The Washington herald., 1912-03-03
CIVIL WAR MAY
FOLLOW STRIKE
Noted English Publicist Says
Great Britain Stands on
Edge of He'll.
HUNGER SOLE ARBITER
by WILLIAM T. srEAp.

London. March 2-Great Britain stands
to-day on the very edge of hell. One
million coal miners, representing the
whole body OF workmen engaged in coal
mining, hate struck, and IL they refuse
to go back to work until their demands
are conceded, and IL those demands are
not conceded the country will be plunged
into civil war.
Not civil war Of theory kind, in which
two armed forces appeal to the arbitra-
ment Of arms as to which shall rule,
but civil war Of a far more terrible kind
civil war in which the sole arbitCr Will
be starvation-starvation endured not by
the combatants alone or even in chief.
hut the starvation of a nation. Starva-
tion is a far more cruel arbiter than war.
War has its laws, starvation knows no
law. and it is now beng realized for the
first time in our highly complex hand
tO-mouth civilization in this modern So
ciety OF ours, which Is as delicate as
the works of a watch, 1t is in the power
ot a single determined trades union to
convert a whole nation of civilized men
into an anarchic multitude OF wild
beasts raven;ng for prey.
Since the world began there has never
been a nation OF forty millions that
lived so absolutely from hand to mouth
as the British nation. Every one lives
from hand to mouth, relying with i'm
plicit faith upon the continuous smooth
working of the vast system of rail-
ways. steamships. and banks. and the
power which kept the whole system
going with the regularity of the plan
cts was coal.
Disaster Threatening Nation.
Our cities would be in darkness
gla.Va
could not be disposed of without coal,
our manufacturing industries would be
paralyzed outside the purely agricuI-
tural districts: every one would be re-
duced to absolute lack Of food and
drink, light, and warmth without coal.
and to-day. because a million miners
refuse to work except on their own
terms. this immeasurable disaster is
threatening the whole nation.
Ministers, appalled, at the prospect
Of the welter of anarchy and starva-
tion, have taken steps which. as Mr..
Asquith said. are in defiance of conven-
tion and tradition in custom. in order
TO compel the mine owners to concede
what in the impartial and unanimous
Judgment of the cabinet the men N. ght
fairly demand. They are now up
against the question whether, IL the
illHtIs ptTslSN IN ueHlanOs, winch IN
the ministerial Judgment are unjust
and unreasonable. they will endeavor
to compel the mine owners to yield for
the sake of the community
They naturally shrink from taking so
extreme 4 step, for once let II be ad-
mitted that the miners have only to ask
in order to have, and to be supported
by the government in enforcing their de-
mands, no matter how unjust they may
Ibo, and the whole nation lies ensIayed
before the miners union
There is a cry in some quarters for the
naturalization of the mines, but, as the
experience Of New Zealand shows, strikes
can take place in nationalized mines and
the cost OF production goes up when the
mine Is removed from the stimulating
atmosphere of private management
On the other hand, there is a demand
in some quarters for vigorous measure of
coercion, ana it is noted with grim satis-