| Show a TISH 1 i i If INSIDE a TORY mRY Of STRIKE r as Is s Why Yorkers Corkers Have Desert Desert- d Their Posts of Labor LaborI I- I RUGGLE MADE FOR ETTER CONDITIONS I ike Is One of Sympathy o. o o Demonstrate the fewer iwer ewer of Solidarity liters liter's note note note- note Milton Milton Inton Bronner liil lal European correspondent for t and The Telegram gone one to Yorkshire to find out t the miners themselves just hey are striking His article lithe rom an England In which war Conditions prevail is presented By y MILTON BRONNER I N EA A Service Writer ecial Cable to The Telegram j right 1926 NEA Service e Inc IN YORKSHIRE l g. g Wh are the British work- work in n strike at t is the real reason reason for this tt st strike in the history of n labor a labor a strike that has put men out of ot work and that rove the most serious event ent aln has faced in the last cent cenus cen- cen us t s general strike comes co es as a act act af ct ct f result of ot the strike of more morel l coal miners It Is a apathetic apathetic pathetic strike so to speak speak- I 0 A STRIKE LEADER Y Ys s i Hon J. J H. H Thomas secretary of OT the British National Union of 1 Railwaymen a strike to demonstrate the tho solidarity solidarity soli soli- darity of British labor The true cause of ot the miners' miners strike does not appear on the sur- sur face ace You can C best understand it perhaps by listening In on a conversation conversation conversation con con- I have just had with a stalwart Yorkshire miner They had had brass they had grunted this miner taking his pipe from rom his mouth Nothing to come off oft the melons they cut nothing ot oft off the he royalties them dukes draw draw draw- jut hut lower wages and longer hours for or us That was their solution to the whole problem l 11 Miner John Smith spat expressively expressively ex ex- READY FOR WANT We Ve were were standing in in the doorway ot of the wooden shack he calls home The kids were off oft at school The wife wIte was down the street of the little hamlet discussing with other miners' miners wives the terrible times th they y are all facing John wohn Smith and his fellow miners Llewellyn Jones in Wales Vales and Sandy McDermott McDermott McDer- McDer mott In Scotland are tightening their th ir belts and facing real want The They says the mining industry dont don't pay resumed Smith l not In some districts But listen Usten here the royal commission takes evidence but it dont don't get all aU the the evidence One of 01 them rich fellows fellows fellows fel fel- lows who's director In a lot of coa coal companies replied to o a question by our leaders as to how much money he gets ets Its It s none o o 0 your busIn business ss They know all about our pay but theirs is none o 0 our business Nobody Nobody Nobody No No- body sa says a s 's s Cut their pay pay Nobody says Slice something off ott the pounds a a year the Duke of ot Northumberland Northumberland North North- sets gets in royalties royalties hIm him with castles newspapers town mansions and diehard speeches RESENT INEQUALITY And right there you you get nearly the whole reason why the British miners miner'S and struck and wh why the rest of ot organized labor struck with them They struck despite the fact that tha h t the union treasury is sadly depleted from the 1921 strike The men feel fee that they were asked to make althe all al the sacrifices es J S It began last summer when the mine owners claiming that they were losing money demanded a I 13 3 1 per cent cut cutin in vin wages and an extension of working hours from seven to eight The miners countered countered countered coun- coun coun coun- with the threat of ot a strike At that point the British government government government govern govern- ment stepped In with a subsidy to maintain the same wages and hours hour for nine fora-nine a nine months' months period During those nine months It it Is said th the government paid out to tb maintain the old conditions Now the nine-month nine period has ended A government commission that had Investigated the situation recommended government ownership ownership ownership owner owner- ship an 1 regulation but this suited Bulted neither side The government announced announced announced an an- that the subsidy would be discontinued This precipitated the showdown The miners are con conscious clous that tha theirs is the key industry of ot al all allBritain's allBritain's Britain's industrial world The fhe Th 1150 miners with their de dependents dependents dependents de- de compose twelfth one-twelfth o othe ot of the entire population The They dig coal worth a quarter pf of a billion pounds sterling each yeah yea They provide tenth one-tenth of ot the value o ot of Britain's exports and four-fifths four o oIts ot of Its bulk Yet the maximum wage tn the miners have been drawing is 19 a week T The e average e wage is nearer nearer 17 17 Sometimes Sometimes' they they get free houses louses or free tree coal or both sometimes sometimes some- some times Imes neither These Conditions vary ary In the different districts THE ROYALTY PROBLEM The question of ot coal royalties Is almost unknown In America American companies own their own mInes lines Here vast stretches of ot coal coallie lie lle le under the huge estates belongIng belonging belong- belong Ing ng to the aristocracy The coal companies secure the right to mine the le coal by paying the landlords a ao royalty o alty on each ton of coal dug The Duke of ot Northumberland for example sample gets a year ear and other ther others i get even more without investing investing in- in vesting a penny or taking an any busier business busi busl- ness ne er or financial risks It Is esti esti- mated that these payments amount to an average charge of 2 shillings a week upon the wages of ot the men employed In th the mines And there are other grievances M Many collieries dont don't provide baths at the pitheads As a result the themen themen themen men have to walk long distances in dirty clothes and bathe at home In some mines the men have to walk an hour to their place of ot work after being lowered In the shafts Many mines are poorly fitted with electrical appliances coal cutting machines etc THE AMERICAN MERICAN PLAN I remarked to Smith the sturdy miner The owners often otten say yo you men i I dont don't try to hard enough to produce coal contrasting the American miners miner's average yearly output of ot tons with your jour average of or tons ton Again John Smith spat They dont don't tell teU you rob that we beat the French Germans and BelgIans Belgians Belgians Bel Bel- gians he said They dont don't tell you that the American mines haven't been worked so long and have richer seams They don dont don't tad admit ad admit ad- ad mit th Yanks put In all kinds of ot coal cutting machinery Seventysix Seventy- Seventy six per percent cent of your American coal Is cut by machine and 16 per cent of ours is That's why hY the Yanks get production Oh Oh the lies they tell And And there there you have have it That Thatis That Is I. I why union labor is on strike In England today |
