New Britain herald., 1919-11-06
THE COAL STRIKE.

The government and the striking coal miners seem to have reached m absolute deadlock and there is little prospect of an early adjustment of the trouble that has now come about. Both operators and miners agrec that there is little chance of getting to- Scther and they arc content with sit ting back and allowing the govern ment to do it all. That is what mic1,t he cxpected--ITederal authorities took the matter over after it became cvi- dent that neither of the two factions directly involved was in a conciIiato,v mood. It is now their duty to settI, the difficulty by anN m methods at their disposal, and the public is undoubt- cdly as willing as the warning fac tions to allow government action. when the time comes we shall find that any legal act of the government will gain overWhc clmng public SUD- port, such support as tho people Of Massachusetts gave to their candidate for governor a day or so ago under conditions that were greatly similar.
 Labor asks, amusCdly, what the tain production in the mines. The n1ncrs may not be forced, individu- ally, to return to their posts. which the public will admit, although it may regret at this particular time that the principle of choice in the matter of work is the prerogative of every American. We can scarcely afford to adopt laws that would be tantamount to a revival of slavery for the sake of getting coal, as necesSar " as that coal may be. The miners may quit, if they wish, when they please. The govern ment injunction against the heads of the union amounts to very little. de- spite the angry protests registered b,. labor. True, it removes direction of tho strike, but the strike has been brought about: it needs no direction now. The statement that action
 
 of the unions under cmergencv acts that prohibit the interference of any person with necessary production is not worrying MT. Lewis. He has made his plea; it will run like this:
 Il did not start the strike: the men did. I merely acted as their inter- mediary. You cannot claim that have interfcrcd with production. I did what l could to settle the strike"
 Which is more or less true The strike might have been inspired bv him. but it will never bc proved that it was. Under the same act, the gov ernment might prosecute one or two Of the miners who have interferet with production by quitting work. This would only make martyrs of the prosecuted ones, and, after all, they arc mighty small factors in produc- ton.
 There is little, then, that may be done outside of protecting the miners who wish to work from their fellow Workmen who wish to create riots. maintaining the injunction to restrajn the officials from interfering should back-to-the- ines campaign be adopted by the individual striker. and sitting tight until the demands for food and supplies has created a con- dition whereby the miners will have to work or starvc. That is the line that is to be followed. The length of the strike will be partly determined by the amount of funds that tho miners have on hand to carry them over the no-Work period The longer they stay out the greater the proof ] that they have been getting sutticienT wages under the old scheme. If they | have no money. they will return Soon,~ and by returning soon, peculiarly enough, they will prove that there i5 justice in their demands for more wages. But a long strike will also prove that their plea of not getting enough to live on, even while they were working, was not true.