From Crow-Scaring To Westminster; An Autobiography Part 11

Yours faithfully, (_Signed_) GEORGE EDWARDS,

_General Secretary_.

I also wrote to the President of the Union, Mr. George Nicholls, M.P., also to Mr. Winfrey, M.P., the Treasurer, telling them I was sure some very serious trouble was taking place and that, although Mr. Day did not think so, I was strongly of opinion that the whole Executive ought to meet and deal with the matter at once. Unfortunately, Mr. Nicholls was not at home and the letter did not reach him in time to reply before May 20th. Mr. Winfrey after a day or two did reply and said he thought we on the spot could deal with the matter, and there was no doubt we should have to support the men. I received no reply from the employers.

On May 20th the special meeting of the branch was held at the King's Head, St. Faith's. The large club room was packed to overflowing.

Unfortunately, only Mr. Day and myself turned up. My other two colleagues did not attend. Mr. George E. Hewitt again presided, and I reported that I had received no reply from the employers. The men at once became indignant at what they termed a great insult to them. I saw at once that all hopes for peace were over. I could not but confess that the employers had treated the men with scant courtesy. A very angry discussion arose and in the end the following resolution was pa.s.sed:--

That we ask the committee for permission to give the employers a week's notice, and that, unless our demands are granted, we shall cease work on Friday.

Mr. Day and myself retired, and I again told him that I felt very strongly that the whole committee ought to be called together, as I felt this was too big a responsibility for us. He again objected and said I must not call the committee together, especially after the Treasurer had written and said the committee did not want to meet. I therefore decided to face the situation bravely, and we went back into the meeting and informed them we had decided to give them permission to hand their notices in. I then addressed the men and urged upon them to enter into this contest thoughtfully and seriously. Their claims were just and reasonable, and I was sure if they acted soberly and orderly they would have the public with them.

The question then arose as to what form the notice should take. I advised them to draw up what is known as a round robin and each man sign it. This was done and a notice was drawn up for each employer. It read thus:--

We the undersigned workmen of yours hereby give you notice that unless we receive 1s. per week rise of wage upon our present ordinary rate of wage on next pay day, also an agreement come to whereby our hours of labour be so arranged that our working week finish at one o'clock on Sat.u.r.day, this notice will terminate on Friday May 28th.

Each man signed it and a notice was handed in to each employer on the Sat.u.r.day morning May 21st. The employers received the notice as far as I could learn without comment and very little was said during the week. I at once took steps to grapple with the situation. I got a strike committee formed and got proper pay-sheets printed, which every man would be asked to sign at nine o'clock every morning at the club house.

At the same time I intended to explore every avenue during the next few days before the final crash came to secure peace. On Monday morning May 23rd I received the following letter from Mr. J. T. Willis, Secretary of the Farmers' Federation.

SHERINGHAM, _May 22, 1910_.

DEAR SIR,

On behalf of the farmers of the neighbourhood of St. Faith's, to whom you wrote on the 16th inst., I am directed to reply that they very much regret they are unable to accede to either of the men's applications contained in your letter to them. They quite appreciate the suffering and inconvenience and bad feeling which is the inevitable result of a strike and would do everything to avoid one. It is not a question of paying the farm labourers as little as 13s. or 14s. per week, for it is well known that the average earnings inclusive of piecework pay amount to a considerably higher figure. During the past winter farm hands in the St. Faith's district received wages on the scale that had been paid during the summer instead of being dropped during the days of short hours as is usual. The farmers in that district recognized that circ.u.mstances then justified their paying what in fact amounted to an increase of 1s. per week wage. If instead of adopting this plan they had followed the usual course of dropping the wages during the period of short hours in the winter and had now raised their men to 13s. per week, probably there would now have been no discontent and they would have saved money. The result of the farmers paying higher wages during the winter than was from their point of view necessary, as labour was not scarce, is that they are now confronted with a demand for further increase for which the price of farm produce affords no justification. As you are probably aware, the market value of wheat is about one-third less than it was a year ago, and this reduction is not counterbalanced by better prices for other farm produce. The employers regret to hear that many of their workmen who have been in their service the greater part of their lifetime are intending to sever such old a.s.sociations, perhaps against their personal inclination.

However, in case the threatened strike should be carried out, steps are being taken to fill the vacancies which will be so caused.

Yours faithfully, (_Signed_) J. T. WILLIS, _Secretary_.

GEORGE EDWARDS, ESQ., C.C., Gresham.

To this I wrote the following reply, to which the Secretary of the Farmers' Federation never replied:--

GRESHAM, _May 25, 1910_.

DEAR SIR,

Yours of the 23rd to hand _re_ the labourers' dispute at St.

Faith's, and I very much regret to see by it the employers are not prepared to meet the men on either of their requests. I had hoped, considering the serious consequences involved both to the employers and employed, the employers would have been willing to meet the men and endeavour to come to some agreement without a strike having to be resorted to. I wish also to say my Executive entirely disagree with your Executive that the present state of agriculture does not guarantee any advance in wages on the present wage.

We are of opinion, considering the much higher price they have to pay for their food and that the purchasing value of their wages is greatly depreciated, that they are ent.i.tled to some little advance further. We consider that, had the employers reduced wages last autumn, they would have treated the men most unjustly, and, further, my Executive thinks the threat thrown out in the last paragraph of your letter, namely to fill up the men's places, does not manifest a very conciliatory spirit. If the employers had first shown a willingness to meet the men in some way, it would have been much better. We hope, however, the employers and your Executive will yet consider their decision and meet us with a view to preventing a strike with all its bitter consequences.

Yours faithfully, (_Signed_) GEORGE EDWARDS.

J. T. WILLIS, ESQ., Secretary, Farmers' Federation, Sheringham.

The receipt of Mr. Willis's letter, if I had any hopes that a strike could be avoided, would have dashed all hopes to the ground. Still I was anxious to catch at the last straw and to prevent a strike if possible.

Also, when the history came to be written, it should never be said that I was the cause of it and that I did nothing to prevent it, for I did everything that any man could do to bring about peace. And in this story of my connection with the Trade Union movement I very much regret to say that, until the late Great War, the farmers never would meet the men nor their representatives, but persisted in dealing with the men in a most highhanded autocratic manner. Had they shown any kind of a conciliatory spirit nine strikes out of ten that have taken place during these last fifty years would have been avoided.

On Friday May 28th the notices handed in by the men expired, and, as no attempt on the part of employers had been made to arrive at a settlement, the men brought their tools away. I cycled over from the other side of Norfolk where I had been holding meetings during the week.

Also my a.s.sistant, Mr. Thomas Thacker, was present. On arriving at the village we found the greatest excitement prevailing. We were met by the men and their wives, also a number of Trade Union friends from Norwich.

Amongst them was Mr. W. R. Smith, Mr. W. Holmes and Mrs. Reeve. Mr. Day was also present. A meeting was held under the tree that stood on an open s.p.a.ce close by the King's Head Inn. Almost the entire village was present. Stirring addresses were delivered by the Norwich friends.

Representatives of the press were present, and in order that the public might know that I had made every effort to prevent trouble, I read a copy of the letter I had sent to the employers at first, also the letter I had received from Mr. Willis, the Secretary of the Farmers'

Federation, and my reply to it. It was generally admitted that I had gone the full length any leader of a Trade Union could go in the direction of peace. In fact some thought I had gone a little too far, but I felt, and I do now, that it is better to err on the side of peace than it is on the other side. But the fight had begun and I felt the whole brunt of it would fall on me. I therefore set my teeth and made up my mind that, as my efforts for peace had failed, I would fight like grim death and, if we were to suffer defeat, the fault should not be mine. Altogether I had 105 men on my hands, 75 at St. Faith's and 30 in the Trunch district. The Norwich friends offered to render as much help as possible and undertook to have collections made at all the factory gates on Sat.u.r.days to raise a fund to pay the men who were married and with families more than strike pay. I also decided to make collections throughout the Union. I also decided to hold big Sunday demonstrations throughout Norfolk and to make collections. The meeting concluded about ten o'clock, and I went home with my friend Mr. George Hewitt to stay for the night, but not to sleep, for there was no rest for me. The responsibility was too great for me to rest, and I wished I could have had an Executive that would take some share of it. But I had a good lot of local workers. My friend George Hewitt, the branch secretary, undertook to act as strike secretary and to see the men sign the day-sheets. The next morning the village was full of excitement. At nine o'clock a number of mounted police arrived in the village and an equal number of foot police, for what purpose no one ever knew. I, however, saw the danger. Before leaving for Norwich I summoned the men with their wives to the branch house and warned them to be on their guard and give every instruction to the pickets to keep strictly within the law of peaceful picketing, and not on any account to attempt to molest the non-unionists when they were at their work, only to use peaceful persuasion on the road and in every respect to carry the fight on in an orderly manner and not in any way to run contrary to the authorities, for I was satisfied they would receive the greatest provocation. This they a.s.sured me they would do, and I am pleased to say, in spite of what was said to the contrary, that the men through the eight months'

struggle acted in the most orderly way and only in the most technical manner did they overstep the bounds of the law.

On Friday June 4th I received the men's first lock-out pay from the Treasurer. On Sunday June 6th I arranged for a big demonstration at Weasenham, which was addressed by Messrs R. Winfrey, H. A. Day, R.

Green, James Coe and myself. A collection was taken at both meetings for the lock-out fund amounting to over 7. The meetings were attended by over 1,500 people. An Executive Emergency Committee meeting was held after the afternoon meeting. Mr. H. A. Day presided, and there were present Mr. Winfrey, Mr. Robert Green and myself as General Secretary.

It was resolved that the men out on strike at St. Faith's be supported according to the minute pa.s.sed at the Executive Meeting held on April 25th, which read as follows:--

Any member having paid three months' contributions and his entrance fee be paid full lock-out pay, but the General Secretary shall deduct from his first week's lock-out pay three months'

contributions to bring them into compliance with Rule 6. But members having paid less than three months' contributions shall receive grants on the following scale: Married men, 7s. 6d. per week; single men, 5s. per week.

Mr. Winfrey also offered at this meeting to find work on the co-partnership farm at Walpole for sixteen men, the General Secretary to pay their rail fare. On Monday June 27th I took sixteen men over to Walpole. Arrangements were made for the men to have all their food in the Jepson Hall and that building to be used as a living room for the men. I purchased earthenware and cooking utensils for their use. One of the men was elected to act as cook and to keep the place clean. A good building at the farm was cleaned out and made fit for the men to sleep in and good clean straw was put into clean bags for beds. Each man took some bedclothes for himself, and thus I got them settled and saw them at work next morning before leaving.

The Norwich friends did splendidly. Our men stood at the factory gates on Sat.u.r.day. The boxes were never opened without us finding from 12 to 20, and with the collections at our Sunday meetings I was able to pay married men 2s. per week above their lock-out pay and 1s. per head for each child, both in the St. Faith's and Trunch districts. I always paid the men at St. Faith's on Friday and the men at Trunch on Sat.u.r.day.

Never once was I an hour late. The men at St. Faith's always cycled on the road to meet me and act as my bodyguard, for the farmers' tools had again become threatening. Although we had nearly cleared the farms, there were then, as there always have been, some to do the bidding of the opponents of Labour; but the men in both districts took very good care no one should harm me. These two disputes created great interest in the Union. My a.s.sistant Mr. Thomas Thacker and myself held meetings during the week, opening branches almost everywhere, and the Union went up by leaps and bounds. The labourers joined every week in hundreds, and, had the Executive let me have another organizer or two and more clerical a.s.sistance at home, the strikes would not have affected the funds of the Union to any great extent. The dispute, however, though serious and causing me many anxious moments, was not devoid of its humorous side. I always stayed with my friend Mr. Hewitt on Friday nights, and after the men were paid I always held a meeting under the tree which is now an historic one. The whole village would turn out to these meetings; the women were most enthusiastic. They were always on the look out for the blacklegs, as they would call them, and if one did venture to come anywhere near the village he would have to undergo some good-natured chaff. The employers were careful not to let these come too near the danger zone.

The Federation had provided very comfortable huts for them to live in on the farms and, when they had to pa.s.s through the village, they conveyed them in carts guarded by policemen. There was no necessity for that, and it was a wicked waste of time and money for which the county had to pay.

The men and their wives had received instructions from me that they were not on any account to molest the strike-breakers, however great the provocation, and they loyally carried it out, for no leader of Labour in time of disputes ever had more loyal followers than I had in the St.

Faith's and Trunch districts. But I could not always be with them, as I had to stump the county holding meetings in the interest of the Union, and the young folks and the women would have a little harmless horse-play. But the employers grew more bitter every day and apparently were determined to compel these poor people to break the law. Writing twelve years after this dispute I can write more calmly and yet more deliberately, and I a.s.sert without fear of contradiction that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of someone to compel these poor people in some way to lay themselves open to be prosecuted, and that the authorities were anxious to embrace the first opportunity to punish severely these poor people for daring to demand the right to live by their labour and to see their wives and children properly fed and clothed.

One day the occasion arose, although no one could ever say that there was any attempt to molest the strike-breakers or in any way to use violence towards them. When these men were being conveyed from one farm to another guarded by the police about twelve of the men's wives gathered together with kettles and saucepans and sang one of the Union's songs on the approach of the blacklegs, and, although they never approached nearer than one hundred yards to the strike-breakers, they certainly followed them through the village, beating their tin kettles and singing their Union ditties. They were summoned by the police and appeared before the magistrates at the Shirehouse, Norwich. They were ably defended by our solicitor, Mr. Keefe. Although he proved that there was no breach of the law of intimidation, the magistrates bound these women over to keep the peace for six months. But soon another occasion arose for these people to be cruelly persecuted. One of the men, after urging upon his fellow workers to strike, had gone back again to work.

One afternoon he went to work on his allotment. About twelve of the men went to the allotment gate with tin kettles and a concertina and waited until he came out to the road to go home, and without saying a word to him walked about one hundred yards behind him, playing their concertina and singing one of Sankey's hymns, "Kind words can never die." The wife, hearing the singing, came out into the road and began to shriek out and make a dreadful noise and shout out, "Oh, they will kill my husband!"

although no one was within a hundred yards of him, nor did they intend to be. But this was enough. The men were summoned by the police to appear before the magistrates at the Shirehouse, Norwich, on August 20th. Mr. Keefe was instructed to defend the men. I was unable to attend the court as I had to attend to two other emergency committees in connection with the harvest disputes. But Mr. Herbert Day, the Vice-President, was present in the court on behalf of the Union, and, although the police were unable to bring one solitary witness forward to swear that they saw anyone touch the old man or even go near him, the magistrates decided to convict and fined the men 5 each with costs.

The total amount was 60 16s. or three months in prison. Mr. Herbert A Day at once wrote out a cheque for the amount and prevented the men from going to prison. This money he paid out of his own pocket and never took a penny from the Union, and, further, for months in addition to what the Union, paid the men with families he gave the married men with families 1s. per child. The report of the conviction, when it appeared in the daily papers on August 22nd, caused widespread consternation and indignation at such a sentence being pa.s.sed on poor helpless men. Never before since the scandalous sentence of seven years' transportation pa.s.sed on the Dorchester labourers on March 15, 1834, by Judge Baron John William, the prosecution that was ordered by Viscount Melbourne, the Whig Home Secretary who was out to crush the rising spirit of Trade Unionism, had there been such outspoken criticism of any magistrates'

sentences, nor had there been such a spirit of indignation. On every Labour platform throughout the country the sentence was denounced as being most unjust and cruel, and, instead of it in any way damping the spirit of the labourers, it created a widespread interest, and through the efforts of my a.s.sistant I was able to report up to September 30th that we had enrolled into the Union in Norfolk over 1,800 members. Many expressions of grat.i.tude were given to Mr. Day for his great spirit of humanity and kindness. But many of the leading Trade Unionists thought it would have been best to have let the men go to prison and to have taken steps at once to get the conviction quashed, which they said we should have had no trouble in doing, as it would have been the means of bringing even a more widespread sympathy to the men and to our cause.

During the summer months a great deal of controversy took place in the press, and I as a rule came in for a great deal of personal abuse and was accused of making the gulf wider and wider between employer and employed for no other motive than my own personal interest. Well, those that made that charge and heaped that abuse upon me would not have said so if they had had to work night and day as I had for 23s. per week and to bear the responsibility of a dispute with a hundred men involved and an organization so rapidly growing in strength and influence. But on July 3rd and 4th I embraced the opportunity of again making known to the public that I was anxious to do anything that any human being could do without giving away absolutely the men's case, which I knew was just and reasonable. There appeared in the _Daily Press_ the first week in July a letter from Mr. J. H. Bugden suggesting that a conference should be held between the two sides with an independent chairman with a view of arriving at a settlement that would be honourable to both sides concerned. On going over to St. Faith's on the Friday to pay the men I addressed a meeting and said that I had seen in the press during the week a good deal of correspondence concerning the dispute in the St.

Faith's and Trunch districts, and I was very pleased to see a letter from the pen of my friend Mr. J. H. Bugden suggesting a conference between the two sides concerned, with a view of bringing this unhappy dispute to an end, and I wished to let it be known publicly that we were quite as willing and always had been to enter into negotiations with the employers or the Executive of their Federation with a view of bringing this dispute to an end, but up to the present they had declined all such offers that I had made and now we would go a step further. If such a conference could be held, we would accept Mr. Bugden as chairman. On July 6th I wrote from Castleacre to the Secretary of the Farmers'

Federation the following letter:--

CASTLEACRE, _July 5, 1910_.

J. T. WILLIS, ESQ., Secretary, Farmers' Federation, Sheringham.