Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-04-19
|BhTA|N WAS Saved
|BY LABOR'S SPLIT,
ASSERTS HENDERSON.
BY ARTHUR HENDERSON
(Fornner Member British War
Cabinetl

Gable Line Service to The JouInal.)
LONDON, April 16.--Not for a
long while has Great Britain been
shaken so severely internally, as dur
ing the dark and menacing period
of the threatene strike of all the
railway transport workers in SYM
pathy with the striking miners. Nor
will the effects of such a grave crisis
pass in a day.
The end is no yet. There have
been many Kaleidoscope changes
during the past twenty-four, hours,
which rise out Of the fighting and
which seem irreconci1able.
The situation has been extremely
tense. The government, directed by
Lloyd George, had made elaborate
and costly arrangements to meet
eventualities: including the mobiliza-
ton of defense corps. 1t was eX-
pected that the daily scenes in Ire
land, of motor lorries driving
through the streets, accompanied by
military escorts, would become also
a part Of the daily life Of Great
Britain, at least temporarily. Ine
government had arranged for volun--
tary drivers on the railroads and
other systems Of transport and pre-
sumably for armed guards to accom-
pany all Of the moving vehicles.
These precautions, being novel, prob.
attention and would have been in
teresting rather than dangerous or
necessary.
out Of the situation has come the
fact that the Lloyd George govern
ment has associated itself complete
ly with the coal owners in Directing
to the national profits pool which
~ raUord essential III
Inequalities between certain districts
are to be neutraliZed. Upon this
point Of principle rather than details
Of wage conditions for the industry.
the deadlock has rested
Near Calamity
The threatened strike Of the triple
alliance, set for Friday evening, but
cancelled at the eleventh hour. would
have been a social calamity or tne
gravest dimensions, and the reluc-
lance Of the workers to plunge the
country into such ,r 5ituaslon can
Never in my long association with
organized labor has there been such
general reluctance to embark in
an Industrial conflict. No greater
moderating influence has been at
work than the unwillingness OF the
workers themselves to pc forced py
the government and by their employ
ers into a conflict of national aspect,
whereby the social happiness and
economic prosperity Of the nation
would be imperilled.-
On the other hand. in calling for
the assistance OF the railway ana
transport workers. the miners felt
they were justified in the fact that
they are fighting a battle against
wage reductions which are likely to
become general if they lose. The
members of the triple alliance have
had to consider the fact that they
may conceivably be the next inter-
ests to suffer from the general at
tack on wages which has been threat
ened. There has been an all but
irresistible stimulus to common de-
fensive actions, halted only by
difference of opinion as to Wnether
the miners had gone too Tar IN re-
fuSing further conferences Will IHe
owners. ,.. -
The 1ast-minute developments, in
the situation have not served to allay
the deep-seated uneasiness of work
ers in general concerning the stag
gering wage reductions the owners
are seeking to force upon the mine
workers.
Don't Want Battle
No section Of the organized work
ers has been animated by a desire
for pitched industrial battle. Inc
miners organization was virtually
bankrupt at the time the strike be-
Every agency of labor. as matter
of fact, has been at work in the d.
rection of peace and against the eA-
tension Of the trouble, If 1t could be
avoided without the loss of honor:
AS matters stand between the min
ers and the owners today, it would
seem that one side or the other must
radically modify it's position If set
Element of any sort of permanence is
to be effected in the near future. The
owners believe the miners now will
be starved into submission.