ORGANISING THE MIDDLE CLASSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 196, 14 May 1919, Page 7

ORGANISING THE MIDDLE CLASSES

DEFENSIVE,-UNION FORMED IN - ENGLAND. The great hall of. the Cnnnon Street Hotel was packed, and many people were unable to gain admission on, the occasion of the public meeting held recently to inaugurate the formation of a Middle. Classes Union (states tho "Morning Post"). The chair was taken by Mr. Kennedy Jonee, M.P., who, after paying tribute to the self-denial, courage onduranco, and v resourcefulness displayed by the middle classes during the war, lemarked that, instead of a realisation on the part of all classes that the inevitable wastage of war could only be repaired by increased production, by friendly co-operation, by the most stringent public and private coonomy, by fho speedy relaxation of wartime restrictions, and by an immediate reduction in the cost of living, they saw Ihe Government spending 4!l,O00,000 a week in out-of-work donations to those who, by reason of the nation's dire necessity, were able to exact grossly extravagant wages during the war. At the same time, the organised miners, transport workers, and railwaymen wero threatening the industrial life of tho nation unless they were not only allowed to sta'billso war wages in peace time, but were granted a largo increase of pay and a shorter day in which to work for it. Ad- ' dressing tho Industrial Committee recently, the Prime Minister expressed his. anxiety that the sun's rays of prosperity, when they came, should enter tho workman's cottage as well as the employers' house. The middlo olasses should organise themselves in order to insure that the sun's rays fell also on their homes— (cheers)—and that, as between the workman and the emuloyer, they were not left' permanently in "the shade. ' The middle olasses, he urged, were the greatest force in the nation, and if only they combined and worked in active cooperation it would be in their power when threatened by legislative, bureaucratic, or industrial tyranny, to hold up the workers, the capitalists, and even the Government if they found that they wertt 'not getting a fair and square; deal. (Cheers.) • Among other things, a strong middle class union.could demand tho payment in full o.f income tax by all manual workers, who now, to a large extent, escaped, as well as by industrial co-opera-tive associations. (Cheers.) Iu the event of lightning strikes or look-outs against the best interests of the State,- they could, in the last resort, refuse to supply' the strikers and their families or tb.e employers and their families with goods, professional, services, or medical aid, and in the general -interests of the community they could; in case of necessity, organise among themselves . voluntary transport and other services to 'supply the places of the strikers'and so'.break 'the strikes. (Cheers.) If the middle classes found that they were being unfairly exploited, they could by common consent, rofuse to pay rates and taxes, until their rights and privileges wero restored. They could prevent undue profiteering. .They could insist on the State providing housing accommodation for the middle classes, with all the financial advantages accorded to the working classes, so-called, and they could secure the removal of all restrictions on trade, and industry. (Cheers.) A.resolution urging the formation of an .organisation by means of which the middlo classes will be able to act collectively, and by combining f,heir voting powers to -protect themselves from linjust burden! of; taxation and inflated prices of the necessaries of life; and pledging .the meeting to use every legitimate means •to insure the buccoss of the union, was ruovd by- Major Marmaduke Lawther, efipported by* Prebendary Gough and Major Protyman Newman, M.P., and carried by' acolamation.