Mr. .Asquith, speaking at Plymouth on Tuesday, said that no
reprobation could be too strong for the Yorkshire miners' leaders who were trying to paralyse the future resources of the mines by stopping the pumps. They had, he said, no sympathy in the great world of Labour. Our beat hope for industrial peace was the growth of a conscious sense of common interests and common responsi- bilities among all engaged in production and distribution. This involved the discarding of many old traditions and methods, and the giving of "an actual and a living voice to Labour in the control and carrying on of the common adventure." But organized Labour and organized Capital must always have regard to the interests of all producers and of the consuming community at large. In other words, Mr. Asquith repudiated the fatal doctrine of the class war by which Marx has led so many half-educated men astray. Our greatest need, he said, was for a larger output of coal so that the price might fall. He devoted the rest of his speech to the advocacy of Free Trade.
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