The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7,1919. THE STRIKE AND ITS LESSON

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 10, 7 October 1919, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7,1919. THE STRIKE AND ITS LESSON

The British , railway strike has been settled apparently in an atmosphere of great goo'd will. Leading politicians and the Labour officials concorned are quoted as paying one another graceful compliments, and the ruling note struck is one of mutual congratulation. There does not seem to he any reason, however, why such a settlement as is reported should not have been reached amicably, and without entering upon the useless conflict which disastrously disorganised the industries of the United Kingdom for more than a week. As the settlement is outlined, the railwaymen seem to have accepted, with very slight modification, the terms offered by the Government before the strike was declared. The minimum wage is to be 51s. • per week (i.e., the lowest pre-war wage plus the war bonus of 335.). ' In the final negotiations preceding the strike, the .Goyernment proposed that the minimum of 51s. per week should stand until the -cost of living had fallen .from 115 to 110 per cent, above the pre-war figure, and had remained for three months at or below that reduced level. Under the settlement tho minimum of 51s. per week and other existing wage rates are to remain unaltered until the end of September, 1920. The question as to whether this is a concession or not turns upon the likelihood or otherwise of a fall in the cost of living in the near future. 1 So long as strikes and other serious disturbances of industry continue, the cost of living is more likely to rise further than to fall, but railwaymen and other workers will have little enough to congratulate themselves, upon'if they are. enabled to maintain high wages in and because of such conditions. For the time, at least, the railwavmen haVe abandoned their demand for a minimum wage of £3 per week. Substantially, as far as thoy are reported at time of writing, the terms are those offered by the Government prior to the strike, though the guarantee of existing wages is extended as stated to September. The full cost of the strike has yet to bo computed. Under all heads it certainly must be enormous. Figures reccntlv cabled indicate that wages totalling two millions or more were sacrificed by the railwaymen during the strike period, and this is onlv an initial item. Hundreds of thousands of miners and other workers were thrown out of work by' the reduction in transport facilities, and the strike,_ of course, had far-reaching effects .in hamnering or paralysing trade and indus- ' trv and limiting production. The whole thing works out_ in a de»d loss, and p. serious addition to th« leeway Britain has lo make up ' before she can attain anything like normal conditions.

' The worst feature of the strike is the. conclusive evidence it afford? that an important section of orjranised Labour' in Great Britain lw? failed to realise the conditions nn der which, if at. all, national nrospericy must in that country. Tl™ first condition of such a recovery is a snstnined industrial effort. Organised Labour, no matter what confessions it secured by tactics tending tn defeat or handicap such an effort, would still be cutting the ground from beneath its own feet. It is particularly obvious that, there will be no prosuerity for British wageearners if the action of a section of their number prevents the efficient, reorganisation of industry nnd trade._ The facts of_ the existing situation are emphasised in mnny ways, but nowhere more clearly than

in a comparison of current and pre-war returns of British external trade. In the following table imports and exports for the first half of this year are compared with those for the corresponding period in 19W and 1918:— Jan. to Excess of June. Imports, lilxports. Imports. £. £ £ 1914 ... 375,903,057 314,734,027 61,169,030 1918 ... 652,211,58 263,610,810 388,631,088' 1919 ... 717,034,179 399,190,127 326,8-44,052 The apparent volume of trade for the two later half-years has to be considered with the the fact in mind that' as compared with 1911 prices in the United _ Kingdom showed an increase until recently of about 130 per cent. The vital point, however, is the balance of imports and exports. Allowing for' the difference in prices, imports for the first half of this year fell as compared with the corresponding period in 1014 by 17 per cent., but under the same adjustment the drop in exports was 46 per cent., and the adverse balance of trade increased by no less than 132 , per cent. Though the figures show an appreciable improvement upon the position in 1918 the.v demonstrate, that Britain is only ' slowly expanding the manufacturing production which is her chief resource in meeting her war obligations. The actual position is even less favourable than the return indicates, since in 1914 the so-called adverse balance of trade represented chiefly returns on foreign investments and on shipping under foreign charter. During the war a large proportion of the foreign securities held by British investors were realised, and in addition Britain borrowed largely in the United States and to a less extent in Canada. The adverse balance of trade is thus in fact linich greater than the same percentage would have been in prewar conditions. A great increase in production and.a corresponding increase in', exports represent the only remedy for the existing state of iiffairs, as they- represent the chief .factor making ior a solution of the total range of economic problems by which Britain is faeerl In order to surmount her difficulties. Britain must at least approach such an organisation of hev resources for peace as was effected for war. Burdened as she is with internal and foreign debt, nothing 5 less than a sustained and har- • monious national effort will enable her to re-establish assured prosperity, The railway strike is the latest example, and in some respects the most serious to date, of action by organised Labour which so impedes such an effort as to make it almost hopeless. In its.immediate aspect and results the strike seems to have been a rather negative affair. It stands out, however, as an absolute reversal of the conditions that are essential if the people of Great Britain are to surmount their present difficulties and enjoy prosperity in years to come. In the circumstances the only ground for satisfaction that appears in connection with the strike is the hope tentatively raised that it, may prove to be a turning point in British industrial life. It is. suggested that even the militant, organisations allied with the National Union of RailwWmen shrank from the ruinous and suicidal folly of developing the policy of "direct actipn to its logical conclusion. More is perto be hoped from the firm resolution with which a great part of the population supported the Governmont in its roiusul to allow-,aii organised minority ' o dictate and enforce its own terms. It is not enough, however, that wild follies like the railway strike should be defeated. They must be averted if Britain is to recover the position she enjoyed before the war. _ much ' less gain the improved position to I which , her. _ organised workersavowedly aspire.