The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-09
ENGLAND IN DAYS OF
THOMAS THE FIRST
of Apprehension
When He Loosed Upon
1t the Strike
BY II. II. YRARRA

London, October S-(SpeciaI )-Thon,as
the FIRST has abdicated No longer is
ne defying the properly constituted au-
ehoiIties OF Britain, making people won
deF whether the seat of the British gov
eminent is in Whitehall or Unity House
the headquarters of himself and labor
coleagues during the great English rail
way strike. Once more trains are run
ming IN england, and it is possible to
take stock of his nine days reign.
4hey We're nightmare days. 1t SENS i'm
possible that such days could ever have
oeen In a land like England. There was
Calhh 10 be sure, genuine British calm;
bus sense of imminent catastrophe
weighed alike on optimist and pessimist.
Was one OF those who stood by the rail-
ing between st. James park and Down
ing street, on Sunday, and tried to get
a glimpse of Thomas and his coadjutors
as they came out from their conference
with Lloyd George-undoubtedly one of
the most fateful conferences ever held.
When Thomas emerged he was smiling.
1t is all over he called to the crowd
which chered wildly. The crowd did not
know on what terms the strike had been
ended. whether government or strikers
had won All they knew or cared at
that moment was that the conference
had ended in peace, not war And the sign
CT relief which they breathed was taken
up all over England and should be, for
that matter, all over America. For Brit
aims terrible labor problems are uncom-
fortahly similar to those of the United
States.
Thomas the First has abdicated. I call
him by that high-sounding appellation
advisedly For nobody who was in Lon
don at the end of September, and the
BEGINNING of October, 1919 will forget
how ne lowered head and shoulders
above everybody else in England for nine
whcle-ard very, very long-days
He showed himself a democratic sort
of monarch. In fact, through his reign
he called himself J. H Thomas, and
sought to disguise his prerogatives UNI
der the simple title of secretary of the
National Union of Railwaymen. He wore
ordinary clothes, showed an ordinary
cut of moustache. He drove about in a
motor car without a guard; he addressed
meetings. Nobody would suspect that
he was, in SO far as one man could be,
the ruler of England.
During those fateful nine days, when
Britain trembied on the verge of revo-
uticn, it is safe to say that the name
or Thomas was mentioned 10 times to
once that any other name fell from the
lips of f.nelishmen and women.
Would the buses and trains strike in
sympathy with the railwaymen? Ask
Thomas. In his hands lay the dread pow
er to move them Would the miners
strike? Would the strike be general?
Would violence and bloodshed succeed
the spirit of grim calm in which the
strike had begun? Ask Thomas
KING Canute of England ordered the
tides to stop centuries ago without in
the least disarranging the oceans sched-
ule, Thomae, the other day. ordered the
trains to stop running and they stopped.
Thousands were marooned far from
hai IL,
cycled to work, freight was piled high
on station platforms and piers London
was like city besieged. BY order of
Thomas the First
Some say J. H. Thomas was not the
big figure in the strike; that others, sin
lister powers behind his throne, used him
as puppet Maybe. The fact remains
that even those who advanced this view
spoke Of these others as Thomas col
leagues"
In looking back on the nine days of his
sway, what strikes one most forcibly IL
the eminous reiteration during thar time
Of the icca of impending revolution.
Dyed in the wool English conser> atives
spoke the dread word as easily as those
radicals who habitually favor sensational
phraseology.
we are disputng for and against
revolution the Spectator 1--WE are face
10 face with ali attempt to establish a
tyranny worse than that of any King or
Emperor, sacerdotal hierarchy or arts
tocratic junta," it also remarked. 1--WE
have called the struggle civil war, and
so 1t is,' sd i'd The Outlook. THE country
realizes that 1t is at war again, and
that there can be no peace until the
power of an INSCRIPTIONS enemy is
broken" cried the Pail Mall Gazette
And many a Briton remembered with
a grim setting of his jaw the recent
statement of Mr.. Camp-by some consid-
cred the real power behind the strk-
ers-that 1.-The center of gravity was pass
ing from the House OF Commons to the
HEADQUARTERS of the trade unions.
Well. the fight has ended in compro-
mise for the time being. We can now
look back on those nine days and rub
our eyes end try to make ourselves be-
iieve them bad dream. Thomas the
First has ahdicated Will there be an
other like him? Win his successor if he
boards the constituted authorities, share
the fate of that Thomas of centuries ago,
Wat Tyler, whose life was ended with
neatness and dispatch by the lord mayor
of Lei don, representing the established
order of things.
OF will Thomas successor be more like
Oliver Cromwell?