Evening star., 1925-08-02
BY HENRY w. BUM.

" HE following is a brief sum-
mary of the most important
news of the world for the
i seven days ended August !:
Great Britain.-On Wednes-
day Premier Baldwin brings the rep
resentatives of the miners and those
of the mine owners in the great coal
mining controversy under the same
roof, but does not bring them into
conference. From morn to noon he
works, from noon to dewy eve and
onward still. arguing now with one
group, then with the other, and final
ly with representatives of the council
of the trades union congress. Toward
midnight all hands knock of to the
morrow, nothing accomplished. The
whole realm is breathless with anx-
iety. Surely some arrangement will
be reached for averting the threat
ened strike tat midnight of July 3D.
If the miners go out it is to be feared
that the railway and other transport
workers will refuse to handle coal,
that the strike will extend sympa
thetically to all the greater indus
tries.
On Thursday the same procedure
One could wish to be listening to Mr..
Baldwin, for no man understands the
matter in argument better than he
does. But neither side will bulge.
Towards evening Mr.. Baldwin holds
a cabinet council and afterwards in
forms the owners that the govern
ment is prepared to assist the indus
try until May 1. next, to tide it past
a reriod of negotiation, of investiga-
ton and of acute financial crisis. He
requests the owners to suspend for a
fortnight operation of their notice of
termination of the existing wage
agreement. He expects the strike or
ders to be suspended accordingly and
no doubt expects thereafter a trucial
prolongation of the status quo until
the Spring. For the present he is
fighting for a breathing spell.
Mr. Baldwin wins. On Friday the
owners announce suspension of their
notice for two weeks and the miners
chiefs suspend the strike orders.
The assistance to the industry is
to be in the form of a flexible sub
vention to maintain wages at the
present rates. 1t is unofficially calcu-
lated that the total cost to the gov
ernment, may be as high as f10 900, 900.
A royal commission, with larger
powers than those of the court of in
quiry, is to investigate.
1 used the expression "acute finan-
cial crisis.'' But should the condition
be called one of acute crisis and not
rather one of chronic ailment requir-
ing an economic Hippocrates of super
skill? The British are losing the Ital-
ian market to Russia and the United
States other European markets and
those of South America to the United
States and Germany.
What are the roots of the trouble?
Higher cost of production than else
where? Obviously, since British
freightage is cheaper. But why the
higher cost? Higher wages and
shorter working hours? Yes. that is
part of the explanation in regard to
competition with the German mines,
but only part. Well then. poorer
organization and working methods?
Yes, but that again is only a minor
part of the explanation. Within the
past 10 years there has been immense
Improvement in both these respects,
vet export has fallen by something
like 25 per cent.
Now please note the following facts.
The average wages of American min
ers are about $40 per week, the aver
age wages of British miners are only
about two pounds fifteen shillings per
week. The production in the United
States is 80 hundredweight per man
shift, in Britain 171a hundredweight.
Well, what's the answer? The most
/ important item in the answer is that
| the American seams land the German
| tool are beyond all comparison easier
and cheaper to work. Suppose the best
possible organization of the British
| Industry, the very best mechanical
equipment, eight-hour shifts and the
men splaying up with will, even sc
| it looks black as Tophet. Many mines
are approaching exhaustion, in many
4 l.
hibitive by reason of the increasing
depth and the conformation of the
seams. Three hundred thousand min
| ers are unemployed through closing
of Improbable pits.
! But the case Of Britain. her foreign