The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-07
BRITISH STRIKES :,
NOW WARDED OFF
Collapse Of Rail WalkOut Has
Calming Effect on Other
Unions.
NO BOLSHEvISM Is SEEN
Great Majority Of Strikers
Admit They Lost-Traffic
Jam Is Great.
Special cable Despatch TO The Sun.
Copyr,1hf 1919. all yiohts reserved.

C0purtuhf, 1918, al ftDhIs feseTUeu'
LONDON, Oct. 6.-Amidst the confu-
sion developed and multiplied by the
railway strike England strove hard to-
day to regain something like normal.
Traffic in every freight yard of the
country is in terrific tangle. with thou
sands of cars waiting for workmen to
unload them on sidings, and with emp
ties blocking the tracks in every direc-
tion. Every station platform Is piled
high with unmoved crates, bags and
boxes, while business houses ciamored
for long delayed shipments OF goods. IL
will be weeks before order Is restored 10
anything approaching normal.
AS compensation for this needless
blockade the unions have gained what
they might have gained by asking II
they had asked on the day they elected
to strike. The unionists' attempts to
prove what they gained by the strike
fall on unheeding ears, and great
majority of the strikers admit that they
lost their fight and are worse off than
before the walkout because definite
settlement is postponed until August,
1890.
Regardless Of the views taken toward
the strikers, every one agrees that the
terms granted to the strikers should
have been secured without resort to a
stoppage of trains. The people were dis
gusted with the demonstration against
the Government and there is some balm
in the conviction that the final result has
a calming effect on some of the other
unions which have been entertaining
plans of forcing their demands by stop
ping work.
Aside from the bitterness aroused, al
classes have benefited from the strike
For one thing the nation Is convinced
from a study of the strike that there
Is no organized Bolshevist movement in
tho land. 1t was learned also that far
from being a conspiracy among the
trade unions to throttle the Govern.
ment, as many commended, the railway
men hadn't even informed the affiliated
unions of their intention to strike.
The leaders of the other unions, seeing
how things were going, not only avoided
participation in the strike but helped
to bring the warning factions together
They did all they could to insure that
the strike should be confined to the rail-
way men.
Never, in a serious emergency, have
Englishmen displayed better sense
greater patience or more orderly be-
havior than during the railway strike
None can deny that British labor has
reached much more advanced position
than in any other country, and while
the individual workmen are not paid a.
well as in the United States their or
ganizations have greater respect.
Greatest Lesson of Strike.
The greatest lesson of the strike is tn
warning which the events Of the last tel
days have given to those who have beef
inclined to toy with the idea of a gen
eral strike as a means of putting pres
sure on Parliament or the Government
The theory that any one class can hol'
up the Government has been demon
strated as an imaginary theory. 1t wa
demonstrated that there Is enough mar
gin between ordinary service and tn
minimum of necessity to enable the com
munity to keep going against the mos
formidable strike. and 1t is not likely tina
any projected strike or coup in the fu
ture would meet with even as much sue
cess as the railroad men achieved.
It Is regarded as probable that from
now on England will cease its class arm
aments. which in years past resemble
the old pre-war rivalry between Englan
and Germany in shipbuilding. Hilbert
labor has periodically threatened out
breaks, and against these the Govern
ment has had to protect itself-by
strategic distribution of troops. Bot
can now abandon their old policies an
clear the air so- a scientific handling @
the wage question. 1t Is clear that n
progress can be made toward nationall
zation until the relations between tn
State and its employees are placed on
different basis.
Passenger traffic officials espresso