Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-09-28
isolation IS
THREATENING
BRITISH ISLE
Railroad Strike to Tie Up All
Traffic as Others Join
in the Walk


out. Il.
Continued From Pags One,
'sAssccrctary of the Natio1ai Union of
+ ELECTROMAGNETIC the audience for
an hour had sung THE Red Flag"
--deliveted heated speech of CEN
4 sure against sthe government, and
declared that trouble was brewing
which might lead to bloodshed.
Both Thomas and c. T. Cramp,
president OF the union, who had
i preceded him, asserted that the men
were firmly behind the leaders in
this great crisis.
President Cramp denounced the
government statement regarding
N the purpose Of the strike as a de
iibcfate lie" it was not the pub
I lie with whom the strikers were at
war, he declared, it was the people
who were for the moment in the
position of directing the affairs of
1 the country.
All "the powers of he'll, the press,
I platform and perhaps the pulpit"
4 would be invoked against the
strikers, said President Cramp, but
Ffifs they remained solid they would
be victorious" ~
"God Help the Country.
Both speakers denounced what
they characterized as the govern
& ment attempt to bias the mind of
sssthe public by saying that the
strike was not in defense of union
I rights but against the life of the
community. Answering the prem
ier.s strong statement earlier in the
day that the strike was an anar-
j chistic conspiracy against the gov
eminent, Secretary Thomas de-
clared if that were true, God help
the country
n He had warned the government
= that their proposals would be fatal
TO peace. He knew that trouble was
brewing that might lead to blood
she'd
my answer to the prime minis
ter's challenge" said Mr. Thomas,
4"is that if he will now say to us
officially himself, not influenced or
irltimidated by any one else; If he
I will say, as head of the state. at
IN. is prepared TO concede the ne
apr cipie to all railway servants,
then the strike can cea.e at once"
Political Atmosphere.
Official announcement from gov
rrnment sources and bitter rejoin-
sders from the railway executives,
spupled with the attitude of the
press, which is largely with the gov
ernmcEt, has surrounded the strike
with a. decidedly political 'atmos-
pherc. The general feeling expressed
1 by the newspapers is that the pres
kent struggle is test between the
relative power of the government
and 4 of the organized working
4 classes. .s
II "A lengthy verbatim report issued
gFs@|y tonight concerning Fridays
- ict between the government
- way men shows that Secre-
sa i.zfy fl6mas asked for minimum
tf 80 shillings a.week for all work
RsErs, Mr.. Lloyd George admitted,
4 that the railway men before the wa.
kad been "diseracefull underpaid"
A few trains. manned by non
1 unionistsl pulled out of the London
stations during the day. Several
trains which left for the north to-
might were stopped by plckets and
Il the Engines taken off.
Lloyd George Talks.
Premier Lloyd George, telegraph
ing his regrets that he would be I'M
able to attend the soldiers celebra-
tion at Carnarvon, says:
lin long and varied experience,
can recall no strike entered into
So lightly, with SO little justification
and such entire disregard for public
n interest. The. strike is not one in
Il which it can be contended that the
/ workers are seeking to wiring fair
4 wages from harsh employers, whose
profits are believed to be excessive.
In this case the railway men are
seallng direct with the community.
he state is, now running the
railways at loss, due in the main
s. to the enormous increase made in
the wages OF the railway workers.,
since the beginning of the war and
also to the great reduction in the
hours OF labor. This loss is being
ssbornc by the general tax payers,
l4a no will soon have to be passed on
10 the general public in the form of
n increased. fares and charges. On its
merits the strike is inexplicable.
The dispute is about netting
which cannot possibly come into
sSpperation until next year; yet the
aiation IS thrown into the; disloca-
stion of hurried strike without
gwen weeks warning"
Pointing out that the men declined
even to discuss the governments
*offer to consider any particular in
sMJpnction, the premier declares:
Entitled to Weeks Notice.
Every employer, every worker. is
81 entitled to at least one weeks no.
~ ice to terminate contracts of serv-.
Il ice.
am convinced that the vast ma
SsJrfty OF the trade unionists of the
siehd are opposed to this anarchist
conspiracy. They can see the ruin
md misery it has brought in other
4 lands and their common sense has,
hitherto guarded their rganizations
against the control of these in
L triguers. These men have made
many efforts to get hold of the low
& ers OF trade unionism; so far all their
3 endeavors have ended in failure.
n There is no more patriotic body
OF iner in this country than the rail-
way men and their conduct during
!. The war demonstrated that fact
When they realize that they are not
fighting for fair conditions for la
zk Dor of their class, but are being used