The new railway agreement was signed on Friday May 14th,
and this was a model for the agreements in other important industries. The main points in the settle- ment were that the strikers should be taken back to work as soon as work could be found for them ; that the trade unions admitted that in striking without notice they had committed a " wrongful act," and that they recognized the companies' right to claim damages ; that the unions. undertook not to strike again without " previous negotia-; tions,". and to give no support to unauthorized action and that the settlement should not extend to those who: had been guilty of violence and intimidation. Some; Labour newspapers and speakers have been talking-of! these terms as a " humiliation." That, of course, is non-' sense. It is true that the provision by which the men return to work not in a body, but as work can be found for them, is unusual. But a strike without notice was also! unusual. The men are not humiliated by not being paid' for doing nothing for a short time. Again, the coin- panies do not intend to exercise on this occasion their right to claim damages.
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