Evening star., 1926-11-21

OuStTy, nave SlIIlply IdkeH dtlNdHtdSo
Of what they conceive to be an oppor-
tunity to endeavor to put upon the
workingmen all the burden of an un-
profitable business. And the mass of
EngliShmen know that the solution
the owners propose means a dangerous
lowering of the standard of life.
The mission of the government
should have been, If 1t was 10 preserve
it's independence, to escape even the
suspicion of alliance with either camp
and by virtue Of it's authority and
the backing of public opinion this
would have been aSsured-to foroe
both unreasonable. parties to come to
an agreement which was in the inter-
ests of something higher than either.
namely, the compromised prosperity
of the nation as a whole. And, as l
have said, it had the power and the
prestige at the, close Of the general
strike.
OppOrtune Moment Passes.
That time passed. The strike Is be-
ing. settled In reality on the battle,
field, despite the lastmoment activi-
ties of Winston Churchill and Stanlev
Baldwin. The miners are facing
knockout defeat" The bitterness
thus engendered will be added to the
both during the long battle of the
present year and during the far longer
battle which is the history OF tho
coal mining Industry.
With the battle over, there prom
ises no real Improvement In the
fundamental situation. 1t will still
be true that many of the mines can
not be economically operated and pay
q living wage for the workinSman.
Some will not be reopeped and the
effort to reopen others and operate
them at a subnornal labor cost can
only end in new trouble. Moreover,
while for time doubtless there Will
be q domestic market large enough
to absorb all production, longtime
contracts have been taken over by the
German and Polish coal owners and
an eventual restriction In British eX-
ports is inevitable.
The victory in the battle will be to
give the coal owners a free hand.
They have openly and frequently
ffouted the government, they have
crushed the worklngmen, they nave
scornfully refused all demands for ii
program of reorganization OF the IN
dustry and will have a free hand to
undertake their solution. which Is to
reduce wages and increase hours OF
cost and selling price.
But on the other side one must see
the political effect, which may be very
great. The Tory Party still holds
Parliament by an enormous majority
and In the normal state Of affairs 1t
would be several years before it would
have to go before the country in q
new election. But II has so completely
lost popular confidence and support
that the press OF London Is already
filed with reports that dissolution and
a new election may have to come next
February.
Division Among Tories.
And strange as it may seem there IS
very far from conviction in any d1.
rection that such a general election
would result I'm a Tory victory. The
assertion is made boldly and frequent
ly that there Is very great split i'll
the ranks of tho Tory party itself.
split between those who advocate the
policy which may be termed capital.
istic in the extreme and those who
would revert to the Disraeli tradition.
Not few far-seeing Tories are ap-
palled at the present prospect that
British politics will come to have the
character of a fight between capital
and labor pure and simple with their
party taking the capitalistic end.
Meanwhile the Liberal Party has
wholly collapsed and the retirement
of Lord Oxford pretty definitely ends
its history. Its members are rapidly
shifting To right and left, to the Tory
and Labor party, and all the recent
by.elections are disclosing the rising
tide Of labor strength at the polls.
All of which IS a pretty grim COM
mentary on the way the Tories have
played their cards when one recalls
the collapse of labor two years ago,
when Mcdonald fell, and its incred-
ible weakness in May. when it was
associated with the general strike.
Baldwin, himself, has patiently lost
control Of his party. the moderates no
longer feel that he can represent their
views, the extremists no longer con
slider him sufficiently strong to com
mand attention. An open split in the
party might come at any time, but
even II IL does not come there Is no
mistaking the fact that under cover
the dissension is very great.
What most profoundly wcakens
Baldwin Is the fact that the British
public is by no means committed ~
tho capitaiistlc side. There was ca"
one mind in Britain during the general
strike, when the attack was upon Sraa
tional life. But perhaps a majority
of thinking Britons hold the coal own
erS responsible i'm the last analysis
for existing conditions. They have
failed so to conduct great national
industry as to enable it to operate
economically. They have allowed 1t TO
sink into q state where its machinery
is obsolete and it's methods far out of
date. And in the end the only pro-
No ht.ip of.I
is to reduce wages, that is to make
the workingmen carry the load.
Reorganization Called Need.
The problem Is complex. 1t is mani
festiy impossible for the owners u
continue to operate at a loss. 1t Is
equally impossible for the government
to subsidize an industry, which is
what tho workingmen demand. But
at the same time it is certainly not too
much for the owners to meet the situ-
alton by the complete moderniZation
of the industry and thus to bring 1t
back as nearly as possible to a paying
basis.
AS I have said every one frankly
comedies that the coal miners are in
the main working for a wage which
Just about represents an irreducible
minimum. AS II stands they cannot
in many cases have a living wage and
at the same time produce coal at
price which enables the owners to
earn minimum profit. without which.
of course, they cannot be expected
to carry on the industry. But the
actual solution of the problem must
wait upon the experiment of the
owners in reorganization and read
justment. Then and only then will it
be possible to see what can and what
cannot be done in the way Of paying
wages.
There is. Of course, the further com
plication that it is not possible To-
transfer the men working in non.eco.