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Show ENGLAND'S MINERS DECIDE TO STRIKE , ",, SV . ' HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ; OTHER LABORERS WILL BE FORCED INTO IDLENESS. : .... . , ,. . Ominous Situation Is Presented by Re-. Re-. jection of Compromise and Decision of 800,000 Miners to Quit Work r at Once. London. The British coal miners, whose product is the foundation of all manufacturing in Great Britain and of about half that of continental Europe, will go on strike to enforce their demand de-mand for an increase in wages of 40 cents per day. At least 800,000 miners min-ers are affected by the decision. The decision was in Thursday, when the votes were counted,1 025,098 for: the strike and 181,428 against ' it, a majority, of 453,070 for. The decision was made by the men. ' This was to satisfy the government statement of several weeks ago that the orlginaf decision de-cision to strike was due largely to the number of boys under 21 who voted. An overwhelming majority of the men whose votes have just been counted are the , heads of ; families. ; This fnct lent significance to the statement of Herbert Smith, vice president pres-ident of the Federation of Miners, that nothing but starvation would beat them; , , . . . The strike has the aspect of being the most epochal in the history of trades unionism." Within a week it is predicted that the laok of coal for power will deprive 275,000 men in the cotton and chemical Industry of work. If the strike continues for six weeks with a total stoppnge of production the grand total of men not employed will be about 2,000,000. 'Practically all of th3 continental countries France,. Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Italy and the new area created out of the central powers depend on England Eng-land for a substantial part of their coal. With the stoppage of receipts of coal the industries in these nations will be shut down, increasing at a rapid rate the European army of unemployed. un-employed. The first strike vote was for a strike unless an Incrense of 40 cents per day wan granted in wages, and coal for English consumption was reduced re-duced in price $3.30 per ton. The reduction re-duction In price and the wage increase t was to be made out of the .$330,000,000 annual profit Great. Britain makes by the sale of her coal abroad. r . "'The owners and the government refused re-fused to tnlk with the miners about the reduction In price. Premier Lloyd George stated that It was a political subject and not one for discussion in the strike. The miners withdrew the reduction clause. The owners then countered with a proposition to increase in-crease wages, but with the proviso that production be increased. The wage increase in-crease was to be ou a sliding scale upward up-ward from a minimum production base line. |
