The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-21
ENGEAND'S STARVATION INDUS.
TRIAL POLICY.

The appalling conditions which
threaten the workinSmen of England
and Wales are almost unbelievable.
The strike OF the coal miners has
h,ourht in its wake a train OF events
which has forced the nation. so far
as the labor classes is concerned to
the brink of starvation.
England is largely a free trade
country, producing few of the neces-
sites Of life, and devoted largely to
industrial enterprises. These indus
tries require vast quantities of coal
for operating. and once this supply
liz cut or as ii is now. there is moth
ing 10 do hut close down and leave
the employees without labor. Like
wise, when the railroads are without
fuel they are unable to move trains
and their employees must be left with
out work. II is possible that in the
Industries already effected by the fuel
shortage. there are one and q half
million idle Worknen.
The scale of wages in England. and
for that matter in Europe. is so low
that not one in a thousand has been
more than able TO live on the weekly
wage and few have ever a few dollars
laid by for such AZ emergency as con-
fronts them now. consequently.
when a few days of idIeness with no
pay comes. they are destitute II
they and their families are brought
face to face With starvation. 1t is a
serious Indictment of the industrial
system of England. but is the same
system that is taught as the panacea
Of the American workingman's ills
by nearly all the political economists
in the colleges and universities OF this
country. I%ncidentiT. that is the mar
ket to which the American wheat
grower was pointed as he selling
place of his product.
But grave AS tho food problem for
the whole trouble. England manu-
features many times NOR" material
than her people consume This sur
plus. and it is by far the big end OF
tho output of her factories. must he
sold abroad. and from this source
must come the money To keep the
plant in operation. including tn" pay
roll. The markets that have been
supplied from English mills and
shops and potteries will not wait for
Tho settlement Of a strike in order
to get merchandise. They will secure
their supplies from other sources.
and once the connection is made with
such other sources, the trade can only
he recovered by the English exporters
ny a commercial war that meant
financial ruin 10 the manufacturers
and probably lower wages TO the en-
ployes. England can hardly. and the
world will not. allow her unemployed
to suffer from hunger, but charity
will not bother about the losses In
trade that result from the stoppage
Of the mills and factories.
1t has sometimes been u proud
boast that as a nation We could be
walled in from the world, and the
only inconveniences We would suffer
would be an absence of the afternoon
teas and the display Of diamonds in
the evening. And while we are. be-
cause Of our vast and diversified ter
rttory, our multiplied industries and
our national wealth. less dependent
on one enterprise than most nations
and are able &c produce early every
thing we need to sustain life and az
ford comfort. the throwing out OF
employment of the industrial classes
would work ruin to the whole peo-
Pile. What profit would there he in
North Dakota sending a shipload OF
wheat to England for sale now
There is the demand-and an urgent
one-but where would the money
rome from among the n and a halt
million Of unemployed outside the
miners. to pay for It? Would the
miners themselves who are living on
tho pittance from the union funds
pay as high price for our wheat as
our " well fed workingman who
IL pulling down an American day
wages in this country?
While this is parchment, it might
he we'll to recall that the throwing
out Of employment Of the labor OF
this country would produce a. condi-
ton comparatively like that which
now exists in England. The differ
ence would be exactly in the ratio Of
the former conditions Of the wage
earners in the two countries. Our
werkingmen have been able tt save
more and therefore have larger per-
sonal to draw upon than
their English brothers. But the ef-
feet upon industries would be the
same.
Is there any wonder. then. that
thinking men are giving grave con-
Germ to the avoidance Of the condi-
items which has brought starvation
and financial ruin to the English in
dustrial world?