On Thursday, June 4th, the delegates of nine Trade Unions
met in conference upon the suggestion of the Miners' Federation to discuss the revival of the " Triple Alliance " of the miners, railwaymen and transport workers, and its conversion into a quadruple alliance by the adhesion of the engineers. The proposal has been widely advocated in public by Mr. Cook, the Miners' Secretary. The result of the meeting was that a com- mittee was appointed to consider the matter. Anything or nothing may come of that. We expect nothing at present. It is well known that, roughly speaking, wage- earners have the sense not to strike in really hard times ; they are too anxious about getting or keeping their employment. The trades concerned, except the railway- men, are all suffering. The railwaymen, by agreeing to strike if the others did, would help neither themselves nor their allies, unless a general paralysis can be imagined as helpful to anyone in need. These Unions can hardly be conceived as having any common grievance at one and the same moment. Aggressive action in alliance, such as Mr. Cook wants, unless we misjudge him, can only be anti-social.
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