Evening star., 1926-05-11
American Public Surprised
By British General Strike

Surprise WAS tie dominant feeling
in America when word came that the
British coal crisis had resulted in
general strike. Such ii catastrophe
had been forecast. but on this side OF
the water il hardly seemed possible
As the Detroit News puts II. TINS y
the gravest OF all Britain's industrial
struggles because for the first time
the sense of fairness toward the pub
lic has failed" The News regrets
that every element in British life
reparded in the past as the rock OF
security is weakened, and III place o1
tho old confidence of fundamental ma
tional unity there is a cold and slnls-
ter division which uses terms OF bl'-
ternesS."
The Atlanta Journal points 10 the
tendency to undo much oil the SLOW
progress toward recovery that ma
been noted in England in the iast SIX
wears" and the Buffalo Evening News
recalls that the crisis came lust as a
1ittle light was beginning to filter
through the clouds of Great Britain s
industrial depression" The savannah
Press, calling attention 10 reduction
during the last six months of the
number of idle workers below the mil
lion mark" concludes that the
country was cropping back TO nor
malcy," before the strike developed.
While there is u general disposition
TO blame radicals among the LABOR
leaders. the Baltimore Sun thinks the
government itself cannot escape a
share of responsibility. Quoting the
report that Prime Minister Baldwin
was forced to break negotiations by
a group of diehard members of his
cabinet" the Sun declares that III
as seems very probable, this is the
explanation of the abrupt foreclosure
of the negotiations, the extremists
among the Conservatives have a very
heavy responsibility for the incalcu-
liable ills. 1t may very we'll be that
their headlong policy did as much or
more to cause the strike than the
policies of the labor leaders.
"A declaration of war by union
workers against all other elements OF
the British citiZenry" is seen by the
Memphis Commercial Appeal, which
is of the opinion that "the British
government of necessity was com
PEELED to accept the gage of battle.
For if it is not "a denial of govern.
ment." according to the Philadelphia
Evening Bulletin. ''it is a denial of
governmental leadership, and dis
turbance of the peace and order of
the nation. contrary to the ideals and
purposes of government" The Man.
chester Union also maintains that
"once the labor leaders called out the
great allied unions, the contest was
no longer merely industrial
.s x $, !;
Two problems with which the min.
ing industry itself is struggling are
emphasized by the Seattle Daliy
Times, with the statement: The first
of these is the union demand for
present wages; the second is the
policy of curtailing production to keep
men at work. 1t is the latter which
is chiefly responsible for high costs
because it encourages restricted pro
duction by the individual"
That England gained nothing by
paying the subsidy for the one year"
is the contention of the DeS MoineS
Register, which adds that there has
been the same trouble with altogeth-
er too much of the postwar states
manShip everywhere" The subsidy
is described by the Providence Bulle-
tin as "a makeshift device, generally
recognized as only postponing the evil
day." The Bulletin believes that the
coal situation had reached an impossi-
BILE stage, and the operation of the
mines could have continued only with
the manifestation of a reasonable
spirit on the part of the miners"
X = x !:
"a campaign of this Sort declares
the Oklahoma Cjty Times, calls out