The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-17


 of war.
 The N. U. R. complain of the mill
 nd naval movements as provo cative. but what can the government do?
 So far the railwaymen have not de- sired the other unions to come out be- cause they recognized the danger and hope by their own hand to force the government to yield. But if the days pass and the government does not yIe4d, the N. U. R. VIII be driven In- evitably to extend the strike. Get everyone out and end it quickly will be their cry.
 There are no signs that the govern menc will yield. The strikers have made it difficult for them to do so. The longer the strike goes on, ttl4 heavier the defeat of the side which gives way.
 The organization of motor trans port by the government is more sue cessful than had been expected Its a strong point against the strikers. Had They forgotten the motor? The government has now at it's disposal hundreds and thousands of motor ve- hicles and trained drivers. Sc has in i dustry. It may prove to be the decid= ing factor. The inpossibi1ty of get | ltIiS coal 10 the IdctOfleS Is the chief point on he other side.
 The public Is surprisingly cheerful and Hght-hearted - too much so, | some would say. It is unconven- fenced, but as yet not injured. It bears It's troubles the more lightly be- cause it resents the sudden launching of the strike and wants to see the railWaymen defeated. IL has like the i Anglo-Saxons, a saving sense of hu- nor which relieves the strain of the outside world.
 ! The Fourth Deay-Septernber 3Oth IL s the evening of the fourth day !, and the news shows that we have reached the end of the first stage of the struggle. Hitherto MT. Thomas . has been holding back the other unions which were willing to join in ' the strike. Now he announces tha : he will no longer do so. He will ac- { cept their aid. A second and more , serious stage is about to open. i The first four days have, of course, ibeen a disappointment for the rail- ! waymen. It is not that a few trains : are being run; that counts, but it's ef- ! feet is chiefly moral. It is that the i government and the community are ] much better prepared for the attack than anyone had supposed. 1 For once the government had laid 1 its plans in time and the existence of 1 quantities of motor transport has l given them their chance.
 i Of course the raflwaymen should 1 have a far higher standard of real l wages than before the war; he Is en- 1 titled to 1t. The government, how | ever great the provocation of the ] strike, should admit that the work i men has the right and explain, in i terms of money, why they cannot ac- | cept the railwaymen's demands. AL l ready the country has lost far more by the strike than the demands of the 1 N U. R. would have cost it over g 1 period of many years.
 This is the moment when 6 states | man would not let himself be con. l trolled by events but would contro
 them. MT. George might still act. |
 is not he whom the railwaymen dis
 trust, but the brothers Geddes, es 1 pecia11y Sir Eric Geddes. the Minister
 of Transport, whom they denounce a:
 harsh and dictatorial. Once agair
 MT. George is the only man to whom
 the country can look in its emer
 gency.
 The Fifth Day-October 1st. A ddy O4 dppi ShcuSlOh passing nIt hope and ending in uncertainty. Four days have shown that the sI railway men, left to themselves, are likely to be badly beaten. The gov
 ernment plans have been too wei
 matured and-it cannot be repeated too often-there are too many mo l tors. The greatest strike in Englisf
 history is being defeated by the mo
 tor cars.
 But a crushing defeat of the rail
 waymen would be a grave blow tG
 trade unionism. It would mean tha
 both the state and the private em
 p1oyer would pluck up courage to re- sist the weapon of trade unionism- the strike. The world of capital ant
 labor would recognize that if tn, , greatest and strongest of all the trans
 port unions, the railwaymen, with it
 half million members, had been beat en then there exists no force in trad unionism that could win in a simila
 struggle.
 That is why not only all the trans port unions but many of the othe great unions also have been debating , today whether they, too. should strike They fear that they would suffer b,
 the defeat of the railwaymen and g. undoubtedly they would. 5 But they have not decided yet t . go on strike. They are more conser 7 vatively minded than the railwayme CT MT. Henderson and MT. Clynes, wh ? are among their leaders, certainly d
 not believe in the lightning" tactic F of the N. U. R., almost certainl they would condemn them if the $ could speak their mind. They knoy well that the general opinion of tn
 public is against them.
 It has been a day of conferences
 The trade untonist leaders have see = MT. Lloyd George first without an : then with the raiIwaymen. The gov s ernment insists that 1t cannot begi n l negotiations again until the railway
 men return to work.
 t Mir. Thomas speaks hopefully of tn F l necessity of finding an agreement no' @ that the two sides have come tc s gether again, but there is no word c n any real approach toward agreemen s Sti11 the conversations will continu e tomorrow.
 - The Sixth Day-October End. s Hope is dashed and the outlook
 black indeed. Negotiations have bee t broken off. The government state te,-r .I, oe,t44 te