Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7, 7 September 1915, Page 5

Great Britain

TRADE UNION CONGRESS. WHAT THE WAR HAS BROUGHT. WORKERS' VIEW OF COMPLEX PROBLEMS. United Press Association. (Received 10.40 a.m.) London, September 6. The Trade Union Congress has opened at Bristol, there being six hundred and seventy delegates. representing three million. Mr Seddon, in the Presidential address, said that the war had brought most important and complex problems before them for solution. Some people wwi' demanding that Labor should give a definite and immediate answer to conscription, food exploitation, conditions of war .labor, including the employment of women, also to the Belgians, to whom he assured wholehearted sympathy.a sincere welcome and hospitality. Workers had endorsed the determination not to sheath the sword until their fair land was restored. Bread and coal prices would not have risen abnormally if the Government had moved when the Workers' War Committee made representations. The. difficulties in the em-

plijyineut of women would only be solved by equal pay for equal work. PRUSSIAN MILITARISM MUST CO IN THE WAR FOR SYSTEM, NOT POLITICS. "HEART OF BRITAIN STILL SOUND." ■ ■ \ . (Received noon.) London, September (J. Continuing, the President said: —

Prussian militarism, with its cruelty, rapine, murder, and any form of it in existence in Britain., must he destroyed. Our share in the struggle is useless unless we are determined to overthrow militarism. We are in the war not for politics, it is the system we are wrestling, not parties. The ultimate victory will rest with the clogged of will and the truest in heart. (Workers are prepared, jto luaJte ftuvrj-,. frees in the coni'ino'ir* cause.'' but' they are not prepared £ 0 / n jp /'H Vi'^pV l " loiat jvultijresr, The jeJHI'l. c labor unrest are the food, .pricey, and. war profits. . )in MJ v f VJj . t , _He .emphasised |/abor,V jn increasing the 'supply of munitions, 'and added: "We invite Air Uoyjl j H" k<\\ lu*en ' in 'hrtfiiliiig ' his promise tb deal with the war profits. ■ 'WtaJhVVb the right to demand from the Government that pre-war conditions shall be re- ' stored. That is the only way to reunite the country. The heart of Britain is still sound, so'let the Government rise;to the full height of its responsibility, not by giving ear to a bustling pa-ess, but meeting confidence with, confidence."

. Regarding the combine cabled on the 4th inkt., the .variety of interests, different methods of and the spirit iof self-preser\;at||}pdeniajiid-j ed a free | exchange of Meife view-jito mobilising the wJ&le i ;ftn;cesV for the mire effective jcombat|tin'gVjof| the power!of organised\capidil. y \ THE ? "ANZAdf' %URFEtJV •' _»; • \ " \ OPENING OF A LONDON REST. i (Received 8.55 a.m.) London, September 6. The Australian Natives' Association is opening on the 13th the rr Anzac" Buffet, with reading and writingrooms, adjoining the Commonwealth offices, for Australian and New Zealand soldiers. GERMAN NAVAL PROGRAMME. I London, September 5. ' Continuing, Mr A. J. Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, in a letter to a correspondent, says: So far the .German designs had notmet with'any measure of success. The British lighting fleet was relatively stronger than thirteen months a«ro, and there was no reason to suppose {that the progress was likely to lie arrested. It was plain that Admiral von Tirpitz and the German Admiralty had arrived at the same conclusion. When the policy broke down they had thought submarines might succeed where Dreadnoughts and cruisers had failed. The change was adopted with extreme reluctance and many searehings of heart. The most reckless Government does not desire to perpetrate

i unnecessary crimes. We can only conjecture the feelings ol the German navy. The Gorman sailors arc gallant 'men, and cannot like being put to a 'coward's job. We know well enough 'thai in the old days every privateersman would liave thought himself dis-

graced if lie sent unresisting merchant ships to the bottom with all hands. It is not an agreeable reflection that the iirst iiotable pcrformanace of the tierman licet should resemble piracy rather than privateering.

Herein lies the explanation of the amazing change which overcame the diploma tic attitude of Germany . towards the United States. Men ask why the sinking of the Lusitania was welcomed by Germany with a shout of triumph, while the Arabic was accepted in melancholy silence. It was not, because the United States had- be-

come stronger. Germany grow weaker, or because the altitude of the President varied; not because German opinion revolted against such lawless cruelty. The reason is found in the tact that the authors of the submarine policy had had time to measure its, effects, and deeds which at first were merely crimes -nay seem to be blunders in September. We may safely assume that only hopes of decisive success induced German -Ministers to inflict a new stain on the honor of their country. A decisive success was not attained, and does not seem to b<* ihj> sight, while the losses inflicted on the submarines are formidable, and British mercantile tonnage is greater than at the beginning of the war. It is true that many inoffensive persons, including women. children and neutrals, as well as belligerents, have.h/e» y<>bbed and killed, but the crimiijaksj alvoipaid a heavy toll. Some were rescued,, but the very nature of submarines often drags their 'crews to destruction, and those who {sent them on their unhonored mission await their return in vain .