New-York tribune., 1912-03-17
BRITAIN FACES HUNGER
AS COAL STRIKE LASTS
Small Prospect Of General Re-
/ turn to Work Before the End
of the Month.
AsQUITH'S POSITION TRYING
labor Members Almost Certain
to Oppose Minimum Wage
Bill, Forcing Him to
Rely on Tories.
rBy cable 70 The Tribune.l


Iondon. March 16.-All hope of bring
,rs the coal strike to an end before the
,sssase of minimum wage bill has
hsan abandoned. II will last, therefore
,.,,tuaIly until the end of the month
The nroblems which the drafting of the
measure will raise are of Fundamental
seriousness and Importance, and it Is
AT nossible that the bill can be passed
into law without debate and contest.
Meanwhile the nation faces with re-
,narkable fortitude the prospect of q
virtually complete stoppage of all but a
s.v industries, accompanied by hunger
and restitution
Premier Asquith's position is one OF
the most trying which any statesman OF
This or the preceding generation has
been called upon TO face. An attack on
the government sufficiently serious to
threaten its existence may now be ex-
nscted from the Labor benches rather
than from Mr. Redmonds followers.
The Home Rule bill will be accepted by
the Nationalists, and, as far as can be
learned from talks with prominent mem
hers. il will be carried to a second read
ing with the understanding that certain
matters can be left open for amendment
in committee.
Neither E,me Rule nor Welsh discs
tablishment, however, is so dangerous
for the government as the Labor fac
tiops. The Prime Minister has been ne
gotiating directly with the strike lead
ers over the heads of Mr. Ramsay Mac
donald and the Labor members. He
could not act differently when the Labor
members had lost the confidence Of the
militant section of tho trade unionists
and were set aside as dependents upon
the coalition government. The advanced
men directing the fortunes Of the lead
ing labor declarations are socialists con-
verted TO syndicalism, and they COM
plain that Mr.. Ramsay Macdonald and
other members of the Westminster group
have ceased to represent working Eng
land.
'-a- Labor Members Slighted.
The Parliamentary representatives of
trade unionism, after being passed over
both by ministers and strike leaders,
may turn out the government with the
help Of the Unionists. That will be an
effective method of proving that they
are not tainted with official Liberalism
and that they possess the power of pun
ishing ministers for bringing in the un-
popular insurance act on a contribu-
tory basis.
Shrewd observers at Westminster are
forecasting a catastrophe of this sort
as early as June or July. Radical poll
icians, on the other hand, while admit
ting that a general election under exist
ang conditions would go heavily against
them, assert that the coalition can be
kept together for two years and Home
Rule and Welsh disesta ablishment enact
ed with the help of the Parliament act.
They also assume that plural voting will
be abolished by the same means and
that the government will invent some
popular reform on which II can appeal
10 the country. Their talk Of the stam-
pede Of incensed doctors and terrified
clerks at South Manchester. however,
is half-hearted, for not only South Man
chester but every other recent by-elec-
ton has proved that the Unionists will
return 10 power very speedily.
Mr. Bonar Laws followers, while ex-
hilarated by the prospect of ultimate
success, do not want the responsibility
Of settling the coal strike and repeating
the Insurance act.
WeIshmen Out for Blood.
The Prime Minister, with Sir George
Askwith as his chief mentor, has Ia
bored strenuously TO bring about a set
tlement of the coal strike by agreement
between the masters and the men, and
as time has gone on he has had the
moral support of thousands of trade
unionists who have been thrown out Of
employment through the suspension OF
ccal output and railway traffic.
The negotiations would not have been
prolonged II he had been dealing with
English and Scottish miners alone. but
With the owners and strikers Of South
Wales both out for blood ii has been
an irTepressible conflict Owners there
and in Scotland, too. have wanted 4