Allied Coal Production
Coal production is causing anxiety in different ways both in Britain and in America. Major Lloyd George, replying to a supplementary question in the House of Commons on Tuesday expressed considerable confidence about getting the coal needed next winter " provided we do not get a bad set-back in production." On that the Select Committee on National Expenditure, in a report issued in the past week, is very much less reassuring. The com- mittee says pjainly that while it would be unwise to look for any increase in production in 1943 the opening of a Second Front in Europe may heavily increase the demand for coal. A decline in man-power is probable, for the special measures adopted last year to offset the normal annual wastage of 20,000 men cannot be repeated. Absenteeism is still a serious evil, but it is not easy to deal with, for to draft an habitual., absentee into the army robs the pit of a worker and is no deterrent to others, since many colliers would rather be in one of the Services ; most of those who have been brought back from the army to the mines are reluctant workers. The utmost economy of fuel both domestically and in industry will clearly be called for. America's troubles are very different. There a more or less ordinary wage-dispute has brought 400,000 men out on strike, the temporary truce patched up a fort- night ago having expired. Mr. John L. Lewis's stormy. and sinister personality has clearly a good deal to do with the trouble, but so has the obstinacy of some of the owners, as Mr. Ickes, the adminis- trator of the mines on behalf of the Government, has plainly indicated. The miners' action is a plain challenge to the adminis- tration, and the President's reply to it is immediately awaited.
Previous page
