The demand for an impartial inquiry into the conduct of
the police is generally supported, and confidence is felt as to its result, the attitude of the Trade Union Congress towards the Dublin strikes finding no support amongst Nationalists or Unionists. The statement of the Dublin Trades Council that the riots were the result of an. organized. attempt by the federated employers to smash trade- unionism is resented on all sides as a deliberate misstatement.. It is true that on Monday and Tuesday nearly a thousand members of Mr. Larkin's Transport - Workers' Union were locked out by various firms, and on Wednesday nearly four hundred pro- minent employers signed an agreement pledging themselves not to employ any-member of this Union and instantly to dismiss any worker refusing to obey instructions. They have, however, clearly disclaimed any hostility to legitimate trade unionism, but they believe, with the whole press in Dublin, that Mr- Larkin's methods are a civic and national danger and must be suppressed. The Times correspondent sums up the situation by observing that things have come to such a pass that the employers must either kill Mr. Larkin's influence or shut down their business altogether. As matters now stand, a general lock-out, involving possibly ten thousand. men, is imminent if the men remain in the Transport Workers' Union.
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