Further details are given in Thursday's papers of the Com-
mission of Inquiry organised by Mr. Alfred Mosely, O.M.G., the South African diamond merchant, to make a special study of subjects bearing on business organisation, the relations of Capital and Labour, Trade-Unions, &c., in America. Mr. Mosely has issued invitations to delegates of twenty-one Trade-Unions, many of them well-known Labour leaders, and representing all the leading industries in this country, who will constitute the Commission. It is proposed that they shall leave England at the end of October, so as to be present at the- opening of the New York Chamber of Commerce on November llth before dispersing to the various centres of the industries in which they are interested. The Commission, which will be non-political in every respect, will be pioneered through- out the country by the Civic Federation and the American Federation of Labour; and on their return the delegates will issue their reports individually. Mr. Mosely, who bears the entire cost of the tour, while resolved to leave the delegates absolutely untrammelled in the expression of their opinions, is anxious that they should realise the formidable nature of American competition as illustrated by the immense expan- sion in the export of manufactured articles; and he specially commends to their consideration the fact that this expansion has been attended by a cheapening of the coat of production. This result he is inclined to attribute to the enormous coal supplies of America, to the greater readiness of American workmen to consent to the introduction of labour-saving appliances, and to the more judicious attitude of American employers towards their employes. It seems by no means certain whether all the delegates will be able or willing to accept the invitation, but there can be no two opinions as to the public spirit, the generosity, or the intelligence shown by the organiser of the inquiry.
Previous page
