Show LABOR congresses NEXT to the excitement in europe relating to war perhaps the labor question engages most attention only a few weeks ago an international labor congress was held at brussels every country in europe was represented except russia and portugal from the united states there were six delegates one of these startled the ion congress griss by his wild utterances he hailed from new york his name was he said that acin in the united states seventy billion dollars was annually stolen from the hands of those who produced them he also said that misery increases so fast that the land of the free and the home of the brave is in reality a hell the total we althof the united states is less than sixty seven billions therefore mr could not have considered what he was talking about As to his statement that the united states was a hell upon earth for labor if it obtained credence it ought to discourage european immigration to some extent he was nt not an anarchist for delegations from anarchistic societies bocie ties were refused seats but his utterances would indicate that he is one of that harebrained hare brained fraternity the questions discussed at brussels were familiar topics the eight hour day universal suffrage the jewish question labor and militarism arism strikes boycotts trusts and legislative protection of labor these theme are all american issues as well as european they are not new some of them have been agitated for the last half century however their discussion shows shown that jahe he industrial problem is not confined ato any one country but it to ie world P ie wade the british trades traded unions have jast held their annual congress at newcastle england it was composed of delegates representing a constituency of the first annual F traded Union congress in britain was hold held in 1868 it was composed of airty thirty four deleA delegates ates and represented only a few hundred unionists now several members of parliament are returned i distinctively as labor men t the eight hour bour day ts is one of the burning questions in england at the congress last year the fight on the issue was virtually a drawn battle at the congress this year a resol resolution u tion was pd adopted opted favoring an international a I 1 tight ight hour day operative in all trades except where a majority of organized workers of any special trade voted agart it this is different from a direct appeal to parliament for an eight hour day law and shows that the congress was not particularly in favor of that movement the newcastle congress was marked aar tor its conservatism and moderation as compared with many of its predecessors especially that of last year but a noticeable feature of the general trend of the discussions was a leaning to protection as opposed to free trade mr thomas burt bart who presided is a member of parliament for morpeth he is president of the miners mineral Nati national unal union which organization pays him W 2000 a year as an salary to enable him to sit in parliament he lo is the ablest labor leader in great britain and it was wag owing to his tact and judgment that the present congress did not fall to pieces the durham miners aud and lancashire cotton operatives I 1 talked loudly d of secession A good deal of 0 opposition was shown to mr fennick the sec secretary he is also a member of parliament a very conservative labor man he opposed the eight hour day his conservatism Is not relished by the radical wings of the be labor unions the deliberations of this convention showed that the condition of the industrialists in england is not prosperous at present there was a good deal of discontent manifested by several delegations both with the action of labor leaders and with existing institutions tut ions but on the whole the congress was remarkable for its calmness and conservatism this is taken as an evidence of latent strength and of the F disposition to proceed by constitutional i agitation to effect reforms the conr grens grebe will meet next year in glasgow |