* * * * The Trade Unions The Agenda of
the Trades Union Congress which is to be held in September of this year is one of the first clear indications of the feeling of the Trade Unions towards rationalization. In many cases the resolutions calling for shorter hours, holidays with pay, etc., specifically mention rationalization as the basis for the demand. The Lancashire weavers are holding out on the question of whether the eight loom system shall be generally introduced, and this struggle is also reported to be con- cerned, ultimately, with the question of terms. At the same time the Manchester and Salford Trades Union Council have issued a reply to the report of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, which we mentioned last week, stating categorically that a decrease in wages is not conducive to prosperity, and resisting energetically the theatened attack on the social services and on wage-rates. They call for a tariff, an increase in municipal trading and in state control of industry, and also for what arc usually known as relief works.
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