This ought to - be - practically the end of the humiliating controversy
over the Weir houses. There never should have been such a controversy ; and there would not have been if the- building unions had behaved unselfishly and patriotically; and had admitted that the unhappy inhabitants of slum dwellings must be housed by the best means available in the quickest possible time. The Times- of Wednesday published a letter from Lord Weir, which quotes from the instructions issued by the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Blinding Trade Workers. Here is the quotation You must watch any attempt at dilution ; you should keep.a keen control on overtime ; adopt a militant policy against all forms of piece work ; be watchful and limit apprentices ; remember the power you now occupy is conditioned by the scarcity of your labour."
That, surely, is a terrible saying. It was written when people were perishing for want of houses: And as for its economic wisdom, compare it with its exact converse in every.particular-the policy which is producing unparal- leled wealth in America.
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