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?,-  THE' ¡y "SR'I< E THE national strike of railwaymen is deplorable from every point of view. It has plunged the country into confusion, inflicted suffering on hund- reds of thousands of innocent people, and if it is prolonged, will bring the nation to the verge of starvation and bank- ruptcy. Already factories and works have closed their doors, collieries are working only spasmodically, shipping is held up,—in fact the whole fabric of our industrial life is shaking to its very foundations. Above and beyond these sinister facts, is the moral issue which is involved. This is not a fight between workmen and a private employer. The railwaymen are now challenging the State. They are fighting the Govern- ment with the full knowledge that be- hind that Government is the nation. They broke off negotiations with the Primo Minister, tore up the existing agreement as a mere "scrap of paper," refused to listen to all appeals to post- pone drastic action, and immediately de- clared a "lightning strike." This was on Friday afternoon, and at midnight of the same day all work on the railways throughout the country came to a dead stop. NO BALLOT I WHAT is really at the bottom of this » terrible conflict ? Who are the men who have engineered this disastrous business ? We have a pretty intimate knowledge of the railwaymen of Llanelly and, presumably, those in other towns j are men of the same calibre. They tire as a class men to esteem and speaking with all sincerity, we cannot imagine them initiating or even supporting a policy which can only end in ruin and disaster for them and for everybody else, The engine drivers and firemen, the cheerful porters, the permanent way men, the traffic workers—we have them in Llanelly and a fine body of men the- are. We fool sure, from our knowledge of them, that the last thing in the world they would desire would be to inflict in- jury or harm upon anyone!. Feeling se- cure that their wages were not to be touched until the end of the year, we do not believe that they would hold up a hand in favour of a lightning strike. Whatever their opinion might be of the Prime Minister or Sir Eric Geddes, they would, we are confident, hesitate before agreeing to plunge a dagger "at the na- tion's heart. And yet, this is what has been done. Is it not safe to say that if a ballot had taken plaoe, the result would be against a strike? BLUNDERED BADLY. I TUDGED from the standpoint of mere tactics, the N.U.R. executive have blundered badly. If there was any at- tempt to interefere with the wages of the men, or -to break the solemn agreement which the Government made with them there might be some justification for an immediate "down tools" policy. But not even Mr. J. H. Thomas can suggest that the Government has any such ne- farious scheme up their sleeve. All that "Jimmy" can put forward is that the Government have made up their minds to crush trades. unionism and that if the railwaymen lose this fight, it will soon be the turn of other trades. Where Mr Thomas can find any evidence to justify this charge he does sot tell us. The fact is that at the present moment, the Gov- ernment are working in close oo-operation with trades unions and are doing their best to bring Whitley schemes into oper- ation in all industries. These schemes pro- vide for equal representation of employes and employers on the same lines as the admirable ConciJia tion Board which has done so much to establish the tinplate trade on a firm basis and provide stand- ard wages for all tinplate workers. Would not our railway friends at Llan- elly, like the tinplaters, prefer a Concil- iation Board to a lightning strike ? PUBLIC OPINION. THE fundamental fact, however, is -L this. However strong or however weak the case of the railwaymen may be, whatever may be the merits of the dis- pute, there is no possible justification for declaring an immediate strike, especially when the consequences of such a step may be so appalling. Let us illustrate the point by a local example. Sup- pose, for instance, a dispute as to the wages to be paid next year between the bakers of Llanelly and their employes. Negotiations are on between the parties concerned, and the employers suddenly issue an ultimatum-"If you don't agree to what we put forward we shall shut down every bakery in the town at mid- night." We can imagine the outcry that would go up in all quarters against the high-handed action of the employers. But is not this just whnt the N.U.R. have done ? For the life of us we cannot eee the urgency of a dispute in reference to wages to be paid three months and pos- sibly six months hence. This is what the man in the street cannot see, and this is why public opinion Is dead against the railwaymen*

WEDDING BELLS.

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Ex-Serv?ce Men andStrike !…

F.t 1!- .. rn ,:: c1 ia t…

Slow Payers.

FROM LLANELLY TO ABERYSTWYTH.

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DEATH OF MR. MORR!S THOMAS.…

Llanelly Cinema. I

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Strike of Law Clerks, -a

It is Said