El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-02-24
CIVIL WAR MAY
FOLLOW COAL
strike
England Menaced With In
dustrial Stagnation When
Miners Quit Thursday.
DESPERATE EFFORTS
MADE TO AVERT TIE-UP

gravest industrial crisis of centuries
viii be precipitated next Thursday.
when the nation wide coal strike pro-
claimed BY the Miners federation be-
gins throughout England. Nothing,
apparently, can a -yg stop JlC threaten
ing peril. despite the aimCst frantic
eleventh-hOur efforts being made by
the home secretary, sir Reginald Nc
Kenna and Winston Churchill first
lord of the admiralty, who Is aiding
him in his desperate attempt to stave
off the calamity.
Every resource in the way Of con-
ferences looking TO arbitration and
compromise has been exhausted and the
only hope now remaining is Il at one
side or the other viii back Gown COM.
pletely from its position and cOncede
everything TO the other What slight
chance there is Of this can lie CLEANED
from the latest declarations Of leaders
of the contesting "lemenCs--tle own
ers: I'VE have taken off cur coats to
fight" the miners, All the govern
ments in the world can not make the
miners work when they have chosen
not to-"
Nearly 100000 to Quit.
over 500, 900 members Of the Miners
federation will quit work at the stroke
OF midnight between "Wednesday ard
Thursday, and with them over 1000, 600
in connection with British coal mines,
above and below ground. viii be
thrown out OF employment. It is esti-
mated that the strike viii, at the
smallest computation, directly affect
1000, 600 persons It will, in addition,
ruin thousands OF small shOpkeepers,
and ultimately it viii bring the whole
trade Of the country to 4 standstiIL
All Wheels May stop.
Factories viii close. railway trains
viii cease to run. ships will lie lille in
the ports. There will be no gas. and
no electric light Disorders will 1nev-
itably follow, and some Dre1ic- a con-
dition bordering on civil war With
out doubt the strike will De the sreat-
est war Of labor and capital Ia Eng
lands history, and many expect 4 to
develop into the greatest the wOrli has
known.
In every stage Of the fight through
conferences with the national union,
the mine owners have proved ODdurate,
and they have issued statements thai
they are fully prepared to cope with
lection to the demand Of the miners for
a minimum wage" is that Il would
bankrupt them, ard thay San better
bear the drain that 81 General strike.
will entail. They declare the demlnds
of the miners outrageous and e3Orbi-
tent- On the other hand, the miners
declare they can not earn living
wage under the conditions Of the pre-
vailing agreement which was Tea ched
in 1910. British miners are Paid on
pieceWOrk basis, and, when given poor
coal strata 10 work with, a miner can
not. dig enough coal 70 earn his i've
lihOOd in the present days OF high cost
Of living. Accordingly insistence has
grown for a minimum guarantee to be
paid by the owners, IN event that a
miner does not earn more on the piece
Socialists start Agitation.
The question of a minimum wage"
has only arisen during the last two
years. the result largely OF persist
=-TH -A tot ? F~nc
towns and villages The first resOlu
ton passed In its favor was by the
Federation conference last fall coin
cident with the election to 'hs eXecu-
tive. Of young and extreme men. Yer
non Hartshorn and c. 3. stanton The
resolution declared for a general
strike on November Is, but the dele
gates of the federation decided not to
strike a the time. After lengthy ne
COLLATION. with the owners, refeTen-
dunn vote OF all the miners was taken
in January. resulting IN four 10 one
ballot in favor Of general walkO1t,
the figures being 445,sO1 against
Since then strenuous efforts have
been made to avert thu approaching
nationwide disaster, but every attempt
has proved unavailing. The hoard OF
trade pl eaded with bOtfIe owners and
miners, but neither side woald concede
a bit Of ground. A conference was
then held by the representative Of the
q.
firmed the decision calling for the
strike. On the same day. notice was
served by 10000 miners II DerbCShir5'
that they would quit work next Thurs
day, and almost daily thereafter min
ers in other districts have not tied the
owners OF their intention TO sta Ike, the
length OF notice required var 'inE IN
different districts. All the notices go
into effect next THURSDAY
Many wonder that some OF the min
ers Eave not "bOlted he traces and
strS tx before the notices go into ef-
feSS Their animus agains- the own
ers is known to be so strong in some
places that 1t had been expected many
Of them would be on strike, thou gh
unOffcially before this time
Guarding Against Famine.
Preparations are going on at a rapid
rate to partly. at least, guard against
strike. Many large firms have ordered
importations Of foreign coal, the great
est part of it coming from America,
and some from German The navy
I'm particular, has been taking speedy
steps to provide against the Fleets
being rendered into a state Of inca
pscity by inability TO get coal The
admiralty office has executed several
large orders for foreign cCat. and in
the meantime has cause1 every ons Of
the gigantic golfers to ue loaded with
all the domestic coal ii can hold
There are varions es1:mates as to
how long the coal in stock viii last
after the strike gets started. One IA
miliar with the situation said tonight
that a month VIII completely exhaust
every ton Of lvaiiahla coal But this
is not all Few large London concerns
have the means Of storing coal and
some Of the most important Of them
live literally from hand to mouth for
the reason that they use so much coal
that any great storage arrangements
would be an impOssibility.
An instance is seen in the generst-
ing stations Of the London County
council tramways and others in the
big electric lighting and power compa-
MES These are mostly placed where
coal can be delivered by ship or barge
as required. Then there are the hug(
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