We have written at length in our second leading article
about the revolutionary influences which are at the back of the strike. As we have said, we are not at all inclined to take the cry of revolution too seriously, but unquestion- i. ably the majority of men who are led into an irregular * * * * strike are dupes and have no suspicion of the uses to which a few firebrands wish to put their innocent compliance. The Trade Unions themselves have this matter in their own keeping. They have the power to end the danger to- morrow if only they have the will and the courage. The very nature of the seaman's calling makes it exceptionally easy to trade upon his feelings. In our opinion the seamen of the Mere hant Service have been abominably treated in the past. The great wealth of this country has been 363 built up upon its foreign trade, and in the past the men in 364 the ships, the men who carried the goods, were too often ' treated like dogs which are given small tubs for kennels. The foreparts of too many cargo ships have been cramped and uncomfortable beyond words ; naval officers, who have been trained to regard the habitability of a ship as one of the chief influences in efficiency, have often expressed 370 horror at the quarters in which merchant seamen were housed.
