The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-03-26
BRITAIN IN GLOOM
OVER COAL STRIKE
Ministers Fail to Bring Men
and Mine Owners to
Agreement
BOTH SIDES FIRMLY
REFUSE TO YIELD
Employers Feel Victory Near
and Attempt to Coerce
Matters May End
in Bloodshed
Nv W. L. STEAD.


ship Settlement In still humping hear-
ily on the bar, and the gloomiest fear
Is expressed as to whether or not she
will ever he able To enter the harbof
All day the ministers have pleaded
alternately with the mine owners and
the ministers without being able TO
move either party one inch from their
positions. The ministers conference
will be resumed tomorrow. but unless
the night brings council the result
will be ahortive.
The position OF the government Is
that 1t cannot put the and shill-
ings clause into the bill without Gre
ating u precedent that would be
quoted by every trades union in the
country as justifying that their own
wages should he liked at their own
figure by Parliament. The ministers
are divided on the subject. but the
majority. supported by a majority of
the Liberals and all the Unionists,
are resolute against creating such a
precedent.
The miners are equally firm In re-
fusing to return to work unless they
are guaranteed 8 shillings for adults
and for boys in the bill, or by an
agreement with the mine owners.
They say that they have already given
ers' wages and claim that the owners
should give way in their turn on
the > shillings minimum.
Owners Refuse TO Yield.
The mine, owners reply that. while
many mines can afford to pay 5 shili-
ings and shillings, there arc others
that cannot. They refuse. therefore.
to yield to any authority save that
Of an act OF Parliament. which the
ministers, for reasons stated, refuse to
pass.
Matters are thus at hopeless
deadlock. nor can ut present zee
faction who will descend from
the machine and extricate the three
parties from their impasse. Extrem-
lists among the miners swear that the
strike VIII be prolonged for another
month. More INQUEST men admit
that the miners tn many places have
had enough of IL and predict that
the mines will be at work next Mon
day. 1t is this belief that encourages
the mine owners in their unyieidinx
attitude.
There is no doubt that the pinch
of povert is being severely felt, es-
pecially in the potteries. but 1t isn't
the miners who are feeling II as much
AS the iron workers. potters, railway
e~'SAA tAA" 49, S&PPu6 ~ adSS.
Distress Funds Raised.
All passenger trains on many rail-
roads will stop running next Monday
II the strike Is unsettled. Hospitals
are running short OF coal to warm the
wards, or to cook food for the patients,
and distress funds are being raised
TO save women and children from star
walton.
Two thousand miners have returned
to work in d few coilieries In North
Wales ana Scotland, but the majority
stand firm. grimly determined to night
to finish. The strike IL now costing
the country fifty million dollars a Wees
while the total sum at issue between
tho five shilling minimum and the
wages actually paid Is not more than
81. SOC. 900.
a month ago l proposed that in the
period now fixed at five weeks for
fixing rates. the government should
indemnify the owners against loss.
For some unaccountable reason the
miners objected to this, though l am
stIli of the belief that it affords the
only means OF escape. There We're
traces of a more reasonable attitude
toward This proposal IN the House TO
night.
What Ministers May Do.
What is anticipated that If totnor-
rows conference fails the ministers
will report tho steps taken to induce
the mne owners to voluntarily con-
cede the five shillings minimum. and
that they will then pass the bill. There
Is chance that the miners in many
districts will consent to go into coun-
ell with the nWRers. and that the strike
VIII break up On the other hand the
extremists maintain that only driblets
az men will go down in the mines
and that such rioting Will ensue that
the government will be compelled TO
call out the military to restore order
and protect the workers.
The ministers have hitherto kept
the soldiers in the shrubbery, great
contrast to what was done during the
railway strike. but the time may come
when they will have to call them out.
There are those who have been clamor-
Ing for coercion. and who will make
party capital out OF the inevitable
al .trt,