NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PTIHE pious belief that nationalization or State control is a cure for industrial unrest has been rudely shaken. On 1_ Tuesday morning Sir Eric Geddes, as Minister of Transport, assumed control of the railways. The same afternoon a curt message was sent from the National Union of Railwaymen rejecting an offer of new rates of wages made by the Board of Trade, and threatening to strike if a fresh offer were not received by noon on Thursday. The coincidence cannot have been undesigned. The new Minister was meant to feel that from the 'very outset he was the servant not of the community but of the Railwaymen's Union led by Mr. J. H. Thomas. Whatever may be the rights of the dispute, the railwaymen are not justified in adopting the tactics of the highwayman. Their average wages, guaranteed to the end of the year, are much more than twice what they earned before the war. They have three months in which to negotiate for still better terms than those offered by the Government. For them now to cry " Stand and deliver ! " to a nation struggling to make a fresh start after a costly war is really outrageous.
