Evening star., 1926-05-09
ENGLISH COURAGE
WINS OVER STRIKE
People Keeping Patience and
Good Humor and Make
Best of Troubles.

BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.
LONDON. May S.-After nearly a
week of tho general strike England
still keeps it's courage. it's patience
and. as far as may be. its good hrmor.
BY the help OF volunteer effort the
Government has succeeded with
startling rapidity in organizing the
essential services of food and trans
port. and as every hour passes rail.
ways and omnibusses are carrying
more passengers in all districts.
The forces of law and order have
heen strengthened bv recruits from
all classes 10 the civil police. BY
Monday morning the home secretary
hopes TO have $4,000 special consta-
bies in London alone.
People Carry On.
The spirit of the people has been
severely tried by discomfort of all
kinds. but | have seen nothing finer
even in war than this cheerful ac-
ceptance of social chaos and this self
discipline in a time of national crisis.
Despite improvements the railways
and the roads are still crowded by
all those millions of mddleclass folk
who have TO get to their work from
long distances Every morning and
watching their professions to the
great city and their desperate efforts
to get home again. 1t mas Deen
laughahe, pathetic and heroic. Ihou-
sands of private cars driven by thef
owners have organized service Tor
picking up clerks and shop girls from
,.ur suburbs and conveying them back
again. The premier's wife. Mrs.
Baldwin. has called for further ef-
forts of this kind. because there are
still dense crowds of pedestrians and
never enough vehicles to carry this
human tide of city workers. who are
now footsore and weary. They climb
ur ladders to high lorries and sit on
the tailboardS of tradesmen'S carts.
showing their silk stockings and
highheeled shoes. They ride pillion
on motor cycles and hold on to the
shoulders of suburban cavaliers. get
ting heartache on humble hush
bikes.
Women Ride Beer Van.
Daintily dressed little ladies sit on
ton of beer barrels or milk cans or
any load OF fodostuffs going city
wards Rare busses passing are IN
vaded and taken by assault until they
are dangerously oVercrowded. Along
the Thames embankment, at night
after office hours. long lines OF
NeDlcteS WITH tlOIStlBoNCi vi htCS'h
bower. ancient and modern. labeled
for suburban districts are Stormed 10y
crowds OF men and girls drtnched
with rain before they get aboard on
evenings when the weather has given
q real sense of misery to this strike
Public discomfort was further in
creased Thursday when the taXlcab
men called off their ranks by strike
orders so that well-to-do people were
rt-if n ho
public and had to beg ride or walk.
The government call for volunteers
has been answered overwhelmingly.
Universities have been emptied of
students, and yesterday | saw some
Of these young men dressed in plus
fours punching tickets in husses or
holding gates at the tube stations,
where they answered all INQUIRIES
with smiling courtesy and OXtord
accent. At the Liverpool street sta
ton some of the porters were medical
students from London hospitals. A
hus on which | Travelled down the
Strand was driven by sporty look
ing gentleman wearing monocie
who had been a colonel in the Great
War and who was now calling out.
IAN the way to Charing Cross, one
penny" Going cheap.
Veterans Now Constables.
In the Royal Automobile Club l
saw familiar faces above strange uni
forms They are eX-offiCerS, now
dressed in blue or special constabies.
with silver whistles to blow in case of
riot and power to arrest even their
fellow members for disOrderly con-
duct or seditiOus speech. Policemen
sit next to drivers of independent
omnibuSeS going toward the city. but
ho+ with this Guard
hIlsses are seen east of Aldgate. That
isl where Whitecapel begins. and be-
yond is a danger zone of mob passion
AID political discomfort in the slum
areas and dockside districts.
! tlnldged about these neighborhoOds
Yesterday looking for trouble. but all
could see was the possibility of
trouble among crowds of idle men.
They stood about in groups discussing
the situation moodily. Now and again
there were iushes down narrow
streets. following some rumor that
hlacklec labor was bringing out vans
from goods yards and garages. IT
was raining with steady drizZle and
standing under a shop front | spoke
TO some strikers gathered there. They
told me that there had been some
trouble here and there. Some trans
had been attacked and broken up.
Down by the docks there were organ
lied gangs of young men trying to
stop food getting away and some
heads had been broken by police
hatons These men said there was no
sense In stopping food supplies and 1t
was dead against strike orders, any
how. 1t was being done by young
roughs. who had nothing to do with
trade unions. never having done
decent DAYS work in their lives. so
they told me. and when | asked them
what they thought about the pros
pects of the strike they shrugged
their shoulders. There's no news
coming through" said one man. BE
tween government announcements
and strike bulletins. it is hard to find
the truth. If the strike lasts much
longer there will be some dirty work
before ii is finis. ed. The mems tenn
pers won't held out nor the womens
either" .
Groups OF men labeled as pickets
stood around the entrances to fac
tories perSuading their fellows to keep
loval to trade union orders and to stay
off their JOBS. Some women In the
crowds were more excited than their
men, and | heard some fierce shrill
talk about the blasted government"
and dirty blacklegs."
Down Walworth way mob had
stoned some trans and along st.
Georges road were the charred re-
mains of a burned omnibus. In Mare
street. Hackney. under cover of dark
ness crowd of strikers and hooli-
gan boys held up motor cars and made
:heir passengers get down and walk.
These things happen suddenly like
sroldering fires that blaze out in
gusts of wind. but generally East End
Sandn is fairly peaceful. strangely
empty of all wheeled traffic and
strongly guarded by police.
Down by the docks there is a sense