Show LABbi llESTIOS What John Burns the Agitator Has to Say Oa THE NEW LABOR COMMISSION The Working Classes Should Have Had R Be > preaentatlve Also the Women These Mat tera Assume International Importance y Special to THE HERALD Mxamlncr Cable LONDON April 12John Burns th great labor leader yesterday wrote th following for the World correspondent The new labor commission that all work I ingmen in England are talking about to day is distinctly of international imporW anco The time has gone by when any important im-portant measure affecting labor interests can bo viewed from a narrow and insulaut standpoint If this commission is going to strike at the root of the depression in traded and at the oppression of the capitalists which affect laboring men all over the world today it must ascertain to what extent ex-tent labor in England is affected by foreigners who come hero to work for low wages or by emigrants from Europe who through our manufacturing towns I anv sorry to say that my opinion of the composition > compo-sition of this commission is not calculate to inspire the heart of workingmen withM hope Beyond question it will result In placing before the public valuable testi inony about the existing relations bottraea capital and labor which would otherwlsad remain practically buried There are practical men enough on the commissloo1 who have the cause of labor at heart to assure as-sure this but it seems hardly likely thaJ when all io done any official report will be submitted suggesting any practical measures meas-ures for bettering the condition of th laboring masses In the first place tho commission is singularly unfortunate tha selection of its chairman for Lord HartingV ton never has shown an intimate acquaint anco with the social and industrial quea tions which the commission will be called upon to investigate Lord Derby besides being too much identified with landed aniff vested interests is not qualified to de liberate upon the important questions af fecting capital and labor His income from inherited i lands atone is about a million dol lars l yearly fully onehalf of which he draws from Liverpool districts where taoi recent dock strikes affect his personal pocket So far as the great shipping in4 dustry of Great Britain is concerned labor gets practically no representation while from the masters point of view Ismay and Harland are not the best men who could have been selected I dont object to them simply because they are masters but since the government is going into this thing with a view to collecting data to bo spread throughout the civilized world it might at least have selected experts Irish labor is practically unrepresented on the commission commis-sion There is no question but that the government was exceedingly unwise in rejecting Davitt This is not a political commission com-mission Davitt was the choice of the Irish workingmenfpr their representative on the commission without regard to the political split iu the Irish party It was immaterial to them whether Davitt was recommended by Parnell opMcCarthy naturally though his name was suggested by McCarthy because be-cause McCarthy is identified with the pros eat attempt to oust Parnell The Irish la borers have always fought their agrarian troubles through political organizations and it certainly seems grossly unfair that the father of the Land league should be excluded ex-cluded from representing them on this commission com-mission It is only fair to say Austin will in a measure represent the trades union movement in Ireland but he knows very little aoout the difficulties which hamper unskilled labor there Taken altogether his selection as opposed to Davitt is a misfortune mis-fortune for the Irish laborers I am showered with questions asking me how it is I ain not on the commission as it was generally expected I would bo I am a Socialist and proud to own it The Socialistic teachings of tho past few years have stimulated labor organizations and have brought powerful unions for the general benefit of the laboring man into existence It is also unfair that the played out political economy of the hidebound hide-bound type which exists America as well as here should be represented on the commission com-mission while the new school of political economy should bo excluded Possibly I was not asked to join the commission because be-cause I publicly reproached the Prince of Wales in a speech made in the London county council for wasting his time in gambling gam-bling I was told at the time this affront to royalty would spoil my chances of nom nination If this be true well and good It only shows how welltimed was my criticism criti-cism of the conduct of one of our greatest figures in Englands army of unemployed The results of this commission as regards the cause of labor ought to bo the inception of international congresses every year to follow out the lines suggested by the Berlin Ber-lin congress One result in England will certainly bo to expose the inferiority of its methods in dealing with labor from the statistical point of view I trust the American labor bureaus may bo imitated as we have nothing of the kind here I think it is shameful women laborers are not directly represented on the commission Women have come to stay in labor organizations organi-zations |