The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-04
BELFAST R|OTING
 KEEPING IRELAND
 AT A STANDST|LL
DeVaIera'S Utterances Are as Oil Poured on Flames. Industrial Conditions
 Discussed
By GEORGE N. BARNES British Pariiamentry Leader Special Wireless Dispatch to The Age
 Herald


Copyright. 1921, by The Age Herald.l
 London, September S.-There is lit- He fresh to report from Ireland ex- eept the fighting in Belfast
 Sim Fein spokesmen are provoca- tive and Belfast is disappointing.
 Eamonn DeValera's deliverances have little practical bearing on the situation, and Sir James Craigs ut terances are not helpful. Both must. of course, know that the conditions they adumbrate cannot bring fruit ful discussion, or peace.
 Meantime, public opinion here is impatient and getting angry The prospects of peace are being endan- gered by the truicilent speeches of DeValera and by the dilatoriness, as well as the provocativeness, of the Sim Fein. Prime Minister Lloyd George accurately expresses the gen eral sense of the community when he warns DeValera of the dangers of delay and appeals for a considera- ton of proposals made free from prejudices.
 Hangs by Thread
 The truce hangs by slender thread, for the violent Sim Fein speeches may eventuate in violent
 
 land are hoping for an early resump- tion of the negotiations along the lines of reason and common sense. It is the only way to peace between the two islands.
 Turning from political to indus trial considerations, the annual con- ference of the miners federation has just been held and has reflected a welcome change of mentality on the part of the mining fraternity, The official statements of the President made it quite clear that the two men in the recent dispute had been dragged at the heels of political the orists against the advice of the old and experienced leaders. He de- nounced> the hot heads in no unmeas- creetly silent under the castigation.
 Trades Unions Meet Monday
 The British Trades Union Congress opens Monday and it's agenda also shows the same appreciation by la bor generally of the mistakes of the recent policy and the need for able and experienced guidance in the days to come. The congress will face a record of the declining power of trades unionism as we'll as an unpre- cedented slump in trade. During the war and for so>Ne time after mem bership of the unions grew rapidly. Then trade began to lag and the membership to decline. There has been industrial conflict which furth- CT depressed industry and brought neither credit nor advan tage to any one.
 The last big strike was that of the ship joiners. which during It's course threw tens of thousands of other workmen out of employment and then ended in ignominous failure. The congress will attempt to curb this aggressive sectionalism which at last has come to be recognized as the bane of trades unionism and a contributory cause to the present trade depression. Under enlarged powers, the congress will establish councils which will have the power to adjust disputes between unions and to veto sectional strikes.
 There is. in short. chastened mood and growing sense of responsi- bility in the ranks of organized la Dor. If there is reclprocacy of the part of employers, then the results will be a working together for the common good and the opening of a new era of prosperity for British in- dustry. Already since the coal strike the output of coal per man has in creased to point higher than for many months.
 But the state of British trade gen. orally is such as to cause some dis quietude for the immediate future There are still l,6o0,000 unemployed workmen. True, this shows consid- erable decrease as compared with two months ago. The peak figure was at the end of June, when there were 2.27S,0o0 workless workers. But that was the last week of the coal stoppage and therefore abnormal.
 From that peak the decent has been