New-York tribune., 1920-10-21

Keen to Join
Mine Strike
Continued from page cnc,


port workers and the trades union
committee also adjourned without def
ritc action.
A sharp difference of opinion pre-
walls among the railroad men, some of
the delegates having come to the meet
ing with Instructions from their
branches to use every effort to secure
q peaceful settlement, while other dele
gates were armed with resolutions by
their members demanding sympa-
thetic strike. Mr.. Thomas personally
desires peace, it is declared. but has a
strong minority of the organizations
executive working against him.
Railway Clerks Restive
The railway clerks of Wales have
wired Secretary Thomas their empha-
tic disapproval of the instructions they
have received to remain neutral, and
they passed a resolution urging the
clerks to link up with the other unions
II. support OF the miners, even to the
extent of leaving their work
The national council of the Indcpcnd-
ent Labor party passed resolution to-
day expressing grave apprehension
over the attitude of the government
toward the miners, conveying, as it
does, an aggressive challenge to the
whole working class movement" The
resolution requests the Labor party to
call a special conference.
The position of the railwaymcn was
regarded by officials as particularly
difficult inasmuch as the miners have
not officially appealed for strike by
the railwaymen in support of the min
ers' cause. 1t is also pointed ou that
thing might happen within a day or
Of
tions and that an immediate railway
strike might not only be premature but
unnecessary The delegates, therefore,
decided to delay their decision.
One effect of the coal strike will be
an increase in the cost of living owing
to the decline in the value of the pound
sterling and the increased cost of in
ward bound freghts, caused by the
diminution of exports, declared Austen
Chambe rlain, Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, in answering a question in the
House of Commons to-day.
Increased production, remarked the
Chancellor, was necessary condition
for a permanent reduction in the cost
of living, and whatever the immediate
effect of the strike might he on prices
it must in the long run be injurious
to the national wellbeng
Reports from Morriston. near Swan
sea, WaleS, state that many OF the
steel workers there who have been
made idle by the strike have decided
to emigrate to Canada at an early
date
Thomas Ashton, general secretary of
the miners, in a speech at Manchester
to-day, said that if the Premier called
the mine owners and the miners Off
cials into conference with regard to
getting more production out of the
mines, the first meeting would give
the Premier all the guarantees as to
increased output he needed. The min
ers' leaders were willing, Mr.. Ashton
said, to attend such a conference.
Further curtailment of shipping
services is impending. One daily boat,
instead of three, will run between
Dover and Calais, and the daily serv-
ice between Newhaven and Dieppe will
be supplanted by a tri-weekly sched-
ule. This will greatly reduce facilities
for travel between France and England.
III addition at least one line Of steam
ships plying between eastern English
ports and Hamburg, Rotterdam and
Antwerp will be suspended entirely