The Iffiners' Federation, having curtly rejected the Govern. meet's offer
of an increase in wages and an inquiry into the whole question of coal production, thought fit to publish on Friday week a long statement of its case. It admitted that its demand for an increase of thirty per cent. in miners war wages was not based on the higher cost of food, but was intended to raise the miners standard of living. It denied that the higher wages would affect the economic life of the country—a denial which certainly calls for careful inquiry, and cannot be accepted on the bare word of Mr. Smillie. The demand for a six-hours day was said to mean a day of eight hours " from bank to bank," and was defended on "humanitarian grounds." As for nationali- zation, the Federation was good enough to admit that it could not be accomplished in a day, but the Federation wanted the Government to accept the principle—at the point of the bayonet, as it were—and count the cost hereafter. Tho Federation wound up a disingenuous manifesto by disclaiming any responsi- bility for the results of the strike with which it threatens the nation.
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