THE EUROPEAN STRIKE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 279, 17 April 1913, Page 5

THE EUROPEAN STRIKE

A.QUARTER.OF A MILLION IDLE. FEEDING -THE STRIKERS. .By.Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 16, 11.15 p.m. Brussels, April IG. Jhe leaders. estimate that there are 380,000 strikers—probably a quarter of a.million. The ordinary life in the big towns is little affected. Mr. Warocque, a millionaire ironmaster, is feeding 15,000 strikers daily during the strike.

"WMe. thousands of. housewives are already laying in stores of preserved food, in view' of the general strike on April 14th," wrote the Brussels correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," on February. 17th; "and thereby abnormal- ' lv forcing up prices, the captains of inL'diistryr.are. cudgelling their brains to discover some means of preventing the contingency .which would suddenly stop the production of mines and factories; while all municipal bodies are preparing to coinfer .together, , and consider either what steps can be taken to make the Labour party relent, or what measures should be concerted to prevent the strike from degenerating into disorder and civil strife. Petitions will be drawn up, calling upon the King to interfere and wrest from his Government some pacifying concessions to the champions of franchise reform —such, for instance, as the' nomination of a Commission of Inquiry into Franchise Reform ; while the great manufacturers are requesting interviews with the Prime Minister to discuss 'the question with him in the same vein. Whether these efforts will succeed or not is still very uncertain. According to most trustworthy information, I can assert that the Government are more desirous of confronting a strike'than of avoiding it. Their view is as follows:—"The threat of a general cessation of work, either for political or pecuniary motives, is a species of blackmail, resorted to within the last few years all over Europe. Any Government yielding to such a threat would be investing it with an appallinc power, and encouraging its periodical use as a means to frighten societv out of its wits, and compel it at all times to satisfy any revolutionary whim of the working classes. It would be better, once and for all. to put the general labour strike to the test. Experience will show that no general strike is reaTlv possible; that none will serioously impede the ordinary current of things; in other words, that the weapon will prove a failure, and thus be given lit) for ever as hopeless for the realisation of any political or material object; and society -will then be freed from a fear which has "been weighing on the public mind for years."