tions, but as the following review of the evolution of collective bargaining will show, local, district, or industry-wide associations of employers had already been established in important industries before the turn of the century. The extent and influence of such organizations were much augmented during the war, when the Government dealt on an industry-wide basis with employers and unions; there was a further enlargement and crystallization in the years immediately after the war under the spur of the Ministry of Labor, following the recommendations of the Whitley Committee. Their extent at the end of 1936 has already been mentioned (ante par. 9). 68. The historical evolution of collective bargaining in Great Britain may be traced in the pages of Government reports. (See appendix D.) A report "on the strikes and lock-outs of 1888," presented in 1889 to both Houses of Parliament, states that in Great Britain, "as the foremost producing nation of the world, labor quarrels have been more frequent, on a larger scale, and more pertinaciously fought out" than elsewhere, and that "here the fighting organizations of masters and men have been most highly developed." It appears from the report that this period of struggle began at least as far back as the first quarter of the century, after the repeal of the combination laws in 1825. By the time the report was made, however, the attempt to suppress unions and strikes by force of law had been long abandoned. The report notes that the day had long since passed when it was necessary to argue at length as to the legality of a strike, or as to whether such a step on the part of the workers was at all justifiable; and that masters and workmen were at liberty to form organizations for all kinds of trade purposes.

69. The development of conciliation machinery by collective arrangements between organizations of employers and unions, which was to become the dominating feature of the industrial relations of later years, was commented upon in this 1889 report as follows:

Not only has there been a considerable spreading during the last 20 years of the methods of settling disputes by arbitration and conciliation, but modes of prevention have grown up in addition to these and are happily securing wider adoption. These methods of arranging difficulties have only been made possible by organization of the forces on both sides, and have, as it were, been gradually evolved from the general progress of the combination movement.

70. That the development of these methods had not yet become very extensive appears, however, from the final report of the Royal Commission on Labor in 1894. This Commission was appointed in 1891 and sat for 3 years. It submitted to Parliament four interim reports, and a fifth and final report in which it classified British industries into three groups: (a) Those principal industries in which the settlement of terms between employers and workers is mainly controlled by the action of trade-unions and employers' associations; (b) industries in which there are organizations of the employers for the protection of trade interests and of the workers for friendly benefit purposes, but only a part, and often a small part, of the workers and employers in the industry belong to these organizations, so that the organizations do not exert such controlling power over employer-worker relations; and (c) industries in which organizations of employers and of workers are insignificant or do not exist at all. Incidentally, the Commission noted that the collective agree

ments affected more persons than those who were in terms brought under them, pointing out that the evidence showed that in matters of standards of wages and hours, one organized body of employers and workmen taking counsel together affect a larger area than that of their own trade.

71. The final report of this Commission of 1894 reflected a philosophy similar to that set forth in the 1888 report. Its fundamental conclusion was that strong organizations of employers and workers, dealing together through collective agreements and setting up machinery for conciliation and arbitration, afforded the most practical approach to industrial peace.

72. In the report the Commission analyzed the difficulties in the weakly organized trades, pointing out that peaceable relations are the result of strong and firmly established trade-unionism, and that trade-unionism in a weak and struggling condition rather tends to increase the number and bitterness of industrial conflicts; and that, from the experience of industries which have reached a high degree of organization, "the most quarrelsome period of a trade's existence is when it is just emerging from the patriarchal condition in which each employer governs his establishment and deals with his own men with no outside interference, but has not yet fully entered into that other condition in which transactions take place between strong associations fully recognizing each other." This was attributed in some measure to the fact that when organization has partially established itself latent grievances come to light, and to the fact that in early stages of organization the workmen have not yet learned by experience what their union can and what it cannot achieve, while the leaders have no great hold over the men. But the effort to force recognition was thought to be the chief cause of the frequent and violent conflicts which usually attend the earlier stages of organization.

73. In its final conclusions the 1894 Commission rejected all proposals for compulsory arbitration and for other limitations on the right to strike, and stated its opinion that "the chief matter of importance" was the "rapid extension of voluntary boards" of conciliation on a trade or district basis which "we hope and believe will continue * * until they cover a much larger part of the whole field of industry than they do at present."

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74. During the ensuing 15 years the collective bargaining relationships steadily developed, so much so that in a report to Parliament in 1910 the Board of Trade stated that "the method of collective bargaining may be said to prevail throughout the whole of our manufacturing industries and to obtain to a very considerable extent in regard to the employment of dock and waterside labor, and of labor employed in transport and sea fishing." The report summarized the extent of the collective agreements in the United Kingdom. From this summary it appears that in 1910 the collective agreements of a general trade or district character numbered 1,696, and the total number of workers whose conditions of labor were specifically regulated by these agreements was estimated to be 2,400,000. It was pointed out that in addition to those directly affected there were a large number of workers whose conditions of labor follow and are in effect governed by, the collective agreements, so that the total

number of workers either directly or indirectly affected was materially in excess of 2,400,000. After pointing out that these collective agreements generally provided machinery for the settlement of disputes as to the interpretation and application of the agreements or as to the terms upon which fresh contracts of the kind should be concluded, the Commission expressed the opinion that the wide prevalence of these agreements had an important influence on industrial enterprise by enabling the employers concerned to calculate with precision their labor costs during the term of the agreements; and further, because these agreements, binding the whole or a very large proportion of the firms engaged in a given trade, materially reduced the danger of undercutting by rivals who might find it possible to obtain labor at a lower price.

75. During the next two decades there was a gradual, and in the war period a rapid, extension of the system of industry-wide agreements in those industries where collective bargaining had previously taken place on a shop or district basis. A notable example was the shipping industry, where (see appendix A) individual agreements were made with most of the operators following the 1911 strike, and national agreements were made in 1919. During the war period also, and in the immediate post-war period, industry-wide collective bargaining was established in some industries in which prior thereto collective bargaining on any significant scale had not long existed. The most important of these was the railway industry, in which (see appendix A) general recognition of the unions was delayed until 1913 and national agreements were not made until 1919.

76. Many of the collective arrangements entered into during the immediate post-war period were in the form of joint industrial councils, set up pursuant to the recommendations of the Whitley Committee. In October 1916, anticipating the difficult industrial conditions that would have to be faced when the war was over, the Government established, under the chairmanship of J. H. Whitley (later Speaker of the House), a committee on relations between employers and employed, as a special subcommittee of Mr. Asquith's cabinet committee on reconstruction. The committee was to make a study and present proposals for securing a permanent improvement in the relations between employers and workers. In October 1917 the committee made its first report, expressing its considered opinion that "an essential condition of securing a permanent improvement in the relations between employers and employed is that there should be adequate organization on the part of both employers and workpeople," and recommending for the better organized industries the setting up of joint industrial councils on a national basis. The Government adopted the report and instructed the Minister of Labor to carry it into effect. An active campaign was carried on by the Minister, and in the period 1918-21 this resulted in the setting up of approximately 60 such industry-wide joint councils.

77. The report of the Whitley Committee proposed an elaborate and uniform plan with joint industrial councils, district councils, and local or shop councils in each industry. This plan was not realized, since many of the industries preferred to retain their already existing joint negotiating machinery; and even in those industries in which the Whitley councils were set up there has developed, in the

ensuing 20 years, a great divergence of form and procedure, reflecting again the natural growth of such agencies under different conditions. Nevertheless, the proposals of the committee, and the active campaign carried on by the Government, resulted in the creation of joint negotiating bodies in these industries and thereby largely contributed to the establishment of the now existing employer-worker relationships in Great Britain.

78. By the end of 1921 the framework of collective bargaining now existing in Great Britain had been substantially established. Thus we were informed by the Ministry of Labor that between 1921 and the general strike in 1926 the only developments of consequence were the establishment of machinery for joint negotiation in a few industries and services in which progress prior to 1921 had been relatively slow; and that since the general strike the only significant extensions of collective bargaining have been in commercial trucking, the road transport services, the retail ("distributive") trades, the cinemas and theaters, the beet-sugar industry, and the cast-stone and cast-concrete industries.

79. Conditions which need not be traced here, brought to a head by the strike of the coal miners in 1926, led to the general strike of that year. That strike was called off after 9 days, and, though the miners' strike continued for some months, industrial peace was generally restored without disruption of the established collectivebargaining relations.

80. From this brief historical sketch it will be seen that the network of collective-bargaining relationships in Great Britain extending back to its origins over many years, had reached substantially its present form shortly after the close of the war. Through experience Great Britain has learned that strife is wasteful where reason can gain the day; and that agencies through which reason, patience, and objective judgment can be brought to bear on controversies are of the utmost value.

81. We found complete agreement that the general strike was a salutary lesson. It is generally believed that there will be no repetition. The Government learned that drastic economic changes in policy should not be undertaken without the fullest consultation with both labor and employer organizations. Such consultation had been general throughout the war, and we were informed that today, before legislative or administrative action is taken that may affect labor, its continuity of employment, its wages, hours, cost of living, or working conditions, the views of labor and employers alike are invariably sought. This governmental recognition and utilization of the services of these organizations is thought to have played a part in enhancing their public standing and increasing their sense of public obligation and the breadth of their viewpoint.

82. Labor and employer organizations have been further strengthened by the frequent support and encouragement which they render to each other. Repeatedly employers and representatives of employers' organizations stated to us that they preferred strong unions to weak ones, because the strong union is better able to secure the fulfillment of agreements and is better able to bring competitors up to the wage and hour standards of the industry, as set by the agreements. Repeatedly labor representatives stated to us that they pre

ferred strong employer organizations to weak ones, because the stronger the organization the fewer the units which remain outside to undermine industry standards.

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83. Thus the constitution of the Joint Industrial Council in the printing trades, through which settlements are made and national agreements negotiated, as described in appendix A, provides that one of its objects shall be "to secure complete organization of employers and employees throughout the trade to resist the action of those who would injure the fair standard of prices and wages by disposing of their goods or labor at less than the standard mutually agreed upon to secure recognition by all persons in the trade of agreements relating to wages and working conditions * to consider, report, advise, and make representation upon any proposed legislation affecting the trade, to combine to secure full and proper observance of the House of Commons Fair Wages Resolution by public bodies." The constitution of the Joint Industrial Council for the road passenger-transport industry (tramways and busses) set up by agreement between the Municipal Tramways and Transport Association and the Transport and General Workers Union provides that among the objects of the council will be "the inclusion of employers and employees in their respective organizations and securing the observance by them of collective agreements." A national agreement in the boot and shoe industry made in September 1913 included among its clauses the following:

For the more effective enforcement of any agreements, awards, or decisions, as well as for the general advantage of the industry, the federation, and the national union equally recognize the importance of their respective organizations being as numerically strong and as fully representative as possible of employers and operatives in all centers of the shoe trade.

When, after the war, the boot and shoe manufacturers' federation and the national union created a joint industrial council pursuant to the Whitley Committee recommendations, the council declared its support of the above clause and stated its opinion that:

The best interests of the industry will be served if all manufacturers can be encouraged to join the Boot Manufacturers' Federation, and all operatives encouraged to join the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives. The representatives of both the employers and the union stated that posters containing this declaration are displayed in the factories. In the pottery industry posters are also displayed in the factories. Issued in the name of the Joint National Council, they state that the Council "has been formed for the advancement of the pottery industry and all connected with it, by the association in its government of all engaged in the industry," followed by the statement that:

The Council recommends all operatives who are not already members, to at once join the National Society of Pottery Workers or other unions affiliated to the Council.

The constitution of the National Joint Industrial Council for the Road Passenger Transport Industry was organized in March 1937 "to secure the largest possible measure of joint action between employers and employees," and stated as among its objects "the inclusion of employers and employees and their respective organizations, and securing the observance by them of collective agreements."