We provide below a chronicle of the strike negotiations during
the past week. Here we will say something as to the essential issues, though it shall be as short as possible. When matters so grave are in suspense, no responsible person will risk saying things which, however well meant, may prove provocative. The essential difficulty of the negotiations is that the men and the mine-owners and the Government are not moving on the same plane of thought. If the issue were simply one of remuneration and of the miners' share in the profits of the coal industry, there would not be much difficulty in coming to a just and reasonable compromise. Unfortunately, however, the miners will not let wages be the issue. No doubt in their popular propaganda they are perfectly willing to talk about wages. Indeed, they talk in public about little else. They denounce the terrible character of the reductions proposed and protest against the deliberate destruction of the miners' standard of living—a matter, of course, very proper to be raised in itself, and one requiring the most anxious consideration.
