When Sir Robert Home had spoken, Mr. Herbert Smith (who
has hitherto advocated acceptance of the owners' terms) stated that his Executive had decided to withdraw the pump and engine men. " I can scarcely believe," retorted Sir Robert Horne, " that the coal workers will allow their means of livelihood to perish as undoubtedly must be the result in many coalfields if the pits are flooded." There never will have been a more insane strike, if there is a strike. The majority of the Executive of the Miners' Federation do not themselves believe in a strike. Like Mr. Herbert Smith, they have pre- viously suggested that the owners' terms should be accepted. The miners, of course, will lose the last vestige of public sym- pathy if the mines are flooded. It will be an act of violence— the sabotage which Englishmen loathe and despise.
