John R. Raynes

“ The decade of the seventies had been an atrociously hard time for railwaymen. There had been many fatalities and accidents to men and boys in the service, and all were "wage slaves" in a real and grim sense. The system that brought vastly increased wealth to commerce, banks, mines, and all financial interests, was only a durance vile for the men who ran the system. ”

“ Substitution was the phrase of the day, but it is impossible to substitute drivers and firemen on railway work. Young boys were then being employed with men long past the retiring age. "I sometimes find lads on our shunting engines who have a difficulty in making themselves seen," wrote Ivor Gregory. "Imagine lads who have to climb to look through the eye-glass, and have to stretch to look over the side-door on some of our engines, being jointly responsible with the driver for safe working!" ”

“ Railwaymen and Builders were forging ahead into a new era, cutting out of the mists of the wage system into the light of a clearer day, in which a new security and a new joy of life shell be realised by all willing workers. ”

“ Inquests and Board of Trade Inquiries have always formed an important part of the duties of an organiser. They are not only able to assist the member concerned, but often, by their practical knowledge, to assist the court, too. There are still a few coroners who dislike the presence of organisers, and desire that a solicitor, lacking any personal knowledge of railway life, should represent the men concerned. A coroner is as much the king of his own court as a captain is of his ship, and as yet the trade unions have only a courtesy right to place an organiser there. ”

“ So much feeling was stirred in 1879 that the whole question of strike policy was re-committed to the branches, with the advice that "at the same time we are in favour of the principle of arbitration." The companies did not even deign to give an explanation of why they took the harsh course of increasing hours and reducing wages, and men chosen to represent their fellows on deputations were ruthlessly removed or dismissed from the service, and prevented from getting employment under other companies. Victimisation was therefore a very real and cruel thing. ”

“ A member of five or six years standing, for example, has no conception of the long series of struggles and triumphs by those who have preceded him, and no idea of the vast debt he owes to the continuous efforts of the Society through all these years. Give me now a little of your time to examine conditions as they once were, to look at the record of bard endeavour and steady progress, and at the great distance which separates conditions which once prevailed from those conditions which prevail to-day. ”

“ It is a very serious matter for a man to be fined a day's wages, and in some cases even £5, and in some cases suspended, for not being at the call of companies by day and night seven days a week, when the companies only pay men for time actually worked. As they demand all time, it is only fair they should pay a full week's wage, instead of only a few shillings for working short time. ”

“ Therefore, friends, what was our duty, not to remember past differences, not to find loopholes through which to escape from the battle, our duty was to realise the human ethics of trade unions, and to say whether these people are fellow-railwaymen or whether they are not. ”

“ Many of our members are already receiving the benefits of our various Branches, and hundreds of non-members are reaping the rewards of our actions in reductions in their hours of labour, which we have no doubt will become more general as the area of our operation spreads,
We deprecate any violent means of arriving at those concessions which it is our aim to obtain, and trust that all our councils may be marked for their moderation and humility, and that we may never have to record in the history of our Society any of those unhappy events which so often set Capital and Labour at variance. ”

“ New strength has risen since then, and the whole Midland system has paused nine days without victimisation, without the possibility of one single man coming from other systems, and without suffering to a single member. Such is the value of industrial organisation.
The Society sacrificed, as I have shown, to assist the unfortunate, and this had two effects. It brought the reserve funds running down, and it sent the list of members running up. All over the country drivers and firemen noticed this first test of a Protection Fund, and saw it was something real in time of need. ”

“ The great European War is ended, and our members will be shortly returning from Army Service to their old occupations, and they will have to admit that our Society, at least, has not forgotten them, or been idle in efforts for their welfare during their absence; for not only have we kept unbroken their membership without contribution, and cared for the dependants of the fallen, but have prepared a better footplate life for them on their return. ”

“ Fancy a driver travelling every day with high wooden fences on each side, fancy the amount of good timber needed to block the open view, fancy the agony of travelling by train, and then fancy the great silliness of doctors talking like that. ”

“ The sound of the horn became a novelty on the roads, but everywhere was the whistle of steam power. Thousands of engines were in daily service, and a very large staff of badly-paid and overworked railwaymen were at work. Mere and more men became familiar with the vibrating "dither" of footplates rattling along at high speed, with everything hard and hot about them. ”

“ You have many branch banners and bands, and on those banners the steam engine takes its place in the ranks of labour. March on fearlessly with it into new adventures for your fellow-men, "never doubting clouds will break," and the next generation of enginemen and firemen will carry on your high traditions. ”

“ Yet we know there are yet greater heights to climb, greater events even than those recorded here are before us, and in humbly submitting this book to all our splendid members who man the iron horse or juggle with the electric mystery, I hope and believe that the men will be found to do credit to the heritage our pioneers have left to us, by fearlessly facing and overcoming all dangers and difficulties; and that our great Society may carry on from strength to strength, from success to even greater success, is the earnest wish of
Yours sincerely,
J. Bromley. ”

“ Fox held in his speeches that recognition of itself was not worth fighting about, for it was only a means to an end, and not an end in itself. The Society was developing its national programme, and felt that if it were attached to the claim for recognition the cause would have been worth a fight.
Mr. Bell was out for recognition, and assured his members that nothing short of official recognition would be accepted. He was opposed ta Socialism, opposed to the nationalisation of railways, and declined to identify himself with the Labour Party. ”

“ A similar tendency has been operating in the railway industry, as witness the increased membership of Craft Unions in railway shops and works, the growth of the Railway Clerks to some 70,000, and our own phenomenal growth of from 32,900 at the end of 1914, to over 46,000 at the present day.
"Throughout all the misunderstandings of the past we have, as a Union, while claiming our identity and self-government, always proclaimed our readiness and even desire to work in the closest agreement with the other Railway Unions and, if necessary, with other organised workers. ”

“ On the contrary, we think the Amalgamated Society will be glad to see those railwaymen, who could not come within its paling, unite and go to work for their common good. Knowing as we do that our readers, like other classes of men, cannot all see things from the same point of view, we rejoice that those who have for so long kept apart from the society are now going to work on the same idea, viz., that in unity there is strength. We wish the new Society of Enginemen and Firemen God-speed. ”

“ I extend to his family, on behalf of the Executive Council and the whole of our members, our sincere sympathy in this their irreparable loss, and trust they will be enabled to look to the Giver of all Good for solace in this great affliction. Truly indeed, God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. May we each so live as to be ready when the summons comes to us. ”

“ The proposal discussed was of federation with only the enginemen and firemen of the A.S.R.S., those present to include five from each side, with two Executive men who are engine drivers or firemen from each side. They were to report to their Executives, no movement to be started without the consent of the Executives of both societies. In general or national movements they were to work together as one Society, each Society taking responsibility for its own members. Deputations were, as far as possible, to consist of an equal number of each Society. ”

“ Trade Union activities were very great, including the eight hour movement, and the laying of the case for locomotive workers before the Committee on Production. That ably presented case was the means of increasing the war wage by 6s. weekly to men over 18, and 3s. to those under 18. Taken generally, the year was one without precedent in the history of the Society, making a great advance in its prestige and strength. Taking first a casual view of the year, we find war expenditure gradually rising from five millions per day to six millions, and later to seven. ”