The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-04

that subversive interests are responsible
for the strike. Because OF a lack o.
facilities the haulage of coal in tn,
country will be at complete standstil
before another week"
Later Mr.. Thomas called in the rep
resentatives of American newspaper
and after declaring that the railwa.
men had not been given fair treatmen
by the British press handed the cor
respondents the following statement, en-
titled "A Message to America"
1 am pleased to have the oppor-
tunity of sending a message to the
American people, many of whom
fought with members of my union In
the struggle when Prussian milltar-
ism finally was crushed. / know,
! both from Americans here and from
what I learned during my brief visit
to your country last spring, that your
people are watching this industrial
struggle with the keenest interest,
not unmingled with dismay. 1 sup
pose 1t Is partly because some of
them see that same sinister spirit
which nearly wrecked the settlement
of the world after the war now play
ing its part in disrupting the indus
trial life of Great Britain.
Speaking as the chairman of the
parliamentary committee of the
Trades Union Congress. representing
over five million organized workers
and their families-more than half the
workers of Great Britain San tell
you that the same spirit is operating
now as operated in the invasion Of
Russia and In the refusal of her
liberties to ireland. I mention this
not because this is in any way a
political strike. or anything but a
M 90 af .,a1, Tor, In.
wages, but because the Same camar-
lila that already has outraged the
sense of justice of British democracy
in these matters is behind this at
tempt to crush trades unionism and
bring down wages
Calls Conditions "sweated."
United States employers all tell me
that, according to American stand
ards, the average British worker is
living under sweated conditions. Out
of sweated conditions comes servil-
fly Servility must be avoided in
this nation at all costs. 1t is not the
men who are going back; 1t is the
country that. is going back. .
The wheels of production are ROLL
! ing slowly. Another week. and the
diminished activities. 1 tell you this
with heavy heart
Those Cabinet influences which
made not for peace but against It
those who barred the way when 1
was striving TO find means for fur
Their negotiations. to avert the ca
lamity-they must bear the RESPONSE
| bility.
An editorial in the Weekly Nation
| written before to-nights developments il
| the strike situation, while condemnini
/ what is termed the railwaymen's pre-
cipitate action, says:
It will be civil war, where there
can be no victory in this war. Who
ever wins 1t 1t must mean that the
one stable and fully active Industrial
community remaining in Europe has
become involved In the continental
bankruptcy and ruin.
The needless and violent will learn
that smashing those unions involves
| a general smash, in which our indus
trial supremacy will be irretriavably
| lost and our national credit become
the same as the august symbol of an
overturned temple.
The New Statesman, the organ of tn
| Intellectual Socialists, says:
II we were asked to explain the
| puzzle of the strike in a dozen words
! we should. say that. stripped of all
| its unessential details, what the ma
tion has witnesser and sucoored in
the past ten days has been a des-
perate attempt on the part of the
| coalition Government to recapture
the middle class vote.
The Union OF Vehicle Workers, VIII
operate the buses and other vehicula
traffic In London ballotted to-day t
determine whether to strike in sympa
thy with the railroad men. The resul
| will be made known tomorrow.
The Ministry of Labor in the mean
time has posted an urgent call for tn
services of volunteer bus drivers.
King George left Balmoral to-day 70
London in a motor car. using the auto
mobile on account of the interruptio
| of railroad traffic.