The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-18

with the chairman a man well known for his impartiality and enjoying general confidence. The government, he added, realized the importance of acting promptly lest the men should think 1t was ttying to put off the whole question. He pro- posed the commission get to work imn1e- diately and report without delay.
 Premier Asquith, the chancellor con tinued, had made the proposal of a com mission to both parties to the dispute. The mems representatives refused it, but the representatives of the company &C., cepted the proposition and agreed to give evidence before the commission. MT. Lloyd-George said the government felt that if conflict had to come 1t should come with every one having a full app-e- citation of the governments proposal.
 q have not given up hope of ,ar irving at some solution of the diff culty satisfactory to all parties" MT. Lloyd George said. q hope the men will realize that it is intended to give them fair play and not to lure out of their hands the great weapon of strik ing"
 If the royalcommission were accepted, the chancellor said, its members would be appointed Saturday and It's sittings begin Monday. He emphasized the im-
  and restraint in this critical moment and hoped 1t would be possible to con- duct the negotiations without inter vention from any quarter
 Ramsey Macdonald, replying to the chancellor, said there evidently had been a misunderstanding of the gov ernment's proposal, and that he would not press his motion of censure He ap- pealed to the members of the House having influence with the railway di- rectors to persuade them to make 1t easier for the men to accept a truce.
 Phillip Snowden, another laborite member. asked if the government was prepared to go the length of calling an extra session of parliament to deal with the commissions recommendations. To this Mrl Lloyd George replied: 'If they involve a question on which the peace of the country depends and most be dealt with without delay, I cannot ina zine that anyDody would obs Ject to parliament being summoned,
 Industrial War Declared An industrial war has been declared | and the employees of all the railway lines of the United Kingdom will be called out at once.
 Day-long conferences at the board of trade offices proved fruitless The rep
 
 able from their standpoint that the man agers of. the road had broken the let ter and violated the spirit of the conciia- tion agreement. ''We have unanimously come to the conclusion" they told Sidney Buxton, president of the board of trade, that the only way that will now be an eff fective road to peace is that the com panies shall consent to meet us"
 was at this point that Prap,iar Ac- quith intervened and offered to appoint immediately royal commission which should investigate and report what amendments, if any, were desirable for the conciliation plan.
 Mir. Asquith made the same proposition to the railroad managers and added the confident hope that the government might rely upon both sides to give all possible assistance to the proposed com mission.
 The representatives of the unions re- fused the proffer of the premier to ap- point the commission. The railway man. agers on the contrary consented to the plan.
 The leaders in the amalgamated so- ciety of railway servants dispatched telegrams throughout the country, call ing upon the men to cease work
 Following the failure of the strike ne- gotiations today, the military maneuvers have been suspended everywhere and troops are speeding to strike centers from all directions. A whole brigade of guards with machine guns has returned to London. The city is preparing for large encampments.
 It was asserted tonight that unless matters were arranged in the interim a cessation of work in the whole trans port trade of the United Kingdom would be ordered next Tuesday It Is l 4lat the order.
 Strikers Obstinate Officials of the railway mems socie- ties arrived in London from Liverpool early today and immediately met at the office of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, while they threw down the gauntlet to their employers by adopting the following resolution; This joint commission hereby ex- press our determination not to settle our present dispute unless the lockout imposed upon our fellow workers be- cause of their support of the railway men in Liverpool and elsewhere is re- moved"
 Later the leaders, numbering 40, met with the board of trade officials. Passenger trains from all London stations were running on their regu- lar schedules this afternoon. There was much uneasness among the men. large proportion of whom were reluc- tant to strike, but feared they might be forced to.
 At Liverpool traffic was also main- tained, but the stations in that city were guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets.
 The armored cruiser Antrim has been sent to the Mersey to protect the ship ping there. The trains to and from Manchester were generally suspended The trans-Atlanti, shipping companies plan to coal spd victral their liners at American ports for the round trip. but as in the case of the I-ueitania! which is scheduled to sail Saturday, but has been unable to obtain crew or coal, are likely to have trouble in keeping their crews when the vessels. reach England. Tom Mann, the strike leader, sum- Inarized the mems demands as follows: "A general increase in wages of 50 cents l week, work week of 54 hours and the lecognition of the unions.' The railway managers strongly object to granting this recognition, where it in wolves dealing on their part with repre- sentatives of the men other than their own employees
 The ship owners in conference this aft eInon displayed a willingness to meet the of the toint committee of strike