EMPLOYERS' DEFENCE FUND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1909, 18 November 1913, Page 7

EMPLOYERS' DEFENCE FUND.

FILLING THE WAR CHEST. THE FIFTY-MILLION APPEAL. By Tc'ograph—tress AssdeiaUon-OopyT^lil. London, November 10. J'-iO prospectus of the United Kiiigdoui l'.-iii])lo.yiers ! Defence Union has been iK.ucd. Iwo manufacturers havo -guarnutet'd £50,000 a~piece. The rest of tho jreinbovs of tho union: aro invited to complete the fifty millions required. Subscriptions will only; become operativo when tho whole of the fifty millions is guaranteed. Ail calls will bo made pro rata, according to the amount guaranteed, tho calls not to exceed per cent, annually.

"The formation of the United Kingdom Employers' Defence Union, witb, a proposed _ guarantee fund of .£50,000,000 tor _ uso in dealiug With strikes, is tho subject of much discussion among employers and employed," said "Tho Times" Whm tho proposal was first announced. '"Iho object of the association, which will bo registered o.® a trade union, is to conthe resources of employers of labour in tho United Kingdom, irrespective of tho nature or size of their busl* ness, with a view to maintaining the general rights of employers to make ruifl cany out agreements, _ individually With free workers, or collectively with a Union, and to conduct their business free frem outside. interference between themselves and these whom .they employ. . . . We havo tgravo doubts, however, as to whether the Employers' Union aro setting about tho accomplishment of their wholly desirable object in the right way. Tho very formation of their comb-inatioa seems to be based on tho false idea that antagonism between capital and labour is a necessary basis of industrial lift. Fifty millions, compared with the thousands of millions represented by the capital employed in the trade of tho United Kingdom, is relatively a trifling sum. It will not- appear trifling to the most belonging _to tho bodies in conflict with which it is to be employed, in case of need. They, will Took ujion It, wltli Considerable justification, as the warchest of their employers."