The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-05-07
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Continued from page One)
struggle to enforce the coal miners
stand against lower wages and IN
creased hours.
Bv noon the streets Of the capital
were a maelstrom of milling pedes-
TRANS and crawling motor vehlcies'
with the unaffected workers STRIVING
to get to their places of business,
while in some places radical strike
sympathizers sought to turn them
back.
The beginning of the strike had a
dramatic setting in London. Large
crowds had gathered about the par
lament houses and in Whitehall,
where they whiled away their time
singing the "Red Flag"
| Big Ben doomed out IL.
A man clinging to the railing of
the house of parliament yelled
hoarsely:
Comrades, the hour has struck"
Procession Forms
Then the great mass of people be-
I gan to swerve and eddy into a pro
: cession which started toward tbs
west end.
= Near the treasury the police seiz-
4 ed red flag and there was brief
unsuccessful struggle to recapture it
!, Then the marchers passed through
:. Trafalgar square to Regent St., anC
n Piccadilly to the Hyde Park corner
e Finding the great park closed they
= continued through the quiet back
streets.
Suddenly in Eaton square the po
. lice escort turned and scattered thu
. marchers. Some of the men fell il
their fight others were chased b!
!, the bodies and then the demOnstra
ton broke up.
e Industry Virtually at Standstill
While the tieup of traffic continu
n ed throughout the city and many e9z
pressed apprehension as to the out
come of the great struggle, effort
were continuing toward a settle
ment.
were at a standstill today. Million
4 Virtually all forms of industr,
were at a standstill today. Million
of workers had their first day on
without wages. Just how many
d was impossible to estimate for be
sides the actual strikers called cut
ID thousands of Onstrikers were throw
out of work through the inabilit
g Of their concerns to function.
e, Health and food services contin
ued, partly because of the provision
10 made by the trades union congress
b and partly through the grea t gov
IL eminent organization, formed for tn
transportation of foodstuffs and 9th
d er necessaries of life so that Their
ell mint be minimum of suffering.
Trains Practically Stopped
al Apart from emergency traini
scarcely wheel turned on the gres
rs network of railways. TramWav
e. busses and other forms of transpol
ceased operations Coal, iron an
i'll allied industries closed down. WorI
r. ers supplying gas and electricity fl
D. power purposes were idle. All builC
lngs other than for housing and no
t. pital work, stopped.
lie Even the newspapers as a who
h were silent this morning and Il
~ country therefore was dependent
the radio for news if the strikers
gs not carry out their threat to bio,
lis It's working. Tradesmen, the banI
and the various professions were co
RS tlnulng business as well as was DO
es sl6le under the circumstances.
When London awoke this morniI
nv IL found itself faced with an amor
M ally. 1t had been expected that wi
M the cessation of traffic the metropor
nd would be fairly quiet. But not
years was there such congestion
re vehicles, for not only thousands
M strikers were abroad, but nonstri
of ing workers came pouring into t
city IN every available convevar
,as and many on foot.
tie All the roads leading into Iond
were filled with solid streams
ems motorcars of every description a
OF every vintage. ThousanJc
ia persons pedalled along amid ira
on bicycles and tandems. Motor !,
eep res joined the procession, and w
ely ali came great army of work,
orc mare. 'iiS'iii
lie On Roller Skates
OId and young, MANY of tb,
AL women. and girls, trudped tow
sill their Offices and shops. Some of /
pedestrians had covered MANY mil
my The star turn in this medley was r. :,
nto en- by an eenrgetic man. who yrs
ure his way through one of the ~.
inc thoroughfares on roller slrates -. 90
cheering from the onlooJIers \
his reinforced police squads worked
g. they rarely had worked before
keep the traffic untangled and era,
the
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