Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-03-09
GREAT HORRORS
MAY THREATEN
MERRY ENGLAND
IF COAL STRIKE GOES ON
Stead Says Nation is on the
Verge of He'll

London. March Great Britain
stands today on the very edge of hell.
One million coal miners, representing
the whole body of workmen engaged
in coal mining, have struck. and #
| they refuse to go back to work until
their demands are conceded, the coun
! try will be plunged into civil war
| Not civil war of theoretical kind, in
which two armed forces appeal to the
| arbitrament of arms as to which shall
rule, but civil war of a far more ter
rible kind-civil war in which the
sole arbiter will be starvation-star-
walton endured not by the combatants,
alone or even in chief, but the starva-
ton of nation. Starvation is a far
more cruel arbiter than war.
War has it's laws, starvation knows
no law, and it is now being realized
for the first time in our highly COM
pick hand-to-mouth civilization in
| this modern society of ours, which is
as delicate as the works of watch,
it is in the power of a single determin-
ed trades union TO convert a whole
nation of civilized men into an an
archie multitude of wild beasts raven
ing for prey.
4 "Hand-tO-M Mouth Nation,
Since the world began there has
never been nation of 40,000,0O0 that
| lived so absolutely from hand to
mouth as the British nation. Every
one lives from hand to mouth, relying
with implicit faith upon the continu-
GUS smooth working of the vast system
I of railroads, steamships, and banks,
and teh power which kept the whole
system going with the regularity o.
ne planets was coal.
Our cities would be in darkness
without coal; the sewerage of London
could not be disposed of without coal;
0ur manufacturing industry would be
| 2aralyzed outside the purely agricul-
+ural districts; every one would be
! NuuCCu W clDOOIuIC icCh VI lOOu anu
rink, light and marmth without coal,
and today, because 100000 miners
refuse to go to work except on their
own terms, this unreasonable disas-
ter is threatening the whole nation.
Cabinet ministers, appalled, at the
| prospect of the welter of anarchy and
/ starvation, have taken steps which, as
Mr.. Asquith said, are in defiance OF
tradition and custom in order to COM
pei the mine owners to concede whaE,
in the impartial and unanimous judg-
ment of the cabinet, the men might
fairly demand.
Quandry for Government.
They are now up against the ques-
ton whether, if the miners persist in
demands which, in the ministerial
Judgment are unjust and unreasonable
they will endeavor to compel the nina
owners to yield for the sake of the
community.
They naturally shrink from taking
so extreme step, for once let it be
admitted that the miners have only to
ask in order to be supported by the
government in enforcing their de
mands, no matter how unjust they
may be, and the whole nation lies en- ..
shaved before the Miners Union.
| There is cry in some quarters for
), the naturalization of the mines, but,
as the experience of New Iceland shove
/ strikes can take place in nationalized
mines, and the cost of production goes
UP when the mine is removed from
the stimulating of private manage
ment.
On the other hand, there is a de-
mand in some quarters for a vigorous
measure of coercion, and it is noted
with grim satisfaction that orders
have been issued for every available
man in the British army on Salisbury
plain to be armed and equipped, ready
for immediate action-cavalry infan-
try, artillery, and engineers; but these
illSdouIeI vi pIeCdullOu CdHuOI DT6dk
the strike, cannot even maintain q
semblance of order when famine
stricken mobs are looting London as
the Chinese soldiers have been looting
Picking.
The railway strike of last summer
only lasted a couple of days, but it
brought the great industrial towns
within weeks distance of starvation.
Local authorities warned the home
Office from all the great industrial CEN
ters that there was not a fortnight's
supply Of food in their towns: that
the starving people would break into
the shops to find bread and meat, ana
that after that was consumed the COM
munity would find itself face to face
with famine.
Short as the strike was, shops were
! broken into in Leeds. In Liverpool.
where the strike lasted longer, the la
where the strike lasted longer, the
lack of milk and fresh food was re-
| ported to have caused the death of
thousands of infants.
! 1t is idle to talk of importing coal.
The transport workers unions have