The progress of the railway dispute has brought us within
measurable distance of a general strike. The matter stands thus,—that while extensive demands for shorter hours and higher wages are preferred by the men, the companies refuse to treat with the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as the men's agent. The companies contend that the Society does not represent the railwaymen, more than
half being non-Unionists; and furthermore, that the conditions of railway service, with its statutory obligations and its intimate connexion with our national life, demand the enforce- ment of a discipline which this concession would render it impossible for them to maintain. On the other side it is urged that practically all other employers of labour recognise Trade-Unions ; that the North-Eastern Company has recognised the Amalgamated Society without loss of efficiency, discipline, or prosperity ; and that the exceptional conditions insisted on are found in the Post Office, where this concession has recently been made. A meeting of railway servants was held last Sunday night at Manchester, as the result of which Mr. Bell, M.P., the secretary of the Society, is issuing ballot-papers to all its members—about a hundred thousand—in order to obtain the individual opinion of the men as to whether they are prepared to withdraw their labour on .a. given date in order to enforce the demand for recognition. Some little time must elapse before the ballot-papers are sent out, and the scrutiny cannot take place before October 28th. This delay, and the moderate tone adopted by Mr. Bell and the Press, encourage the hope that a Conference between the opposing parties may yet be arranged.
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