The Washington herald., 1920-10-20


w coal miners? We do not to that
w particular, concrete act; nor will its out
come, whether victory defeat for the miners, be
an answer to tine worldwide problem involved
Given the determination of q body OF men,
constituting only small minority of the total
population Of country, but controlling, through
their labor necessity OF industry and life to use
that control to- force government action disaPproved
by the majority-what IS the nation as a whole to
do about il?
What the coal miners want is only dmiy un-
derstood in this country, and is after all the least
important factor in the problem. 1t does not ap-
pear to be wholly matter OF wages for Lloyd
George says the government has offered to pay
the wages asked 1t is 4 matter OF arbitration,
ior the miners have rejected all offers arbitratc.
The question OF hours is not involved, but to some
extent the question OF volume OF production IS, for
the miners refuse 80 back the scale OF efficiency
in force before the war As the striking in de
ance OF their leaders it seems possible that the pre-
else point issue clearly understood here may be
somewhat uncertain at the seat OF hostilitics.
But for the inquiry we propose the exact point at
issue Is not material Call it \. the accepted sign
for unknown point,
Now it appears that in order to win \, d group
Of about d million coal miners about to nfiCt
the people OF the British IsIes-grcaty out
numbering them--the miSercs OF a winter without
fuel In order that their demands may be enforced
they will commit a thousand murders. for without
doubt nuumerablc children and weaklings OF both
sexes will Succumb the privaons OF a winter sea
without coal They will starvc industry and
trade. Ships cannot navigate without coal fac
tories operate without it. railroads cannot
run. To the suffcrings from cold will be added the
hardships proceeding from stagnant trade hard
times, high prices and small and inirequent wages.
All this dark disaster Is likely to iall upon
Great Britain because her. coal miners demand y
and. her government refuses it,
Its all simple" says the partisan OF the
miners. Let the government give the miners what
they demand, and the strike will be called off"
But the government represents the whole people
OF the United Kngdom-the miners, according to
their own figures, only one million, about one
iorty-hfth OF the population affected. a British
government is always responsive to the mandate of
majority, but in this instance the demand is
made that it accept the mandate OF pitiful minor
ity-beCausc that minority happens to control the
supply OF a necessity OF life.
The position is not without its analogy with
the BoIshcvik government in Russia which is kept
in power by its control OF all the arms OF the
country Opponents there are shot In Great
Britain the alternative offered to the opponents Of
minority rule is that they shall freeze to death
II this situation arose from concerted endeavor
II
effort to coercc the nation everybody knows
what would be done. The government would in
stanty seize and reopen the mines. Nobody would
applaud the act than the leaders OF organized
labor
But now the mines open and ready for pro-
ductOn. Only the men who have been trained to
work them, and who understand the miners trade,
refuse to work them. Shall the government seize
the men, it would have seized the mines, and set
them to work for the common good
The suggestion is repugnant to every scnti-
ment Of human liberty. 1t would be repeled even
by those who are likely to suffer most from the
existing situation II tried it could only be enforced
by army OF soldiers at least as great as the
miners whom they would coerce Far as the world
has in the last decade in the direction of up
holding the right OF the state to the compulsory
service Of its citizens for warlke ends we still re-
coil the idea of compulsory draft of labor to meet
the vital needs of peace
So the question of the miners strike still re-
mains unanswerable. 1t sets forth one phase OF
problem which has been visibly growing in menace
in every land. Control OF the necessaries of life
can now be used to enforce the will of minority
The world, accustomed to that control in the COM
Paratvely few hands OF the owners of mines rail-
roads and great factories has endeavored to regulate
and to cripple it by prohibiting combinations, and
prescribing public duties. But when the control is
assumed by labor, and cxerted in such form that
no existing law affect it, what then?
This is the problem of the British coal strike
and let no one in the United States be fatuous
enough to think it is 5000 miles awav