The Washington herald., 1919-10-12

OAA1hNSs
Despite the extreme bitterness.
aroused throughout the country by
the strike itself. the best opinion ex-
poets a compromise before matters
have gone to extremes. Fortune has
compelled the most moderate OF the
leaders OF the great British labor or
ganiZations. ]. H. Thomas, to call the
first strike that wears the appearance
OF attempted revolution, and Thomas
not only says he is anxious for a set
tlement, but really Is most desirous to
prevent a social upheaval Hs control
OF his men Is such that II reason
able terms are offered he can induce
their acceptance.
Plans Worked Out Before.
Meanwhile England owes her i'm
munity from starvation and anarchy
to the elaborate secret plans worked
out with great haste in the early days
Of the war to serve during the threat
ened German invasion.
The war ONCE was then compelled
to grapple with the problem of feed
ing London's helpless millions should
German army land on the East
coast and advance inland far enough
to cut the main railways running to
the capital. What the Germans did
not do. the railwaymen have done, and
the endless chain" OF motor lorries
planned on paper five years ago has
become a reality.
Ever since the triple alliance" of
railwaymen. miners and transport
workers Joined themselves together in
1913 and threatened a general STRIKE
IT has been their claim that by bring
Inc hA - T.
they could starve England into sub
mission within a week.
Not True Today.
That this would have been true, be-
fore the war. nobody doubts. But it
Is not true today. and 700 war lorries
running on schedule between London
and provincial towns. driven by SOL
diers or by volunteer drivers, are
bringing to the metropolis the milk
that saves the lives of hundreds of
| thousands of babies. and other neces-
sites in sufficient volume to give the
citizens almost as much as they had
to eat during the worst crisis of the
submarine warfare.
But details of the course of the
strike will be cabled to America, and
probably before this story appears the
terms OF settlement will be announced
and the men be back at work. My
subject Is not the strike itself, but
the bearing of the strike and the
while labor situation upon the political
crisis. British politics have been shift
ing rapidly in the past six months,
but II seems probable that the chal-
lenge thrown down by the railway
men will help solidify the fluid groups
that are forming and will probably
hasten il not precipitate a general
election
Same I'm America
To an American the crisis here is
Of extreme interest, because II Is
made up OF much the same elements
as those now contending at home. The
difference is that in England the row
between capital and labor has been
more prolonged and more intense, and
both sides are better organized. and
the public better informed Of the is
sues at stake
Five main political groups exist at
the moment How these will COM
bine or oppose one another to make
up the next house Of commons and
the next government Is the riddle of
the hour.
l. On the extreme right we have our
old friends the true-blue, brave, stu
pid and pig-headed extreme Tories.
They have scarcely changed since the
days Of Palmerston. or even George
III. and their solution for labor trou-
bles is the same as the one they
have always recommended and some
| times applied in Ireland: Shoot 'em
down Machine guns. Bombs" Such
phrases as these are heard where old
"die-hards," the men who, eight
years ago. preferred civil war to the
curtailment of the privileges of the
house of lords, congregate together
This High Tory" party, because
of its abysmal lack Of brains, would
not be formidable excepting for its
strangle-hold on the naval and mil
itary bureaucracy. Upon the war
ONCE especially the blight of
Toryism is most manifest. Win
ston Churchill is war secretary. but
the civilian head is not always able
to control strongly entrenched
mandarins whose ideas are those of
the Middle Ages and whose use of
troops to restore the "old ORDER
and break up organized labor would
be restrained only by doubts
whether the troops would consent
to shoot.
Tory Party in Control.
Next to this powerful but small
class Of Tory extremists comes the
bulk of the Tory party. which
makes up a large majority of the
present house of commons. These
men are at present bewildered.
They are looking to the Geddes
brothers to prevent the government
from making concessions to- the
railway strikers; they believe that
too many surrenders have been
made already to labor and that the
issue should be fought out now. In
this view, the bulk of ministerial
liberals and the middle class OF the
country are agreed.
But the Tories are in a quandary
concerning Lloyd George Theip-own
position is most peculiar. Carried
into Parliament by a huge majority
on the back of the prime minister,
during his armistice election they
nevertheless know that the country
at the present time is not Tory. and
will not put up with "a Tory gov
ernment- Time after time, at bye
elections, since the peace confer
ence met, Tory candidates supported
by Lloyd George have been defeated
in constituencies where <he coalition
triumphed ten months ago. These
straws have been too many for any