The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03
ENGLAND FEELS
 THE COAL STRIKE Shipping Is Approaching a
 Standstill NO VIOLENCE AS YET Troops Are in Readiness, However, for Any Emergency - l50,000 Additional Men Idle--No
 Hope of Settlement
NO VIOLENCE AS YET

London. March 2.-Although tihs was only the second day of the coal strike It's paralyzing effect on dther industries Is being keenly felt, If Is computed that by Monday 150,000 workers out side of the coal mines will be idle and each successive day the strike lasts will add to this number. More than ,oO0, 900 miners, in England, Scotland and Wales are out.
 Shipping al many points is approach ing a standstill and steam trawlers are laying up That source of cheap food will soon be cut off. Many foundriea are already closed and others are pre- pairing for a speedy shutdown. Three or four days will suffice to cause q stoppage at most of the Sheffield steel works and within a week, if the col leries do not resume. more than q mil. lion employees in the cotton mills and allied trades in Lancashire will be without work.
 Miners Obdurate
 As long as the National Miners fed eration adheres to the determination that a schedule of minimum wage rates, drawn up by themselves, must be con ceded before they will enter into fur ther negotia tions there appears not the slightest hope of settling the strike. minimum wage by legislative enact ment but this method cannot force the miners to accept and return 10 work.
 Their refusal even to negotiate the question has largely alienated public opinion as expressed in the newspapers, but what is apt 10 prove far more eff fective is the pressure. that will be brought to bear upon them by the vast army of workers in other fields thrown destitution.
 No violence has yet occurred, and no troops have been moved, but orders we're issued al Aldershot tonight that the troops make ready to entrain im- media .ely if their services are needed.
 Ports Suffer
 Great ports of the United Kingdom, particularly those in Wales and the centers of the iron and steel industries have been the first to feel the effects of the strike.
 Many Iron Wbrks III uiSlIitLS were closed today, and at the Swansea and elsewhere business al the docks has come practically to a standstiil. No vessels are arriving The lockers and workmen employed in the industries named have been thrown out of work.
 Great crowds of these men have gathered in the streets.
 In South Wales the mine owners are preparing for emergencies. They have had stone walls built around the mines and have laid in great stores of food stuffs in anticipation of a long seige.
 Transportation Curtailed
 The railroad and street ear services in many cities have been still further cur tailed. Only two small non-union mines in the entire country arc still at worx One of these is in North Wales and the other near Berwick. on the Scottish iron tier
 Tinplate works of Wales are closing down rapidly owing to lack of fuel Six hundred mills will be idle in a few days and 10000 men who are employed there will be thrown out of work.
 John Williams labor member of parIia- ment for the Cover division of GIamor- gsnshire, South Wales. and general sec retary of the Amalgamated society of South Wales Colliery workers, told the welsh miners that he expected q settle nent of the strike to he reached by nest Thursday on lines satisfactory to both sides
 The prices for food are rising rapidly every where.