The Constitution renders the Central Government in such cases singularly
powerless. Very little can be done without the consent of Pennsylvania, and the Legislature of Pennsyl- vania is afraid of the workers' vote. Even the tax on sea- borne coal cannot be remitted without a special Session of Congress, and the sea-borne supply is wholly insufficient. It takes time to make the apparatus necessary for using oil, and, as we have pointed out before, the supply of wood furnishes relief only to the rich. The situation will be rendered worse by the general strike of French coal miners, ordered on :Wednesday, and generally obeyed, which brings many French industries into the British market, and by the rapid rise in the Price of freight for ships that can carry coal. Altogether the situation is so serious that there is a call on the millionaires to end it by buying a "controlling interest" in the mines, and "dering a compromise with the men. That seems a reason- able Proposal; but it will place one more of the springs of Industry at the disposal of the financiers, and the men may not yield after all. They are paying only, for food, and they earn sufficient for that at other work than mining.
