Our hopes for a peaceful outcome of the present trouble
in the cotton industry have been profoundly disappointed. On Monday the Conference between the representatives of employers and employed broke down. Both sides have shown good sense during the negotiations by making very substantial withdrawals of demands, yet upon Smaller matters they refuse to budge. We strongly suspect that the tempers of the men on either side had been tried too highly by hard times and difficult nego7 tiations to withstand the ill effects of a new and exas- perating incident. Two mills " broke away " from the existing arrangements and started working longer hours. The representatives of the operatives were naturally angry. .Tfie Federation could hardly be pleased to see its own discipline flouted. The operatives raised the Matter in the COnference. The employers answered probably trtily, but certainly harshly, that isolated causes for disputes should not be introduced there but dealt with by the standing machinery. The Manchester Guardian, to whose opinion we in London must give full weight, suggests that now the Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organizations should invite the operatives to join with them in trying to find a way out of the trouble. We trust that local action and local influences for peace are not exhausted. * * * *
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