Bisbee daily review., 1915-04-21
Wednesday Morning, April 21, 1915
TIE sRlTlsH LAsoR MUrINY

A British statesman recently declared in par lament that the British workingmen have become more serious menace to the empire than the soldiers and sailors of the enemy Certain that few months have made surprising change the ana morale of orsanized British labor Instead of loyalty and enthusiasm with which cooperated with the govern ment in the early weeks of the war, it now appears frankly suspicious cynical and sulen situation has developed that is going the utmost skill and of fort of Kitchener Loyd-George and their associates straighten out
 The liquor question, of which much has been ma!e lately is but small part of the trouble, though it Is bad enough in itself It appears that LoydGeorge made a tremendous mistake when-yery likely at the instiaa- ton of Premier Asqui.h-he pains to explain that the drunkenness Of he British workngman was cr.5, bling the industries engaged in turning out supplic5 and thereby endangering the success of the Not2 ing could have produced more irritation and rage inhe ranks of labor The leaders point out that the mn. r terng distinction possessed by their country of leading the world in the consumption of alcoholic beverages due sc much the drinking of the worngmen O the immense growth of the drinking habit among tie women of the arstocracy and the middle class, and the widespread use of liquor by the clergy They remind the public that when the campaign in favor Of proh- ton as means of conserving the nations energy WIS begun last October in the hope of having it adopted voluntarily. failed through the opposition of the ccr- gy leagued with the dstillers and brewers who have always been power in England.
 Now that pressure is being brought to bear on t.e working classes stop drinking, through the examr of the king and the arstocracy the worlJmen are by means concliated They know that the governmcnt intends force action that the liquor traffic will le greatly curailed by law doubtless with compensaticn for Che dsters and others whose pockets touchc and that if public houses retain their licenses at ,H they will have their hours greatly shortened and pub will be closed the vicinity factories engaged l making vars.un The plans look fair but there is di criminaton in them and the men resent it. Every da5 they the middle class folk laying their suppl of whisky beer wine as if for a siege They hav. the money, end can stock up their cellars The pooi buying perforce only from day to day must so, go without his beer He is increasingly bitter about
 But back of this grievance is the big situation that has made the labor unions sulk and bak and result the practical adoption state socialism and mart. law the only of making the industrial worke- play their part home their sodierbrethren do Z. the Geld And that mutinous behavior which is csuslr, British sta such alarm is due to the slowly IT. ening conviction the part of the British workngma that tle is not his war-that he is but the tool British capitalists control the government that tb soldiers dying and the workmen are sweating mer ly to make money for the wealthy uppermiddle cls and those of the lords who happen to be in trade
 When the war began the unions were on the ev of a great struggle for higher wages shorter hour better working conditions. They immediately droppo their Dropagsnda their plans and fell to wo with a win the old basis It was felV to be a mob and they going to see it through like mo. Then he speeding mp and the long hours began to wei out their bodies and tempers Their employers. wit big contracts piled up bigger profits than ever b, the worNngmen got no share Of them The same car
 asi class that contract profits began to shor the price of necessaries and raise rents me GO of living has now up 20 per cent with only triv wage increases 10 match The great shipping mteres. have advanced their freight by Che hundred D, cent with couesponding advantage to the men wi build the ships handle the goods The workmen vi enlist to the front with assurance Of regalniu their places when they return.
 10 win be the same as t was in Che Napoleonc war they srsue Then lo laborns class lost all che grUu