THE CRISIS IN THE MINES.
[To the Fditor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sit,—Because, in face of world conditions that presaged a lean period for the coal trade the miners insisted on forcing up wages well beyond the economic limit, and because the inexorable law of supply and demand is now operating to their detriment, the men's leaders are proclaiming that the present condition of the industry is due to the " incom- petence " of the existing management. It would be foolish to take notice of their idle vapourings were it not that the public mind is becoming increasingly susceptible to catch- phrases. For this the growth of advertising no doubt is accountable, as it has been demonstrated in this domain that iteration and reiteration seldom fail to achieve their object.
So with the miners and their clap-trap phrases ; they know that if they repeat the charge of incompetency in season and out of season the implied stigma will attach itself to the mine-owners, to a greater or lesser degree. The inevitable clashes of views between the managements and the men, however small, are seized upon and magnified, serving as occasions to pillory the owners and to discredit them in the eyes of their workmen. It is not cold cream but corrosive sablimate that is applied to the tender spots by the men's leaders. There are several important disputes in connexion with the new agreement now in progress—but is any attempt made to secure a settlement ? No ! Instead, the men are advised to cease work and to seek the shadow of unemployment benefits rather than hold on to the substance of good wages.
The Kent Coalfield presents a notable example of the methods of the Miners' Federation. For the past twelve weeks some 800 men have been idle who could have been working for the same wages as they were earning prior to May last, before the terms of the new Wages Agreement became operatite. It Is common knowledge that the men's base rates in Kent arc abnormally high, consequently under the old minimum percentage which was thirty-two per cent. their earnings per man-shift were higher than those of any other district where the minimum wages were not increased by the addition of the men's proportion of surplus profits. Furthermore, it is an incontrovertible fact that had the Kent workers accepted the owners' offer to carry on under
the new agreement if the men would consent to a revision of their base rates—as miners in some other districts are doing-the colliers and skilled workmen could have been earning from 80s. to 160s. per week, while labourers and youths would have been correspondingly well paid. When, at the dictation of the Miners' Federation, men forgo good wages—when they are so wrongly advised by their local Union officials as to debar themselves by their own act from unemployment benefits, and then obtain but a miserable dole of £1 per week from their Federation as the reward of what is termed their loyalty—no wonder that Mr. Cook, the Secretary to the Miners' Federation, exultingly can inform the Daily Herald that " unrest is again brewing in the coal- fields."
The miners' leaders—Mr. Herbert Smith in particular— are adepts at drawing harrowing pictures of the dreadful conditions of the poor men grovelling in the bowels of the earth in order that the great warm-hearted public should have their bodies warm also. The vox hum.ana stop is emr- stantly employed in their propaganda organs, so much so, in fact, that the continual harping on one note dulls the listeners' ears. But there is no vox humans for the wives and families of the men whom the Miners' Federation insist should throw up good employment. Nor is there any thought for the thousands of women and children for whose bread- winners there is no work at all because the Miners' Federa- tion forced upon the owners a scale of wages far beyond the capacity of the industry to produce. So, having by their own wilful act created worse conditions in the coalfields than have existed for very many years, the miners' leaders now have the amazing effrontery to ascribe the present state of affairs to the " incompetency " of the owners !!- I am, Sir, &c., A. E. RITCHIE, Late Managing Director Snowdon Colliery, Ltd. 57 Clarence Gate Gardens, N.W. 1.
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