Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-05-23
Britain Still
Short on Coal
The Experts Can't Agree
on What Is Wrong
in Industry
By William McGoffin

By William McGoffin
LONDON. - officials responsible
for British government coal policies
and experts in the field are still dis
agreeing over what is wrong with
the nationalized coal industry.
1t is generally agreed that some
thing must be done If this country
is to produce the coal it needs for
export and home consumption, for,
although mine output is bit higher
than it was a year ago, a crisis
still exists.
How to do that something is
where Englishmen differ.
The Communist general secretary
of the National Union OF Nine
workers, Arthur Horner, for ex-
ample, has a pet remedy. He says:
What we need is more manpower.
More miners must be recruited and
sent into the mines"
Some Other Opinions
Sir Charles Reid, ex-member of
the National Coal Board that runs
the mines and one Of o-itain's
greatest technical experts on coal
mining, and T. E. B. Young a
present member of the board, hold
other opinions.
Sir Charles says the trouble is
absenteeism. "At least 30 million
extra tons of coal a year could be
produced" he claims, without in
creasing manpower or changing
present machinery in the mines If
the men stayed on the job.
Sir Charles says he resigned from
the board because he had no con-
fidence in it or in the organization
it had set up. He recommends it
be reorganized.
Mr.. Young, who returned recently
from a trip to the United States,
where he studied American coal
mining methods, says he knows the
answer-more work.
Il believe the only quick solution
is increased industry and that the
way to this lies in the provision of
greater incentives" Mr.. Young de-
clares.
Mr.. Young would give the miners
bigger rations and commodity
dockets based on attendance in the
mines.
have discovered that other min
ing experts don't agree with Mr..
Young, however. One independent
expert tells me that he doubts more
incentives would work. He cites the
case Of the radio sets and other
consumer goods which miners In
one area let stay in the stores in
stead Of earning extra money to buy
them.
Furthermore, says he, you can't
solve the problem through higher
wages. THE more you pay miner
the less he'll work"
Reasons for Stubbornness
The miner, 1t seems, is peculiar
individual. There are, however,
factors that make him that way,
according to the expert. Because he
has to work In underground dark
ness, he values sunlight. Sunlight
and leisure mean more to him than
money. He has formed the habit
Of working just long enough to get
the money he needs to satisfy his
minimum requirements. After that,
he knocks off and goes to the dog
races.
mo. self-respecting miner Is with
out his own whippet," continues this
expert. HE spends good deal of
time grooming the animal and rae
ing 1t. Going to dog races and
betting on the dogs is one of his
set habits.
Another characteristic is that he
does not save money. Most miners
have not saved anything since the
Means Test was pulled on them
at the height of the British de-
preston. Remember the Means
Test? 1t provided that any one
with savings had to use them up
before he could qualify for the dole
the government was handing out to
the jobless. Thus, the man without
any savings at all was better off in
the eyes of the miner with some
thing tucked away than he him.
self.
The miner has reasons for his
stubborn attitude. He is fine
fellow and one of our best fighters
when he's in the Army, but he has
been influenced by years of grind
ing poverty. When the government
returned the mines to the private
owners in 1921 after the First World
War, they were in a dreadful con-
dition. The price of British coal
was way above that of Polish and
German. We were losing out in
the world market. About the only
place to get our cost down was in
reducing wages. Eighty-seven per
cent Of the cost of coal is in wages.
Some Of the mine operators went
too far. After the big coal strike,
some Of them actually used star
walton as a weapon to teach the
miners a lesson"
1t will be a slow and very ex-
pensive process to increase produc-
ton in Britain's coal mines, the
way this man sees it.
However, he adds the hopeful
note that maybe propaganda will
help and the miner will eventually
catch the spirit Of working for
the nation
tcopyrisht 1s4s, Chicago Daily News)