MAKE STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS ILLEGAL FOR THREE YEARS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Snt,—During the Great War it was necessary that out industries should be kept going without a break, and in the "emergency laws" immediately passed to secure this; strikes and lock-outs without previous judicial enquiry were made illegal under severe penalties for which the funds of the law breakers were liable. Strikes and lock-outs ceased, and questions between employer and employed were settled either privately or by the King's Courts. The object was to keep the wheels of industry going at full speed while the War lasted, and this object was attained.
Our industries are again at a stage of critical emergency and the return of prosperity depends upon the uninterrupted working of the industrial machine for the next three years at least. If it is possible to secure this, Britain—like Italy— under strong laws, will respond and rapidly rise to a state of prosperity.
In this country we cannot have a dictator to lay his restraining hand upon employer and employed alike, if they attempt to defy what has been devised for the good of the nation. We have, however, in our Government, under the British Constitution, an instrument ready made and equally powerful, wise and impartial. Why should it be left standing idle while commercial men are unable to fix contracts and take our business ahead on account of the uncertainty of the industrial situation ? By a few strokes of the pen a practical revival of the "emergency acts" of war-time would place their feet upon a rock for three years to come.
Let the Government, representing and speaking for the nation, enact that for three years at least strikes and lock-outs shall be illegal without previous enquiry in our Courts of Law, and that breakers of the law, be they masters or men, shall be liable to heavy fines imposed upon their funds by the Crown in the King's Courts.—I am, Sir, &c., A SCOTCH LAWYER.
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