heir funds in respect of unemployment benefit. It is,
of course, obvious that the accumulated funds of trade unions were never
intended as a subsidy to the community during a time of war, which is what,
in point of fact, they became. It is true that the unions made efforts
to conserve their resources in various ways, not least by advising their
younger members without dependants to join the army; it is true also that
most of them profited under Section 106 of the National Insurance Act
by the State refund of one-sixth of their payments to their unemployed
members; but these measures--and others--were inadequate to maintain the
unions in a sound financial condition, and many unions trembled on the
verge of bankruptcy.[1] Such a condition of affairs was viewed with
apprehension not only by the trade union movement, but by the State, with
the result that at the beginning of October the Government subsidy of
one-sixth was under certain conditions increased.[2] But even with this
assistance, many unions will undoubtedly experience considerable difficulty
in avoiding financial disaster. Speaking generally, the trade union
movement as a whole will emerge from the war in straitened circumstances.
Some unions may have collapsed, and amongst others the movement in
favour of amalgamation may have received an impetus owing to financial
embarrassments.

[Footnote 1: Speaking generally, it cannot be said that the trade unions
faced the crisis with either wisdom or courage. Their attitude, on the
whole, was one of utter bewilderment. The lack of the power of adaptability
to new circumstances, together with the fact that sufficient pressure was
not brought to bear upon the Government in the first weeks of the war,
accounts for the unfortunate position in which the trade unions found
themselves.]

[Footnote 2: The scheme applies only to unions suffering from abnormal
unemployment. There are also conditions that they "should not pay
unemployment benefit above a maximum rate of 17s. per week, including any
sum paid by way of State unemployment benefit," and that they "should agree
while in receipt of the emergency grant to impose levies over and above the
ordinary contributions upon those members who remain fully employed."
The amount of the emergency grant in addition to the refund of one-sixth
already payable will be either one-third or one-sixth of the expenditure
on out-of-work pay, depending on the amount of the trade union levy. Und