CHAPTER XI

THE POST OFFICE EMPLOYEES CONTINUE TO PRESS THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FOR INCREASES OF WAGES AND SALARIES

The Post Office employees demand "a new judgment on the old facts." Mr. S. Woods' Motion, in February, 1898. Mr. Steadman's Motions in February and June, 1899. Mr. Hanbury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, points out that the postal employees are demanding a House of Commons Select Committee because under such a Committee "the agitation and pressure, now distributed over the whole House, would be focussed and concentrated upon the unfortunate members of the Select Committee." Mr. Steadman's Motion, in April, 1900. Mr. Bayley's Motion, in June, 1901. Mr. Balfour, Prime Minister, confesses that the debate has filled him "with considerable anxiety as to the future of the public service if pressure of the kind which has been put upon the Government to-night is persisted in by the House." Captain Norton's Motion, in April, 1902. The Government compromises by appointing the Bradford Committee of business men. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Postmaster General, states that members from both sides of the House "seek from him, in his position as Postmaster General, protection for them in the discharge of their public duties against the pressure sought to be put upon them by employees of the Post Office." He adds: "Even if the machinery by which our Select Committees are appointed were such as would enable us to secure a Select Committee composed of thoroughly impartial men who had committed themselves by no expression of opinion, I still think that it would not be fair to pick out fifteen members of this House and make them marked men for the purpose of such pressure as is now distributed more or less over the whole Assembly."

[Sidenote: _Civil Servants demand Right to agitate_]

On February 18, 1898, in the House of Commons, Mr. S. Woods[182] moved: "And we humbly represent to Your Majesty that your servants in the Post Office are not permitted to exercise the franchise, generally allowed to other Departments in the State; nor to serve on electoral committees; nor to take part in political agitation; and are otherwise deprived of the privileges of citizenship in defiance of the letter and spirit of the law; that the officials of the Post Office refuse to recognize the Postmen's Trade Union; their officials are illegally and unjustly dismissed for circularizing Parliamentary Candidates; and we humbly beg Your Majesty to instruct the Postmaster General to remedy these grievances."[183]

Sir James Fergusson, a former Postmaster General, said Mr. Woods' motion had been brought "by the direction of the central Committee of the Postal Union, or some such party." He continued with the statement that the motion was the outcome of the agitation carried on since he, Sir James Fergusson, had dismissed from the Post Office service Messrs. Clery and Cheeseman, the ringleaders of a political campaign carried on in violation of Sir James Fergusson's order of June 17, 1892. He said the employees in the Revenue Departments had been disfranchised in 1782 by the Marquis of Rockingham, Prime Minister, but that the franchise had been restored to them in 1868. That in that year both Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone had approved the policy of enfranchising the employees of the Revenue Departments, subject to the limitation that the ministerial heads of the Departments were to have the power to determine the limits within which the employees were to take an active part in politics. That an attempt had been made in 1874 to remove that limitation, but that the House had supported the Government of the day in resisting the attempt.[184]

[Sidenote: _House of Commons is Civil Servants' Court of Appeal_]

Mr. R. W. Hanbury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and representative in the House of Commons of the Postmaster General, the Duke of Norfolk, said, in the course of his reply to Mr. Woods: "We must recognize the fact that in this House of Commons, public servants have a Court of Appeal such as exists with regard to no private employee whatever. It is a Court of Appeal which not only exists with regard to the grievances of classes, and even of individuals, but it is a Court of Appeal which applies even to the wages and duties of classes and individuals, and its functions in that respect are only limited by the common sense of Members, who should exercise caution in bringing forward cases of individuals, because, if political influence is brought to bear in favor of one individual, the chances are that injury is done to some other individual.... I think it is only reasonable to expect that, as both [political] parties in the State have dropped party politics with regard to their employees, the employees should in turn recognize that fact, and drop party politics with regard to their employers." Mr. Hanbury enforced this point by stating that, upon the request of the Civil Servants themselves, Lord Rockingham, Prime Minister, in 1782 had disfranchised the Civil Servants in the Revenue Departments. At that time the party in power, through the Public Service, controlled 70 seats in Parliament. Lord North, who had been in power twelve years, had sent out notices to certain constituencies where the Civil Servants were able to turn the scale, saying, that unless the Civil Servants supported the Government, it would go hard with them. Thereupon the Opposition had sent out counter notices, and thus had put the Civil Service in an awkward position. The result had been that the Civil Servants themselves had requested Lord Rockingham to disfranchise them.

Mr. Hanbury continued with the statement that, in 1892, Sir James Fergusson had dismissed Mr. Clery for ignoring his order forbidding Civil Servants to "circularize" parliamentary candidates. Thereupon Mr. Clery, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, had said to a political meeting of postmen: "They must approach the House of Commons on its weak side; they must influence Members through their susceptibilities as opportunity presents itself when candidates appeal to their respective constituencies. A man is never more amenable to reason than when making a request." Mr. Hanbury continued: "What private employee is able to say: 'I am the permanent servant of my employer; I have a share in declaring who that employer shall be; I will attack him on his weak side when he comes up for re-election, and then I will use my power? I will bring organized pressure to bear throughout the constituencies, and I will make this bargain: that if he will not vote for an increase in my pay, or diminish my duties, then I will not give him my vote.' We have done away with personal and individual bribery, but there is still a worse form of bribery, and that is when a man asks a candidate to buy his vote out of the public purse. There are three great things which distinguish our permanent public service. There is, in the first place, the remarkable loyalty with which they serve both parties in the State. Then there is the permanency of their employment. Again, a great feature of that service is that no longer is it a question of favoritism, but promotion by merit is the rule. Those three great features have been slowly built upon this foundation--the elimination altogether of the element of political partisanship from the service. I hope nothing will be done to break down those foundations, on which alone the public service can rest--a service which, for its efficiency, its loyalty, and its high sense of public duty, I do not think is surpassed. I doubt whether it is equalled or even approached."

Mr. Woods' Motion was lost by a vote of 163 to 86. It was supported almost exclusively by the Opposition, only three Government supporters voting for it.[185]

[Sidenote: _Mr. Steadman demands a Select Committee_]

In the House of Commons, on February 20, 1899, Mr. Steadman[186] moved: "And we humbly represent to Your Majesty that, in view of the great discontent existing among employees of the Postal and Telegraph Services, immediate inquiry should be made into the causes of complaint."[187] Mr. Steadman had been elected to the House of Commons by a majority of twenty votes.

[Sidenote: _Parliament not competent to judge_]

Mr. R. W. Hanbury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, replied that no new facts had been brought to light since the Tweedmouth Committee and the Norfolk-Hanbury Committee had made concessions entailing an annual expenditure of $1,900,000 a year. The Post Office servants were demanding "a new judgment on the old facts." He continued: "I confess, I am not quite sure that we did not go too far [in 1897], because by increasing these salaries we are bringing into this service an entirely new social class; you are bringing in men who perhaps are socially a little above their work, and these men naturally have a standard of living and requirements which are not essential to men doing this kind of work. If we are going to raise the salaries more and more, you will get a higher social class into the service, and there will be no limit to the demands made upon us." Mr. Hanbury continued: "You have got to trust the heads of the Departments, or get new heads; it is quite impossible for the House of Commons to go into all these technicalities, and I know no Department where the work is more technical and more complicated than the Post Office. The Treasury work is supposed to be hard to learn [by the Members of the House of Commons working for promotion to the Ministry], but the technicalities of the Post Office is about the most difficult job I ever had, and I do not think a Select Committee would be really able to get to the bottom of this matter. But, after all, we must recollect another fact, and it is this: that the Civil Service is a great deal too much inclined to attempt to put pressure upon Members of Parliament. That is a very bad system, upon which we ought to put our foot. It is bad enough when it is brought to bear upon the House as a whole, but what would happen with a Select Committee of this House? You would have the resentment of the Civil Service focussed and concentrated upon the unfortunate Members of the Committee, and I do not think it would act more independently or more impartially than those two bodies which have sat already."

Mr. Steadman's Motion was lost by a vote of 159 to 91. Eighty-six members of the Opposition and two Government supporters voted for the Motion.[188]

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[Sidenote: _Civil Servants have "Friends" in the Commons_]

On June 1, 1899, Mr. Steadman moved the reduction of the Postmaster General's salary by $500, by way of asking the House of Commons to instruct the Government to appoint a Select Committee of the House of Commons to investigate the grievances of the Post Office employees.[189] He said: "It stands to reason that a Departmental Committee [Tweedmouth Committee] composed of officials, which contained only one impartial member--a Member of the House of Lords--could not be satisfactory to the 160,000 male and female employees in the Post Office service.... Every department of the Post Office service now has its organization. All these organizations right through the departments have their coaches and organizers; true, they are not yet directly represented here in this House, but they have friends here who are prepared to take up their quarrels."

Captain Norton[190] seconded the Motion. He spoke of the fact that any telegraphist could obtain $30 a year extra pay by making himself competent to discharge the duties of a letter sorter, and another $30 by passing an examination on the technical questions of telegraphy. He asserted that it was a grievance that the men had to acquire, in their leisure hours, the additional proficiency in question; and that only 46 per cent. of the men were able to pass the examinations on the technical questions involved in telegraphy.

Mr. Maddison[191] supported Mr. Steadman's Motion with the words: "For my part, I have always had some hesitation in taking up the cases of men employed by the State, because undoubtedly there is a sort of notion that, because they are employed by the State, they can make such demands as they like, because they are paid out of a very full Treasury. I know that every half penny of that money comes out of the general taxation of the country, and I agree that we are here as the guardians of the public purse. The Right Honorable Gentleman has never denied that we are here as the guardians of these men's interest, and it has not been shown that the public interest is of greater importance than the interest of these men, who do so much for the prosperity of the Country.... In this case we want a non-official committee, although I confess that I do not think such an inquiry will put an end to disputes in the future."

Mr. Hanbury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said that if the Government yielded to the demand for a House of Commons Committee in this case, there would be a House of Commons Committee sitting practically every session of Parliament. The points now under discussion had been under agitation for four, five, or six years. Before the Tweedmouth Committee entered upon its duties, and before the Norfolk-Hanbury Conference with Members of the House of Commons, the Government had a distinct understanding with Members of the House that the decisions come to should be accepted. Mr. Hanbury continued: "It is somewhat difficult, no doubt, to draw a comparison between what the Post Office pays and what is paid by private firms. But I will give one comparison, at any rate, and I think it is the only one possible. A few years ago we took over from the National Telephone Company the employees, principally women, who were engaged on the [long-distance] trunk wires, and I venture to say that, counting in the pensions we pay, these people are receiving from 30 per cent. to 40 per cent. larger salaries than when they were in the employment of the company. Honorable Members who draw comparisons between servants of the State and others, are too apt to forget the great facilities Post Office servants get, such as constant employment, large pensions, good holidays, for which they are paid, and large sick-pay and sick-leave. If these are added together, it will be found that the Post Office is paying wages considerably above the level of those paid by outside employers. I should like to say one further word with regard to this application for a Committee of this House. Why should we have it at all? Let me speak with perfect frankness about this thing. We have already had two Committees; we have also had a great deal of pressure brought to bear upon Members; that pressure is becoming almost intolerable. The honorable Member for Newington posed as the just judge and said: 'I am weary of all this agitation; let us try to put an end to it.' Well I am not weary of the agitation; so long as I am satisfied, as I am now, that everything has been done that ought to be done for the men, I will not yield to agitation. I say at once that I do myself believe that, considering everything, and that full inquiry has already been held, the only advantage these men could derive from a House of Commons Committee would be that the agitation and pressure, now distributed over the whole House, would be focussed and concentrated upon the Select Committee. I, for one, am not prepared to grant a Committee of that kind."

Mr. Steadman's Motion was lost by a vote of 157 to 107; ninety-seven members of the Opposition and nine Government supporters voting for the Motion.[192]

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[Sidenote: _Mr. Steadman's third demand for a Select Committee_]

On April 27, 1900, Mr. Steadman moved the reduction of the Postmaster General's salary by $2,500.[193] He said: "I rise for the purpose of advocating the claims of the 160,000 persons employed in the Post Office for a fair and impartial Committee of Inquiry to be elected by this House to look into their grievances."

The contention that there were grievances, Mr. Steadman supported with the following arguments. From 1881 to 1891, the Civil Service Commissioners, in issuing notices that they would hold competitive examinations for intending entrants into the telegraph service, had stated that in London telegraphists had "a prospect of obtaining [ultimately] $950 a year." That, argued Mr. Steadman, was a contract between the Government and the telegraphists who entered the London service between 1881 and 1891, that every such telegraphist should rise to $950. The Government therefore had committed a breach of contract when, in 1892, it had announced that good character and good skill as an operator would not secure a telegraphist promotion to the senior class, in which the salary rose from $800 a year to $950. To be eligible for promotion to the senior class, a man must be not only an excellent telegraphist, but must, in addition, possess such executive ability as would enable him to act as an overseer, or as assistant to the Assistant Superintendent.

Mr. Steadman continued: "Now I come to the question of the postmen. Goodness knows where all that $1,950,000 a year has gone to. You cannot get away from the fact that the postman to-day in London commences [at the age of 16 years to 18 years] with a minimum wage of $4.50 a week.... Fancy that, Mr. Chairman, a man commencing on $4.50 a week, and employed by the State in a Department that has a clean profit of between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000." Mr. Steadman next contended that a good conduct stripe--worth $13 a year--should be given every three years; that the present period of five years was too long. Moreover, the Department was altogether too rigorous in withholding good conduct stripes for breaches of discipline. Mr. Steadman cited the following instances to prove the necessity of an inquiry by Members of the House of Commons into the discipline enforced by the Department. A man who had served nine years as an auxiliary postman had been arrested on the charge of stealing a postal money order. Though found not guilty by the Court, he had been dismissed, without a certificate of good character. Postman Taylor, of Stirling, after suffering an accident, was unable to cover his route in the time fixed by the Post Office. Thereupon the local postmaster had asked Taylor to retire on a pension. "The latest information that I have in regard to that case is that the man who is now doing Taylor's duties, in order to get through his round in the time allotted, has his son to help him." Again, the annual increment had been withheld from one Lacon, a telegraphist at Birmingham, and the local Secretary of the Postal Telegraph Clerks' Association. The Secretary to the Treasury, Mr. Hanbury, had told Mr. Steadman that the Superintendent at Birmingham reported that Lacon's increment had been withheld because Lacon had been insubordinate while on duty. Lacon had told Mr. Steadman that he had been disciplined because of his connection with the union. Mr. Steadman added: "I will not for one moment attempt to stand up in the House and attack permanent officials who are not able to defend themselves; it would be unmanly for me to do so. But I do say that I have as much right to believe the statement of Lacon, as the Right Honorable Gentleman [the Secretary to the Treasury] has to believe the statement of the Birmingham Superintendent. There is only one way of proving these cases, and that is for a Committee of impartial Members of this House to be appointed before which the permanent official can state his case and the men theirs. If that is done, the Members, if their minds are unbiased, will very soon be able to judge as to who is telling the truth."

[Sidenote: _Commons reminded of Civil Servants' votes_]

Sir Albert Rollit seconded Mr. Steadman's Motion, saying: "and we ought not to overlook the fact, that, rightly or wrongly, these men now have votes, and if they cannot obtain redress for their grievances here in the House of Commons, they will try to obtain it from our masters, the electorate."

Mr. R. W. Hanbury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and representative in the House of Commons of the Postmaster General, the Duke of Norfolk, "on principle" opposed the request for a Select Committee. "Well, I say that the House of Commons is the last body which ought to interfere in these questions of the payment of our public servants. It is the last body which ought to be appealed to as regularly as it is by civil servants to raise their salaries, because that, after all, is the real object of this proposed committee. Already I think the pressure brought to bear on individual Members, and especially on Members who have a large number of civil servants in their constituencies, has become perfectly intolerable, and civil servants may depend upon it that it is the general opinion in this House, although they may have their cause advocated by Members upon whom they may be able to bring particular pressure, because large numbers of them happen to live in the constituencies of those Members; I repeat that they may depend upon it that in the opinion of the great body of the Members of this House they are taking a highly irregular course, and are in no way making their position more favorable in the minds of the great majority of Members. Nothing will induce me personally to agree to any committee such as has been suggested. And while I object on principle, I object also because absolutely no necessity has been shown for the committee.... The Duke of Norfolk and I, because we were so desirous that no case of the slightest grievance should be left untouched, inquired into every grievance which was said to have been left unredressed by the Tweedmouth Committee.... Every Member of the House had a right to attend our [Norfolk-Hanbury Committee] meetings, and to cross-examine the witnesses.... It is the intention of the Post Office and of the Treasury to carry out the recommendations of the Tweedmouth Committee to the very fullest extent, and if the honorable Member [Mr. Steadman] is able to show me any case whatever in which that has not been done, even in the case of an individual postman, or sorter, or telegraphist, I will go into it myself, and I will do more: I will promise that the grievance shall be redressed."

Mr. Steadman's Motion was lost by a vote of 66 to 46. It was supported by forty-one members of the Opposition and by four supporters of the Government.[194]

* * * * *

On June 7, 1901, while the House of Commons was in Committee of Supply, Mr. Thomas Bayley[195] asked for a Select Committee of the House of Commons to investigate the grievance of the Post Office servants.[196] He said: "This House shows a want of moral courage by throwing the responsibility for redressing the grievance of the Post Office servants on the other House [Lord Tweedmouth] or the permanent officials of any Department whatsoever." Mr. Bayley had begun his political career as a Town Councillor in Nottingham.

[Sidenote: _The Prime Minister's Anxiety_]

After many Members had supported the request for a Select Committee, the Prime Minister, Mr. A. J. Balfour, said: "I have listened with great interest to this debate, and, I confess frankly, with considerable anxiety as to the future of the public service if pressure of the kind which has been put upon the Government to-night is persisted in by this House. This House is omnipotent. It can make and unmake Governments. It can decide what, when, and how public money is to be spent. But with that omnipotence I would venture to urge upon Members their great responsibility with a subject like this. Everyone knows that a great organized body like the Post Office Service has in its power to put great pressure upon Members, but I earnestly urge upon honorable Gentlemen that unless we take our courage in both hands, and say that, although most desirous that all legitimate grievances shall be dealt with, we cannot permit the Government as a great employer of labor to have this kind of pressure put upon it, I think the future of the public service is in peril. I assure the committee that I speak with a great sense of responsibility. In this very case the Post Office employees have brought forward their grievances year after year. Two Commissions have been appointed, and no one ever ventured to impugn the ability or impartiality of the members of those Commissions. These Commissions made the fullest examination into the case put before them, and reported at length, and as a consequence of that report the British taxpayers are now paying $2,500,000 more of money than they paid before.... In none of the speeches has any specific complaint been brought forward, or any point urged which suggests the necessity for further inquiry, but only the statement that there is a feeling of uneasiness, and a desire for further examination, and that when such a desire is expressed, the House should listen to it. We cannot keep the Civil Service in a sound and healthy condition if we are going to examine into it by a committee every five years. If the House of Commons were to yield to the very natural temptation of granting a committee such as had been asked for, though we might escape an inconvenient division, we should be unworthy, in my opinion, of bearing any longer the great responsibility of being the enormous employer of labor that we are. We should not be carrying out our duty to the public, and, worst of all, we should aim a blow at the Civil Service, which is the boast of this country and the envy of the civilized world, because we should become the parliamentary creatures of every organized body of public servants who chose to use the great power which the Constitution gives, for ends which I am sure they believe to be right, but which this House could not yield to in the manner now suggested without derogating from the high functions and spirit of pure impartiality which the House must maintain if Members are to do their duty by their constituents."

Mr. Bayley's Motion was lost by a vote of 148 to 103; it being supported by ninety-one members of the Opposition and nine Government supporters.[197]

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[Sidenote: _Captain Norton demands a Select Committee_]

On April 18, 1902, while the House of Commons was in Committee of Supply, Captain Norton[198] moved the reduction by $500 of the item: Salaries and Working Expenses of the Post Office Telegraph Service: $12,056,250.[199] He said: "The case briefly was this, that the Government had been guilty of a distinct breach of faith in connection with a certain number of worthy Government officials. He knew that to make this statement of breach of faith was what must be called a strong order, but he was prepared to prove that he was not exaggerating in the smallest degree." He went on to state that the telegraphists who entered the service in London in 1881 to 1891, when the Civil Service Commissioners had advertised that entrants had "a prospect of obtaining $950," had a contract with the Government that the possession of "ordinary manipulative ability, with regular attendance and good conduct" would insure advancement to a position paying $950. The Government had broken that contract by prescribing, in 1892, that men "must be equal to supervising duties" in order to be promoted to the positions carrying $950.

Sir Albert Rollit[200] supported Captain Norton with the words: "For a long time past there had been a very strong and general feeling in the service that many of the men had been the victims of something amounting almost to an imposition, however unintentional, on the part of a public Department. Strong terms had been used in the course of the debate, but he should endeavor to deal with the matter on the basis of what he believed to have been a contract between those employees and the Post Office. It was not difficult to show that that implied--or, he might even say, express--contract had induced many to enter the service, only to find that the contract was afterward departed from by one of the contracting parties, the State."

Mr. Keir Hardie supported Captain Norton's Motion with the argument that the concessions made by the Tweedmouth Committee had imposed no additional burdens upon the taxpayers, for that committee merely had allocated a small portion of the extra profit made by the Post Office to the Post Office servants who made that profit. Mr. Keir Hardie at one time has held the office of Chairman of the Independent Labor Party,[201] an organization that brings to bear upon the British municipal governments a pressure similar to that here shown to be brought upon the House of Commons.

[Sidenote: _Members of Parliament coerced_]

Mr. Gibson Bowles said: "He was aware that many honorable Members who brought forward the position of servants of the State, did so against their own desires, because of the almost irresistible pressure placed upon them by the servants of the State, who were at the same time electors.... He supported the Secretary to the Treasury in resisting this particular amendment, because it was one of many which tended to illustrate a form of tyranny that was becoming unbearable, and which tended seriously to injure the character of this House as making its Members the advocates of classes, sections, and little communities, instead of being trustees not for them alone, but for the whole community."

Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and representative in the House of Commons of the Postmaster General, the Marquis of Londonderry, said he "supposed it would not be unfair to say that an officer joining the British Army had a prospect of becoming a field marshal." As to the telegraphists, "all that the Government ever had held out to them was a prospect of a certain number of them attaining something beyond the ordinary maximum" of $800, to which any man could rise by the display of ordinary manipulative ability and the observance of good conduct. Under Mr. Fawcett, in 1881 to 1884, one telegraphist out of every 6.3 telegraphists had risen beyond $800. In 1890 the proportion in question had been exactly the same. In 1902, the proportion was one in six, or, "practically the same."

Mr. Austen Chamberlain continued: "When I consider the great concessions that were made [by the Tweedmouth Committee], and the great burden that was placed upon the taxpayers, the care that was given to that inquiry, and the opportunity that was afforded to every one to have their grievances heard, I cannot pretend to think that a case has been made out for trying, not fresh matters, but for retrying the same matters and changing the tribunal, merely because all its decisions [_i. e._, some of its decisions] were not agreeable to one of the parties concerned. I hope the House will not do anything so fatal to the efficiency and the organization of our Civil Service, as to allow any large body of civil servants to think that they have only to be importunate enough to secure in this House repeated inquiries into their grievances, no matter what previous care has been given to their consideration. I trust this House will have confidence in the desire of the Postmaster General to deal fairly with all his employees, and believe me when I say that there is nothing easier for us to do than to give way; and that it is only because we believe it to be our duty to the taxpayers that we find it necessary to refuse these recurring and increasing demands."

Captain Norton's Motion was lost by a vote of 164 to 134. It was supported by one hundred and twenty-three Opposition members, and by seven Government supporters.[202]

A few hours later, Mr. Thomas Bayley[203] moved a reduction of $500 on the salary of the Postmaster General, in order to call attention to the grievances of the officials of the Post Office.[204] He said there should be a Court of Appeal for the civil servants, and that Court should be the House of Commons alone; whenever a dispute arose between the Government of the day and its servants, the House should constitute itself the Court of Appeal. Mr. Bayley added: "It had been distinctly laid down that it was no part of the duty of the Post Office to make a profit, but it should be worked for the future convenience of the public and not reduced to the level of a mere profit making machine. It was this desire on the part of the Post Office officials to make profit which lay at the root of all the troubles which the House had been discussing in the debate that evening."

Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and representative, in the House of Commons, of the Postmaster General, replied: "I refuse to resign one particle of my responsibility, or to accept the suggestion that the Government should wash their hands of their responsibility, and throw the subject, as an open question, before the House of Commons, and ask a Committee of this House, without aid or guidance from responsible Ministers, to judge upon the multitude of conflicting interests and details incident to the administration of so great a service as the Post Office. I, for one, will not be party to putting off that responsibility on to the House of Commons.... But we consider that it would be a grave dereliction of duty on our part to throw this great service into the turmoil and confusion of a Parliamentary inquiry, with the knowledge that such an inquiry would not be final--honorable Gentlemen who have supported this Amendment have declared that to talk about finality in this matter is absurd--with the knowledge that what is done to-day for the Post Office, must be done to-morrow for every other Department employing a large number of Government servants, until elections to this House will depend more and more on the willingness of Members to purchase the support of those who are in public employment by promises of concessions at the public expense, instead of securing their support, like that of other citizens, on public grounds and national interests."

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[Sidenote: _The Government's Compromise_]

On April 30, 1903, while the House was in Committee of Supply, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Postmaster General, prefaced the discussion by the Committee of the Post Office Vote, with the following statement:[205].... "The demand is that a Select Committee of this House should be appointed to examine into the grievances of the Post Office staff. I have made it my business since I have been at the post office to see that every memorial from the staff dealing with their grievances, addressed to me, should come before me personally.... Even though I have felt that many of the matters thus brought to my notice were very small details of administration. I am determined that an official [employee] of the Post Office, going to the head of his service, should receive as fair and careful consideration of his appeal, if he applies to me direct, as if he sought Parliamentary influence to urge his claim. And I venture to think that nothing has occurred during the time that I have been responsible which can justify any servant of the Post Office in saying that he is unable, except by Parliamentary influence, or by Parliamentary exposure, to obtain the attention of the head of the Department. The other day at the request of several Members on both sides of the House, I met the Members themselves, and consented that if they wished, they should be accompanied by members of the Post Office Staff, who should make before them, and in my presence, a statement of the grounds on which they asked for this inquiry by a Select Committee, in order that then and there I might discuss it with my honorable friends. The Vote comes on to-night, and I intend to take this opportunity of making a few observations on the grounds for this Parliamentary inquiry as put forth by the Staff. There are three main grounds alleged by the spokesman for the staff for a Parliamentary inquiry--wages, sanitation [_i. e._, the sanitary condition of certain offices], and meal reliefs, or the time allowed out of working hours for taking refreshment. If a person does eight hours' continuous work he is allowed half an hour out of that time for a meal, reducing his actual working hours to seven and a half hours.... I only wish to draw the attention of the committee to what was described to me as a typical grievance by the spokesman of a deputation which waited on me shortly before Christmas. Certain men are on duty from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m., and from 4 p. m. to 8 p. m., and complain because they are not allowed 20 minutes for tea. In the judgment of any impartial person, was that a reasonable grievance?... I myself have come to the conclusion, ... that while a great number of the complaints made have no foundation in justice, and that a great number of the men who think themselves aggrieved would find it difficult to get, elsewhere than in the public service, such good employment as they have now, there are other cases which are open to improvement and for which further inquiry is needed to fix exactly what should be done. The Government is unalterably opposed to a Select Committee of the House of Commons for the decision of this question. Honorable Members know, and it is no use blinking it, the kind of pressure which is brought to bear, or is attempted to be brought to bear, upon Members in all parts of the House by the public servants, servants of the Post Office, I am afraid, especially, though not entirely [exclusively], at election times. I have had Members come to me, not from one side of the House alone, to seek from me, in my position as Postmaster General, protection for them in the discharge of their public duties against the pressure sought to be put upon them by the employees of the Post Office. Even if the machinery by which our Select Committees are appointed were such as would enable us to secure a Select Committee composed of thoroughly impartial men who had committed themselves by no expression of opinion, I still think that it would not be fair to pick out fifteen Members of this House and make them marked men for the purposes of such pressure as is now distributed more or less over the whole Assembly. But if I am opposed to the appointment of a House of Commons Committee for fixing wages in the Post Office, I am still more opposed to thrusting upon it, or, indeed, on any Committee, the duty of regulating in all its details the daily administration and work of the Post Office. The wages paid are not in all respects satisfactory, some are too low, others are too high. Advice from men of practical and business experience would help me, the Minister in this matter. Therefore, I propose to take such advice--of men as free from any kind of political and electoral pressure, as they should be free from any departmental influence. I should suggest a body of five to report for my advice and information on the wages paid in the Post Office Department to the four great classes of employees, the letter sorters and the telegraphists in London, and the letter sorters and the telegraphists in the provinces."

After reiterating that he proposed to get the advice of business men only on the question of the scale of wages paid in the Post Office Department, and that he in no way proposed to surrender to any Committee of any sort the general duties of the Postmaster General, Mr. Austen Chamberlain closed with the words: "I ask the Committee [of Supply] to give me all the confidence it can, and when it is unable to give me that confidence, I say that that is no reason for granting a Select Committee to do my work, but only a reason for transferring the office of Postmaster General to someone who is more competent."

Mr. Thomas Bayley replied that "he was not willing to give up the rights and privileges of the House of Commons, whose duty it was to remedy the grievances of the public service.... And although he had been assured by those whom he represented [_i. e._, post office servants] that the Post Office officials would loyally abide by the decision of a Committee of the House of Commons, the Right Honorable Gentleman [the Postmaster General] could not expect the same loyalty with regard to the decision of the Committee he proposed to appoint."

Sir Albert Rollit said: "The Tweedmouth Committee was a one-sided tribunal; the officials were represented on it, but the men not at all...."

Captain Norton replied: "The Right Honorable Gentleman had also referred to the question of Members on both sides of the House coming to him for protection. That was very startling, because the reason they were there at all was that they might represent every section of their constituents,[206] ... but presuming the Post Office servants were organized, he submitted they were within their rights to appeal to their Members.... If the postal officials were such terrible tyrants he hoped they would take note that they could never hope for fair play from the present Government. The Right Honorable Gentleman had appointed a packed jury of five individuals to deal with a fraction of the question.... In other words, he was going to take shelter behind this bogus committee.... He was going to appoint five Members, possibly sweaters, to determine the rate of wages.... It would be astounding if the postal officials accepted any such bogus arbitration. If it was to be a Board of Arbitration, why should not they have five postal servants added to the five employers of labor?" Captain Norton is a Junior Lord of the Treasury in the present Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Ministry.

* * * * *

On May 17, 1903, the National Joint Committee of the Postal Association unanimously resolved: "That this National Joint Committee views with extreme dissatisfaction the appointment of a Court of Inquiry which is not composed of members of Parliament, but is an altogether irresponsible body, and protests against the scope of the inquiry being limited to a single grievance and to a minority of the Staff. It pledges itself to continue to use every legitimate endeavor to obtain an impartial Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into the causes of discontent in the postal and telegraph service."[207]

In August, 1903, the Postmaster General appointed a "Committee to inquire into the adequacy of the wages paid to certain classes of the postal servants." The Committee consisted of: Sir Edward Bradford, until lately Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; Mr. Charles Booth, a Liverpool Merchant, and the author of "The Life and Labor of the People in London;" Mr. Samuel Fay, General Manager of the Great Central Railway; Mr. Thomas Brodrick, Secretary of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, Manchester; and Mr. R. Burbridge, Managing Director of Harrod's Stores.[208]

FOOTNOTES:

[182] _Who's Who_, 1903, Woods, Sam'l., M. P. for S. W. Lancashire, 1892 to 1895; M. P. (R.) for Walthamstow, Essex, 1897 to 1900; President of Lancashire Miners' Federation; Vice-President of Miners' Federation of Great Britain; Secretary of Trade Union Congress since 1894.

[183] _Hansard's Parliamentary Debates_, February 18, 1898, p. 1,107 and following.

[184] Compare also _Hansard's Parliamentary Debates_, April 22, 1874, p. 958 and following, and June 1, 1874, p. 797 and following. _Parliamentary Papers_, 1874, vol. IV: A Bill to Relieve Revenue Officers from remaining Electoral Disabilities; and 37 and 38 Victoriæ,