Evening star., 1919-10-03

nation by Gods will has. become great
bocause it deserved to be great, and
its greatness is due wholly to its
love Of liberty, its sense Of Justice
and its detestation OF tyranny.
Reign Of Unreason.
The Daily Chronicle declares that
the negotiators became befogged by
so-called principles and did not get
SO, it thinks, a settlement would
have been easy. "But now" it says,
"the reign of unreason has begun
and a war directed against the trade
of the country. the food of the peo-
pie and the community itself has
been impetuously declared. The gov,
ernment must resist the attack and
safeguard the nations supplies"
The Chronicle demands IAN ex-
haustive and fair examination into
the conditions of all trades. SO that
the wages and hours prevailing in
any industry may be ieveled up with
those prevailing in other industries
The present piecemeal system gives
to each trade an opportunity of i'm
proving it's position only at the eX-
pense of all other trades. whereas
there can be no fair distribution un-
less we have machinery to cut down
profits on the one hand and advance
all industries on parallel lines on the
other"
Like the war with Germany, it
must be fought to a finish,'' says the
Times. These men strike overnight
about a possible, grievance three
months hence, and even this griev-
ance would not have arisen under
the governments last offer. 1t is not
quite an anarchistic plot, as Lloyd
George alleges, but a movement to
control both industry and govern
ment without taking any responsible
ity. It could succeed only with the
the power of parliament. There is
not the slightest use in trusting the
so-called moderate element. We have
given Mr.. Thomas credit for sincerity
and good intentions, but after his
latest utterances we must revise our
tions are impossible and never have
been observed in the case of employees
of his own union"
Welcome the Test.
Business men, while alive to the
gravity of the situation, welcome the
opportunity to test the strength o:
the elements which are out to de-
stroy democracy. Since the struggle
was inevitable: they say. let US hare
1t now. In talking with a number OF
workingmen / have not found one
who approves of the strike. It
seems highly probable that the con-
science os the whole working class of
the country is uneasy concerning the
grounds of the strike. and still more
concerning the political implications
involved. Thousands of workers,
like other men of discernment, see
that q trade union executive has
commanded the government in a
democratic country to do certain
things, and, the government having
refused, has undertaken to compel
compliance by striking at the life OF
the nation.
They realize, moreover, that this
trade union executive acted, as under
its constitution he has power to act.
without consulting its members and
without actua! knowledge of their
wishes Few are so blind as to over
look the fact that this implies the an
Inhalation Of democracy. George
Lansbury's Daily Herald, the organ
of the labor party, supports Mr..
Thomas and calls upon all unions to
make common cause with the strik-
ers. It terms the Geddes brothers
the "heads of British junkerdom."
and appeals to labor to smash this
Prussianism"!
Lansbury himself throws his fam
ing eloquence into the cause, but he
feels it necessary to deny the state
ments OF the government in toto. He
asserts that the government has mis-