub- an authoritative fore- programme in the writer recently ob- most prominent ement—such as K Snowd —the “Robe- labor revolution,” as some Ramsey Magdonald, forces of labor, and the the fift stories of most of these men ges from a sensational ro- representatives of new Parliament 1 were horny-handed Take Land rom Hands of f/'h' [“t | ¥ | and hard-fisted sons of tofl. Bricklayer, stonemason, coal miner, stoker, factory | hand, printer, newsbdy, engine driver, dock laborer— ings from which they combination of physical rance and brain power. POLICY OF KEIR HARDIE. hese are the various call- o have risen by 2 fitness, endu- is Kelr Hardie, coal mine. | “Millions in this country,” he said, “‘are | steeped in poverty, while millions more | are but one degree removed from it. | While the useful class toil and suffer, the { owners of land and capital are heaping | up untold wealth. Great accumulations | who began life in a of wealth menace our liberties, control the great London organs of the press, | lead us into wars abroad and polson the { wells of public life at home. “Landlordism and capitalism are the upper and the nether milistones between waich the life of the common people s being ground to dust. For these reasons I have taken an active interest for many years in buflding up an independent Labor party; separate and distinct from any merely pelitical organization. The im- mediate object of the Labor party is to create a driving force in politics, which will overcome the Inertia of politicians in regard to soclal reforms and give the na- tion a strong, true lead on the path that makes for national righteousness. Buch is Keir Hardie's platform; .and that it is not altogether chimerical is at- testea by the fact that his Independent Labor party has over a hundred branches and numbers among its workers thousands of members. The declared object of this organization is to form an industrial commonwealth founded on the soclaliza- tion of land and caplital. . The great central organizing force of the whole movement—the Labor Repre- sentation Committee, created by Ramsey Macdonald—has avowed as one of its main objects “the obtaining for the workers the full results of their labor by the over- The most outspoken among the leaders | , LAPCR, PARTY e PARLIAMENT o o o — SOME LEADING MEMBERS OF THE LABOR PARTY IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. WHO HAVE MAPPED OUT A PRO- GRAMME CALLING FOR A DETERMINED BATTLE AGAINST CORPORATE GREED AND FOR THE DISTRIBUTION : e OF THE LAND NOW IN THE HANDS OF THE FEW. throw of the present competitive system | it guaraptees each member $1000 a year| unemployed, improvement of housing of capitalism, and the institution of a system of public ownership of all the means of production, distribution and ex- change.” This resolution was adopted at the last conference of the Labor Repre- sentation Committee jyst before the gen- eral election which has returned so many members .to Parliament. CENTRAL ORGANIZATION, As the Labor Representation Committee is the practical central governing body— the general staff as it were of the whole labor party—its history could not be omit- ted even from a brief sketch of this won- derful organization which has astonished not only England but practically the whole world by its sudden leap into prom- inence. 5 The prime movers in the Labor Repre- sentation Committee are A. Henderson, its chairman, and J. Ramsey Macdonald. The “L. R. C.,” as it has been nicknamed, is composed of members from trades unions, trades councils, Soclalist socleties and co-operative socleties. It was brought into existence for the express purpose of electing labor members to Parliament. It has not only elected many members, but | vear; which sum, now that its candidates while in Parliament. Otherwise, many of | the members could not retain thelr seats, | being mostly men drawn from the labor- ing classes. Members of Parliament, it must be remembered, receive no pay for| their services. The “L. R. C." is today the strongest labor union in the world. It represents numerically over 1,000,000 actual members, | and its financial status—built up as it is by contributions from various societies and Individuals—at present enables it to control directly not less than $500,000 a have nearly all “won out,” will doubtless be greatly augmented. j PROGRAMME OF LABOR. Every candidate supported by the “L. R. C.” goes in under a written agreement to work with a distinct group in Par-| llament, and not to own fealty to any; section of political opinion other than that of labor, The labor representation committee was already formulated {ts policy and begun work. Taxation of land values, natlonalization of railways, forcing tha | Government to provide work for the| conditions of the working classes, ex- tension of municipal trading to fire in- surance, the coal supply, the milk trade and even to the making of bread, ar- bitration of trades disputes, compensa- tion for workmen injured by accldent, establishment of pensions for aged workers who have passed the 60-year limit, the right of all adults to vote, whether men or women; abolition of child labor and “sweating” in factorles, insistence on an eight-hour day throughout England and, generally, the stoppage of the oppressions of capi- ‘tallsm. Ramsey Macdonald, when inter- viewed, called attention to the fact that, while England is one of the richest countries in the world today, the con- ditlon of its laboring and working lasses Is growing worse Instead of $ettor, ana that materlal progress has not brought any relief to the poor, only adding to the wealth of the few. “The holding of immense tracts of land in England by a few landlords,” ‘he said, “is to be broken up both by purchase, as in Ireland, and by making \'c these very rich persons pay such heavy taxes that they cannot afford to keep millions of acres of land out of use, as at present. Hundreds of thousands of acres both in the country and in eity suburbs are in the hands of land spec- ulators, who are holding it until im- provements, made by the people them- selves, shall bring these vacant lands into demand, and then the wealthy will reap their harvest. HEAYY TAX ON LAND. “The labor representation committee | proposes to make taxes on vacant land | to | The reduc- | so heavy that holders will have let it go for improvement. tion on the cost of land to persons who wish to buy—owing to so much more | land being brought into the market— will open up the building trades once more £71d afford thousands of builders work. Up to this time many of the un- employed have been out of work owing to there being no land nor would-be builders to put up houses upon. “The nationalization of the railways and other sources of industry will. of course, be accomplished by regular pur- chase from present owners in the same manner as the private water companies were recently bought out by the Metro- politan Water Board of London. The same principles will apply to coal mines, milk and other forms of trading which various private industries now control. “Bills for all these objects will be introduced into Parliament, and If the Liberal party does not support these measures the labor organizations will withdraw their support from the Lib- erals and force them out of Parlia- ment.” Macdonald, leader of the “L. R. C.” and chief organizer of the entire labor movement, has had an Interesting career. He came to London from Lossiemouth, Scotland, where he was born In 1866. He first became iInterestea in social problems by reading Henry George's “Progress and Poverty,” and began to take an interest in soclal matters at Bristol when about twenty years old. He came to London at the age of twenty-one and began life addressing envelopes at the rate of about 25 cents per thousand. = He managed to obtain the position of clerk in a small office at a bare living wage; but, belng a very hard worker, he attended night classes at Birkbeck College. His incessant toll brought on a serlous breakdown; and for some months he was a physicial wreck. After the recovery of his health, he became secretary to Thomas Lough, who entered Parllament for a London borough. This was Macdonald's first entrance in- to vpolitical life. He remalned with Lough up to the end of 1391; and at the same time jolned several soclalistic so- cletles. Among other institutions, he be- came 2 member of the Woman's Indus- trial Counecil, where he met Miss Mar- garet Cladstone, its foreign secretary, whom he married in 18%. MEN WHO HAVE CLIMBED. Of men whose rise from the ranks of labor have been romantic, probably John Macpherson, M. P., for FPreston, takes the lead. He began life as a cabin-boy; at eighteen he became a steel smelter, and at twenty-one founded the Steel Smelters” Society. which came into existence in 1892. He was a born leader, and his rise ‘was very rapid. He displayed such mark- ed ability that his organization, in order to eculp him for the battle of labor agalnst capital, sent him to Oxford to take speclal courses of study in political economy and kindred sciences; and he graduated from Ruskin College. This college, by the way, is a sort of training school for future labor M. P.'s. It ig Incorporated by the Board of Trad and is managed by representatives of the trade unions, the Amalgamated Soclety of Engineers, and the London Trades Council. It has already turned out 232 students who took active part in the campaign, and were a credit to their university. ‘Will Thorne is another remarkable char- acter who has “come into uis own” from direst poverty. Thorne’'s labor union was organized on \ \; of RAMSEY * MACDONALD M P SECRETARY LAPOR. REPREJSENTATIQN 7S THE EMPIRE HAS KNOWN COMMITTEE. - i \’purely socialistic lines; their stated ob- ject being “to fight capital, to promote political action, and to encourage ‘collec- tive ownership.” Thorne became a member of the West | Ham Council; and subsequently deputy | mayor. He represents the extreme labor | element, jealous of capital, and emphasiz- | ing their rights by sheer force of organ- {zation. | The same life-history attaches to many | of the other labor representatives who | have taken their seats as M. P.’s. All, or nearly all, have risen from the lowest rungs of the social ladder. F. W, Jowett, prominent M the “L. R. C.” was a mill hand; John Ward started as a dock la~ borer; Clynes. as a factory boy: A. H. Gill sold newspapers; G. H. Roberts was a printer; T. Burt, coal miner; F. Maddi- | son, compositor; Richards, coal miner; | H. Broadhurst, blacksmith. ‘Wil Crooks, also a labor leader, was a | cooper; Keir Hardle, who heads the new party, and will share power with Crooks, worxed for years as a “pitman” in a coal mine; while John Burns of the Liberal Ministry began his career In an from foundry. Though Burns has not been classed among the labor leaders, there s no doubt that much of his best interest | will be at one with the new labor move- ment. —_———— STEP-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF MANCHESTER LIVING Dowager Duchess the Widow of the Sixth Duke of the Lin LONDON, Feb. 24 —Everybody in America hears frequently of the doings of Consuelo, Duchess *of Manchester, but few are aware that there is still ltving another and much older dowager duchess—Sydney, Duchess of Manches- ter. It is considerably more than half a century since Miss Sydney Dobbs of Castle Dobbs, Antrim, then possessed of the brilllancy and beauty that is so often the birthright of Irishwomen, be- came the wife of the sixth Duke of Manchester. He was a middle-aged man at that time and a widower with four children. He died flve years later, and In 1353 his still handsome widow made a rather romantic love marriage. Her second husband, Sir Stevenson Blackwood, was one of the smartest, best-looking men of the day and had gained the nickname of “Beauty Black- wood.” But so far was he from being a typical member of the smart set him- self that he and his wife used to hold prayer-meetings in their home for the reclamation of that species of lost sheep. He dfed in 1803 The Duchess stands in the singular relationship to the present Duke of Manchester of step-great-grandmother, and his 3-year-old heir, Viscount Man- deville, is her. step-great-great-grand- son. It is probably unique in the an- nals of the peerage that there should be not only a reigning Duchess of Man- chester, but.that the widows of the sixth, seventh and eighth Dukes should be still living. The seventh Duke's widow s, of course, the present Duchess of Devonshire, and Consuelo, Duchess of Manchester, Is the widow of the eighth Duke. ———— NOT SNUFF, BUT MEDICINE, INHALED BY THE WOMEN False Story Circulated That Smart Set Ladies Had Returned to an Ancient Custom. LONDON, Feb. 24.—There Is not a ves- tige of truth in the statement made in so many English newspapers that soclety women here and in Paris have begun to take snuff. The wisdom of the modern woman in regard to anything which ap- pertains to her looks is proverbial and snuff taking is one of the most repulsive habits, even in a man, but in a woman is unspeakable. The rumor arose out of the fact that a fashionable London doctor gave his smart patients early this winter a medicinal dust to inhale at a time when influenza was rather prevalent. In order to make this portable In the most artistic manner possible the patients who were not al= ready possessed of treasures in snuff boxes rushed to dealers in curios and made innumerable purchases. For a while these dainty trifles fetched emor- mous prices at Christie's. A few fashionable women like Countess de Grey and the young Duchess of Marl- Dborough set the fashion of carrying about these boxes in Paris and Parisians thought the Iidea chic and thus arose the canard that it was the fashion take snuff. -k