News of the Week
The Trades Union Congress
(AN Monday the Trades Union Congress opened at Nottingham and Mr. John Beard delivered his Presidential Address, which we have discussed in our first leading article. On Tuesday the Congress made history by adopting the memorandum of the General Council on Economic Groups and Imperial Trade Development. Various interpretations have been placed upon the memorandum, which has long been public Property and which, designedly or not, lends itself to this variety ; but it is obvious that the adoption of the memorandum definitely puts the Trade Unions in the position of repudiating any Free Trade test of political orthodoxy. The only Party in which Free Trade remains a touchstone is the Liberal Party. The sever- ance of Trade Unionism from a faith which till recently was supposed to belong to it normally or characteristically is not, after all, surprising. It had long been foreseen. When a man protects his labour, it is not a long journey in logic before he insists upon protecting the products of his labour.
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