Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

20 articles on this Page

I INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY.…

News
Cite
Share

I INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY. SPEECH BY MR. WELSFORD. 1 t .1. T. rlLlo A meeting of the loca* tirancn 01 mu Unionist Tariff Refcrm Ass:ciaticn tookp.ace at the Lee Hotel, Liverpool, on Friday, to wel- come the Trade Union delegates. Mr. Thomas Atkinson, J.P., presided, and was supported by Mr. F. Hastings Medhurst, President, of the -4.: XI- J. H. Welsford, ebairnian of the Liverpool Tariff Reform League and Mr. R. W. Ley land. ?Mr J6y Eb WeWord ?d he had great pleasure, as the chairman of the Liverpool Tariff Reform League, in welcoming the dele- gates of the Trades Unionist Tariff Reform Association to Liverpool, and expressing i e hope that their demo?t?c'OB wou d prove a gn £ t ?ce? and their Liverpool branch a ?ry ?nK one. HI?r. hear.) All thougnUul people muia v;w with great interest the pro- ceedings of the Trades Union Congress that had been taking place in Liverpool this week, and the movement oi the Labour party generally throughout. the kingdom. (Hear Lar.) There had been, unfortunately, a tendency in the past to set cta? :ntere? S^ each otlr. There had been a tiiiio when the bogey of capital, as opposed to labour was made much of. The time had come when this matter had got to be treated not as a political but as a national matter, and thought- ful men, from whatever point of view they looked at the matter, must concede that co- operation of capital and labour was essential to bosh- that the best interests of both could be served as a basis which would encourage industry and retain capital in our own markets, and which would keep those markets for the pro- duct ot the industry of the country. Measures must be found that would exclude tho unde- sirable alien from our shores, who did nothing to assist or help the. standard of living in this country, but only to deteriorate it; measures that had for their object the consolidation of trio Em- pire, by bringing intoour counsels our Colonies^- Oolonies for which we wero responsible, for which we had to fight when it was necessary and besides having responsibility the time had cot no when we should claim tne privileges of Colonial affiliation; in other words, t:ttat wo should preserve the markets of t-nose Colonies, as our Cokmies were most anxious we should do, for our industries, and buy in return from them the goods we needed, instead of from the foreigner. (Applause.) He regretted to note that in many 'of tho Congress speeches them had been a tone of antagonism to capital, and he seriously warned the leaders of the Labour party to give grave consideration to thia matter. tho MOST UNPRODUCTIVE MARKET .1 in the world to-day for the employment ot capital in industrial, shipping, and commercial affairs generally waa England. Better rates of interest, better security, could be obtained for money and for capital in either America, Germany, or Japan, to say nothing of ltay, France, and many other markets. Industry must see that capital is made as productive and secure here as it is abroad. Employment could not be found without capital. Undoubtedly the problems of the day were capable of being looked at from many aspects, but there must be a. common basis upon which all would agree, that the tune had come for greater activity and greater study of these problems. Ho had ell- deavoured to view this matter, not from a political, but from a national point of view. Unfortunately, however, it was not possible to keep these matters entirely clear of the political arena. As a close student of politics, he had observed the manners and conditions of each political party. It was impossible for him to b& a Radical, because he was a strong Imperialist and in favour of the consolidation of the Empire, totally opposed to its disintegration, and entirely in favour of the consolidation of those markets for our own industries. Radicalism had nothing to offer but disintegration, and, ill his opinion, a. lower level of living than was entailed by Unionism. At the same time no active member of the Unionist party could feel proud of its work during the lawt few years. Its organisation had become effete. lhe apathy and indifference oi many of tlio leaders of the party had found its way into the bones of the party, and they had not been as democratic "r as progressive as they should have been. That was perfectly clear. They had misapplied both their opportunities and resources. It was lrrgeiy owing to the exertions of the Radicals that the Liberal Labour party was formed, mid that Labour wing could hardly be termed, in any sense, an independent party. They were tied Hand and foot to the Radical platform, an.i were deeply in the Liberal party's debt in many ways. Then we had what was termed the Inde- pendent Labour party, a party, no doubt, from their point of view, striving to do what t.iiey considered best, for the members, but with a total seeming disregard for any interests except the specific) interests which they undertook to represent, the interests of their noble selves. No party cou!d succeed that had no reference to general interests and to the best good of the greatest number. The. <> INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY, I in other words, were bocialists, and he was totally opposed to Socialism in a general form. He. and a great many other business men throughout t.hc country, were quite prepared to I view all matters from a very democratic ,a.lld- point. Ho had fought an election in a working- men's constituency, in which he rnado many persona! friends, and learned to regard very much the working-men of tha constituency. He had fought the election as 1I!1 Imperial Democrat. He considered honest democracy the best principle and plank for any country. It nleant that every man, through his own effort, had an opportunity to rise to any position. If they gave men that opportunity they would be the best protection and the best safeguard for the I oecurity of the institutions of the country. They would bo prepared to respect tlioso institutions, in the hope that they might attain a position in which they would enjoy some of the privi- leges. Socialism, on the contrary. levelled all the good men with tho bad, whereas Imperial Democracy gave every man a ciianco to ri"-<o. As he had explained, Liberalism or Little Englandism was impossible to him. Socialism was equally objectionable, but he would wel- come, and welcome very earnestly indeed, an Imperial Labour party which had for iis ideal those principles which ho had referred to. In his opinion tlio working-man of this country was not a Socialist. Trades unions he was entirely in favour of, so long as a trades union extended to capital tho same privileges that it claimed for itself. Friendly societies had his deepest sympathy, and ho believed that a man who belonged to a trades union or a friendly •ociety was a much better man &U round than a man who belonged to neither. He (Mr. Welsford) would strive for a fair fiekl and no favour for all interests; but while the com- mercial prosperity of this country was seem- ingly great, there was a great underlying dan- ger in the condition of industrial matters, seeing that we had to face the fact that we had over a million people living in the United King- dom through the channels of pauperism, and that our lunacy and pauperism returns were yearly increasing in ratio. He trusted to see a strong Imperial Labour party formed which, whi'e working for Labour rratteri, would co- operate with the party who had for their ideals those principles which wero best- for the Empire as a whole. (Applause.) Mr. F. Hastings Medhurst, president of the ■ Trades Unionist Tariff Reform Association, shanked the Liverpool Tariff Reform League for the welcome extended to them. Ho said the welfare of the country largely depended on the realisation of the fact that it was not a question of whether a man was a capitalist or a workman, but whether he was an English- man with the interests of his country at heart. Socialists ought to be their best friends, because Socialism was impossible for a free importing country in a protectionist wortd. (Applause.) Mr. A. G. Markham, general secretary of the Trades Union Tariff Reform Association, moved, and Mr. W. Dyeon seconded, a vote of thanks to the chairman which was passed.

[No title]

IMALPAS GENTLEMAN KILLED.i

NANTWICII. I

[No title]

I LAW FOR PASSIVE RESISTERS.…

I ARMY AND VOLUNTEERS. 1i

CHESHIRE RIFLES.I

DON'T LOOK OLD. I

- IDISTRICT COUNCILS, I +

[No title]

DANGEROUS DOGS.I A

INANTWICII GUARDIANS.I f

[No title]

IFLINT TOWN COUNCIL.I 4

[No title]

HESWALL NURSING ASSOCIATION.…

WREXIIAM.

ICONSTIPATION. +

[No title]