The Iron and Steel Trades 
Confederation 
STATEMENT BY THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF 
THE CONFEDERATION WITH REGARD TO THE 
SITUATION IN THE IRON AND STEEL INDUS- 
TRY TO BE PRESENTED AT A SERIES OF 
AREA CONFERENCES OF LOCAL BRANCH 
OFFICERS TO BE HELD AT GLASGOW, NEW- 
CASTLE-ON-TYNE, SHEFFIELD, CREWE, AND CAR- 
DIFF ON SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1931. 
The Conferences of official representatives of branches 
of the organisation which are being held to-day at im- 
portant industrial centres throughout the country have 
been called to consider the situation in the iron and steel 
industry. That is a matter which has been ever present 
with the workpeople over the past ten years. They have 
had the painful experience of continually decreasing wages 
and an ever-increasing volume of unemployment and under- 
employment. The ‘economic blizzard,” as it is termed, 
that since 1929 has swept over the countries of the world 
which are embraced within Western civilisation has gravely 
accentuated the position, and now even those branches of 
the industry which have managed to maintain a fair de- 
gree of trade and employment are involved in a depression 
which jn its magnitude and extent is unprecedented in 
modern history. That condition will pass, but in passing 
it will still leave unsolved the problem arising from the 
fact that the British iron and steel industry is faced with 
a crisis in its affairs which, unless it can be tackled with 
the necessary resolution, vision and capacity by those 
who are in a position to control its destiny, the industry 
will fail to make that contribution to the economic pro- 
gress of this country and the welfare of the people it >is 
capable of doing. Such a failure, unnecessary as it is, 
would be a discredit to British industrial leadership and 
political statesmanship. 
It is necessary to assert this dual responsibility, because, 
as we shall show, the problem is not one which, in the cir- 
cumstances in which the industry is placed, can be solved 
by industrial action alone, and for the reason that some 
of the main causes for the present situation are outside 
its control. 
There is, however, no justification for the attitude of 
defeatism which—judging from the statements made by 
many of those who, through company meetings and 
throuch the Press and other channels, express the mind 
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