The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1915. THE WAR AND THE WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2515, 17 July 1915, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1915. THE WAR AND THE WORKERS

The cable' messages whioh have appeared in The Dominion during the last few days regarding . the coalminers' trouble in South Wales have not stated the facts in sufficient detail to enable people in this part of tho world-to form a definite judgment as to the merits of the dispute. Tho men are demanding higher wages, and they are also asking the Government to fix prises in order to prevent exploitation. The- President of the Board of Trade has introduced legislation dealing with the prico of coal, but the messages so far received do not disclose the exact position as regards the wages difficulty. It is of absolutely vital importance that there should bo ample and continuous supplies of coal for the Navy and for the munition factories. Disputes between employers and workmen cannot be per-, mitted to imperil the existence of tho Empire. Tho workmen are entitled to have their grievances investigated, but during a crisis like the present there should be no stoppage of work. The safety of the nation must bo tho.supremo consideration. There is division of opinion among the men as regards the proposal to go on strike, but we are told that 120,000 men aro now idle in South Wales. This is, of course, a very serious situation, and the Government must take action. The miners', executive haß failed to redeem its promise that there would be no strikes if tho provisions of the Munitions Act, which makes arbitration compulsory, .were not enforced in South Wales. It. seems that the more responsible labour leaders aro doing their utmost to induce the men to return to their work, but that a noisy section of Socialists aro placing difficulties in the way of a settlement. . One would have thought that the stupendous folly of a strike of colHcry workers at the present time would have been so plain to everyone concerned that such an occurrence would have been an impossibility. In a great speech' at Manchester shortly after his appointment to the position of Minister of Munitions, Mr. Lloyd George made uso of a, striking illustration which has a direct bearing on the action of the miners of South Wales. He said that-when the house is on fire questions of procedure, of precedence, of etiquette, and time and division of labour disappear. A man cannot say that he is not liable to service at three o'clock in the morning. The fire is blazing and must be put out. In such circumstances only a madman would argue "as to whose duty it is to carry the water bucket and whose duty it is to tip it into the crackling furnace." ' The world is now in a state of conflagration. We are engaged in a desperate conflict against the best organised nation in tho world, and wo cannot expect victory if we allow our energies to bo dissipated in internal strife. What would we think if our regiments at tho front turned their guns on one another? Our soldiers have placed their lives _at the disposal of the State, and it is not too much to ask their comrades who form the industrial army which remains at homo to give the State, just as ungrudgingly, their time, their thought, and their strength. For the sake of their country th'o soldiers have voluntarily placed themselves in the hands of the Government so that they may be sent here or there, and ordered to do this or that—all they ask is that thoy may be put in the position where they can render the greatest service. That, said Mr. Lloyd George, in one of the most arresting passages -in -his Manchester speech, is what a voluntary army in a military sense means. Ho then went on to say:'

"I am sorry to say it doss not mean (hat industrially. Tho regulations, the customs and practices which may be of great service—and probably are of great service—in times of peaco aro utterly inapplicable and out of placo in tho terriblo urgency of war. Tho enlisted workman cannot cliooso his locality of action, 110 cannot say: 'Well, I am quite prepared to fight at Neuvo Chanelle, but I won't light at Festubert, and I am not going near the place they call Wipers.' Ho cannot say: 'Well, I liavo been • in the trenches (ten- hours and a half, and my trade union won't allow me to work more than ten hours.' Ho cannot say: 'Yon liavo not enough men, aud I have been (Icing the wort of two men. My trade union won't allow mo to do more than my own filmre.' 'JL'ho vsUrat! who hw bse'li

Army—can't say: 'Who is this fellow by my side, this mero fledgling? He has only had just a few weeks' training. It i's against iny union's regulations, aiul I am off.'"

The South Wales colliery strike emphasises the necessity of thoroughly organising the industrial army. A strike of the men upon whom the Fleet is relying for its coal is almost as disastrous as a strike among the stokers on a Dreadnought during a battle. Germany is organised for war clown to the minutest details, and we cannot defeat her unless wo follow her example. "You may as well," said tho Minister for Munitions, "send our men to face shrapnel and howitzers armed with picks and shovels as merely to go through the war with your industrial army unorganised, equipped and armed merely 'with the ordinary weapons 'of peace." Ho declared that the message of the nation to the Government should be this: "Convince yourself as to what action is necessary, take it boldly, and we will see you through." The British Government may rest assured that tho nation will sec it through if it acts with justice and firmness in aealing with the present labour trouble—and acts promptly and decisively.