Evening star., 1912-03-09

work at once But it is learning to, and
any one can see that If that happens
everything stops. and that q day of it
would settle something. Well. these
way. They saw it all. and they knew
also that the coal miners grievances
were real; that there was condition
back Of them. a condition to be dealt
with. And they said that the slowly in
creasing willingness and capacity of all
the workers to strike together were the
result Of conditions which 1t is society's
business to deal with. But they didn't
talk about dealing with those conditions.
No. Some of them worked hard to get
the strike, which was intended to be last
fall. postponed to this spring. They sue
ceeded in that. Before I left England
these members Of parliament told me
they had had the strike put off for six
months.
And" as one Of them put 1t to me
badly, 81 wanted 1t postponed because
it is not at all impossible that a revolu-
tion will come out Of this strike. If the
will fight 1 mean the workers will use
force. That's revolution. And" he
added. cynically. "summer is better
weather than winter for a revolution"
No Attempt to Solve the Problem.
Now. 1 quote this only to show that
these responsible heads Of a great and,
1t is said, q good government foresaw all
that has happened in their great country
and some other things that have not yet
happened. What did they do about It:
Interested in government, / asked mem-
bers to write me what steps were taken
during the winter respite to deal with
the condition that was big with strike
! then and might cause a general revolt
and possibly. a revolution. have heard
nnfhinO Hha ooY1t
waited till the strike was about to be
called, then tried to settle that; not the
condition. but the effect thereof. They
are proposing now to rush through par
opposition says, very truly, that such a
measure should not be drafted and car
ried in haste. And that's right. Especial
ly when, as you see, the government had
six months to do it in. If that is the
cure for the condition, 1t could have been
applied in time to prevent the strike. But.
no. like us, the gentlemen who rule Eng
land waited till the crisis was on.
1t was so in Los Angeles. They
wouldn't listen to labor out there; they
wouldn't tackle themselves the labor
problem and they wouldn't let labor or
ganiZe to do it.
They caught two labor criminals and
were going to punish them. They passed
anti-picketing ordinances and were bent
on policy of repressiOn-until the So
cialists and direct actionists saw their
chance and started e political campaign.
Then the heads OF organized society, in
cluding the city government, were willing
to listen to reason, to look back Of the
McNamaras and the socialist candidate
for mayor to the conditions which helped
to produce both Of these menaces to law
and order; and they promised to listen
to labor.
1t was so in Lawrence. After the strike
was on there a committee Of the legis-
lature appeared. The labor leaders
laughed at it.
why do you come here now?" asked
Ettor. the strike leader. and he answered
his own question. You come here now
because there's q strike on. You don't
the conditions that caused the strike.
These conditions have been here right
along: similar conditions exist in other
industries. Why haven't you cured ours
before? Why don't you cure the others
now, the others where We'll have strikes
next?"
The Important Question.
And that's an intelligent question
That's the question the labor members
of parliament are asking the government
of England now. That's the question
tried to raise in Los Angeles. That's the
question for all of us to hold over the
negotiations Of the coal miners Of the
United States and the coal mine owners
tion to put In the laundry business, and
the shirt waist industry, and the beef
industry (Which is holding trouble now.
That's the vital question at Indianapolis.
Why not tackle the conditions back Of
the criminal labor leaders; back Of the