The new proposals include increases in wages in detail, but
the Government have firmly stuck to their principle that they will not level the standards upwards. This is the root cause of the dissatisfaction among the railwaymen. The railway world is divided into a multiplicity of grades, and the only method which would remove the jealousy among all these grades Is the clean and expensive sweep of an upward levelling. This would mean a tremendous, and perhaps ruinous, increase of ,railway expenditure. The travelling public is already very hard 'hit. It has borne its burdens with great patience, but its patience is not illimitable. The railwaymen will do well to bear this in mind. If they challenge public opinion again by demanding that the rights of a section should override the rights of the many, they will find public resentment far greater than it was last time. To do the men's leaders justice, they appreciate this. Mr. Thomas, Mr. Cramp, and Mr. Bromley have all advised acceptance of the terms.
