That, we admit, is a paraphrase of what they said
though it does not substantially alter the sense. Their precise answer was that their first concern was with their own conditions and that they could argue only about them. The owners next asked how many pits the miners thought it would be possible to keep open if the price of coal were raised as they suggested. The miners, admitted. that probably only about half of the present amount of coal would be - sold and that half the present number of miners would become unemployed. As the Labour correspondent of the Times points out, this would mean between 500,000 and 600,000 unemployed miners ! If the miners go on .like this they will forfeit all public sympathy. Hitherto they have had a good deal, for everybody likes the Collier for his sterling qualities. But there is really a limit to this habit of saying " No, no, no." We feel more strongly than ever that a change of representation is desirable. No doubt it would be difficult to bring about the change, but it might be possible if the. sacrifices of the two sides were equal. The leaders of both owners and miners are stale—the strongest and ablest men in the world might well be so in the same circumstances—and their attitude to one - another has becoine one of personal intolerance and antipathy. We have blamed both sides in the past, but for the fiasco on Tuesday, so far as we can gather from the reports, We must lay the chief blame on the miners. I * * *. *
