Show washington snapshots trie the british still believe in the principle that the best government is that which governs least they hoy remember that LIBERAL and LIBERTY are arc akin and that the more liberty the individual has in modern society une the more likely lie he is to do what is best for his fellow man that is the real between the lines lesson in the report by the presidential commission on labor relations in groat great britain the commission made no rec and expressed few opinions but its report is studded with references to the british governments ern ments efforts to avoid compulsion and let individuals and groups solve their own problems the result is a system which functions so 50 smoothly that america sent this commission abroad to study it voluntary Accept acceptance anco J commentators have remarked i that the report indicates a general I 1 acceptance of the principle of collective bargaining what some overlook is the fact that thai this acceptance was willing and voluntary and not forced by law there is no statute in great britain compelling an employer to recognize a labor organization and to deal with it there is no law forbidding him to urge his employees to join a union which he believes responsible or any for that matter there is nothing forcing the signing of collective agreements in fact what little compulsion there is seems to bo be applied to tabor labor organizations which 1 are required to obtain a written authorization from members permitting the use of their dues or assessments for political durpos es and to report to the government in detail on money spent to fo political purposes 2 are forbid forbel don den to engage in sympathetic strikes designed to coerce the government government overn ment or harm the general public bublic 3 may not mass pickets in sufficient numbers to keep people from working if they wish to or in sufficient numbers to intimidate timi date non strikers 4 are arc barred from calling strikes in violation of contracts by those engaged in public services like transportation or public utilities to strike the british go even further than that the right to strike is technically protected by law but many labor contracts stipulate I 1 specifically that negotiations toward settlement of a dispute may not proceed while a strike is is in progress also contracts for a closed shop requiring every employee to belong to a union despite his personal wishes are described by the commission as exceptional and the checkoff check off under which the employer deducts union dues from the pay of his employees is said to be very exceptional liberty the whole british effort in short is to let the government serve all the people nople rather than individuals or groups it seeks to preserve irr liberty as the basis of sound government to prevent strikes because they harm many persons not directly affected to subordinate the welfare of any organized minority to that of the whole population how much the united states will learn from this study i doubtful but application of the th sensible british statutes and objective would be a far cry from the american system under which only employers can sin imagine the british prosecuting a man for disturbing a speech by a member of parliament or instructing a farm to hire the son of a C 1 I 0 member on the ground that refusal to hire him would be discrimination against the C 1 I 0 or condoning the illegal seizure of property through sit down strikes in this field the united states is is certainly far behind gri great aaa britain FLASHES lightning struck the treasury the other day it did no damage though for the treasury had just been struck for another billion and a half in the first 60 days of the new nev fiscal year A los angeles woman has been deprived of her check because she was using the money to help her husband buy a yacht funny how high government officials find alaska worthy or of study in the summer and the canal zone in the winter amid all this talk about a st strike ri k its interesting to hear that the average wages of rail workers have increased W 16 per cent in the last 10 years the government has already lost eight million dollars this year on homes foreclosed by the HOLC |