Quote#Work
We are asked to permit a hundred men to go round to the house of a…
Quote byF. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead · 1872–1930
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in the House of Commons against the Trade Disputes Bill (30 March 1906), as published in The Speeches of Lord Birkenhead (1929), pp. 15-22.
English (original)
We are asked to permit a hundred men to go round to the house of a man who wishes to exercise the common law right in this country to sell his labour where and when he chooses, and to 'advise' him or 'peacefully persuade' him not to work. If peaceful persuasion is the real object, why are a hundred men required to do it?
— F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
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