The Sun. [volume] (Price, Utah) 1915-1932, 1920-11-05

Control Is Slipping.
NEW YORK, Oct. 31.-The circum-
stances which surround the British
coal strike and all the similar labor
disturbances in Great Britain in re-
cent months are so obscure 10 ON Ara
cream audience that the deeper politi-
cal meaning of the contemporary re-
volt is obviously missed. The truth
the larger truth-must be sooner or
later recognized on this side of the
water, however. British labor, the
organized and powerful unions which
are back of the present test, are seek
ing something more than an increase
in wages, something more than re-
adjustment Of the conditions as well
as the rewards Of work. They are, in
fact, out to establish a political con-
troll Of Great Britain, which extends
far outside the limits Of industry. The
best example of this purpose was dis
closed only the other day at the crisis
Of the Russo-Polish campaign, when
Great Britain, through ITS parliamen-
tary government, was facing the ques-
ton Of the duty, under existing trea-
ties, Of supporting the Polish ally. On
the whole, the decision was plainly
against giving such support, but, be-
fore the decision was rendered, labor
interviewed and served notice upon the
government, upon parliament, upon
the nation, that any action designed
TO help the Poles would be met by a.
general strike.
This meant nothing more nor less
than the brutal declaration By organ
lied labor that the regular sdd eonsti-
tutional machinery Of government, not
as It affected domestic questions, but
as IL concerned foreign affuirs, must
subject its decision 10 the approval Of
labor; that labor must countcrsign
decision 10 act in support Of foreign
ally or in defense against n common
enemy. In word, what was threat
ened was no less than a domestic rcvo-
luton, provided the British cabinet,
responsible to parliament and sup
ported by n huge majority, undertook
10 perform It's constitutional duties in
contravention 10 the will of organized
labor. The actual test on this issue
was not had. Lloyd George was not
anxious TO aid the Poles, both because
he has at all times manifested extra
ordinary hostility 20 Poland and be-
cause he was at odds with the French
over many questions and French pol
icy called for a vigorous support Of
Poland. Before the situation became
so acute that Britain would have been
forced 10 aid Poland or rcpudiate her
pledge, France, through Weygand,
had saved Warsaw and Poland and
the whole dispute was thus eliminated.
Labor's Asserted Right.
Yet students of foreign affairs
could not then, and cannot now, fail
10 recognize the meaning for tho tu-
ture of the assertion by British labor
of the right 10 control q British cab-
net, extra legally by the menace of q
nationwide strike, not Dy the use ot
the regular constitutional machinery
Either this pretension will prevail and
Prtish foreign and impcrsl police
wall be made, not by the prime min
ister and the cabinet IN the mare of
the king, and subject TO parliamentary
Approval hut BIZ labor, or the pretrn-
sion of labor 10 rights of powers which
have no sanction in law will have %
be abolished, The coal strike Is de-
tail in the whole campaign of British
i l.l. e. Ia. In fIHIIr
the effort of labor is 10 eliminate
those who own the mineral deposits
Of the British islands Labor per-
ceives clearly that 10 increase its own
rewards and at the same time to pro-
duce a proportionate increase of the
cost of coal 10 the consumer is los
ing game. What il aims at is TO keep
the price Of coal undisturbed, while II
increases its own pay, which amounts
to squeezing the owner Of the coal de-
pOsits out of all share in the returns.
The plan frankly goes beyond this in
direct means of eliminating the capt
talist. Ii does not blink at a direct
taking over OF the mines themselves
by the government and their opera
llon ul lhnOi llntlls We uuNt hNAN VA
undertaking wholly analogous to that
which has been revealed in the seizure
BY the Italian workingmen of some of
the great industrial plants of the
country. The single difference is that
British labor has not yet accepted
direct action" in the same whole
hearted way as Italian.
Empire Is Threatened.
But If British labor is TO control
British foreign as well as domestic
policies what Of the empirel Labor
meets the question squarely, One of
the most prominent of young British
labor leaders said to an American
friend of mine who was studying
British problems on the spot; "This
means the end of the empire, as it has
existed" Suppose, at the critical
hour in August, 1914, British labor
had asserted, with at least as sound
reason as it did assert in August Of
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