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 (5°