Edward Lee

In contrast, unusually for him, his tone to the workers is more in keeping
here with the employer class, saying the workers ‘must’. He was treading
a fine line, trying to find a middle ground, reaching out to the workers
while not alienating himself from the chamber.
James Connolly was interviewed by the Freeman’s Journal the next day
about Edward Lee’s suggestion for a conference to break the deadlock.
He did not agree. ‘My complaint about Mr Lee’s letter is that he appears
to wish both sides to give way at the outset on the very points that are
alleged by both sides to be in dispute. We are quite willing to let things
remain as they are both sides in a state of armed neutrality as it were,
towards each other and to discuss these points and any other points that
may be brought up’. 24 Ironically perhaps, the employers also disagreed.
J. Doyle writing to The Irish Independent on 30 th Sept stated, ‘Can Mr
Lee or any other person tell us how, without such an assurance, any
employer can be reasonably expected to continue to invest his capital in
a business the fate of which is practically at the mercy of the insolent and
unscrupulous strike boss who has recently enunciated the doctrine: ‘Do
away with the employer and there is no need for a strike’. 25 But Professor
Tom Kettle, one time Member of Parliament for East Tyrone and Home
Rule supporter, was in agreement with Edward Lee. In the Freeman’s
Journal, 24 th September 1913, he wrote, 'It seems to me the time has come
to call a truce. That is the desire of every Dublin man who loves Dublin.
The letter yesterday of that model employer Mr Edward Lee, the common
tenor of conversation lead us hopefully to that haven. A middle course
must and shall be found. Mr. Lee has spoken for the business world of
Dublin, facts accumulate upon the facts in the direction of peace’. 26 (Kettle
died not long afterwards at the Battle of the Somme, September 1916.)
‘Employers ought rather to seek to
elevate those whom they employ than
to inflict an indignity on them.’
A man of strong principles, Edward Lee joined the Dublin Industrial
Peace Committee. He was the only employer to do so. The committee,
24 Freeman’s Journal. 24/9/1913
25 Irish Independent. 30/9/1913
26 Tom Kettle, Freeman’s Journal. 24/9/1913
40 Edward Lee