TRADE UNIONISM.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—There is a general idea prevalent, as expressed in a letter from Mr. W. M. Cooper in your last issue, that "it is the business of trade-union officials to stir up strife" between employer and employee. There can surely be no reason why trade unionism, if properly and legitimately applied, should necessarily involve " strife " between capital and labour. Such can do no good to the one or the other party. The reason for this attitude of trade-union officials, which undoubtedly exists to-day, is not, I think, far to seek : it has been mentioned in your columns before, but it is, I think, a matter of such im- portance that it should bear repetition. It lies, there can be no doubt, in Section 4 of the Trade Disputes Act, 1906, which places trade unions for certain purposes outside the pale of the Common Law of the realm. The Common Law has always provided a check upon illegal combinations, whether of individuals or associations. Before 1906 it was a legal maxim that no set of persons could combine in order to do an act which would have been illegal for any one of such in- dividuals to commit. This check upon unfair combination has, I submit, in the past promoted, and not hindered, industry. It is a check which has created friendly competition instead os causing strife between party and party. Once, however, remove the wholesome restraint of this legal maxim, and it follows that you destroy the spirit of friendly competition between individual and combination; you create a spirit of nervous suspicion in its stead. The first remedy for the labour troubles is surely obvious. It is a remedy which I hope every newspaper in the kingdom will advocate, and every politician, be he Liberal, Labour, or Conservative, will support : the repeal of Section 4 of the Trade Disputes Act, 1906. It is in this way only that a more friendly disposition between the trade-union officials and the employers will dis- place the spirit of strife so inimical to the interests of both.- 1 am, Sir, &c., ALFRED HACKING. 28 Cathcart Road, South Kensington.
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