Next, there are undoubtedly a good many men who have
a kind of reckless sporting feeling that they have subscribed for years to create strike funds and that they may just as well have a run for their money. They will never get the strike money back into their own pockets, and what is the use of a strike fund if it is never used ? To this section of the com- munity the strike appears from some aspects like a gigantic beanfeast, and from others as a means of putting "the fear of God" into the hearts of the owners and making them realize the power of the men. Here again no practical benefit can come from the strike, but that unfortunately is not understood by the men. Finally—and this is the influence which affects the great mass of the English miners—there is the feeling that they must stand by their trade and their unions. The South Wales men have got a quarrel with the owners, and the English miners, out of a sense of chivalry and loyalty, feel that they ought to help them. Thus we have the extraordinary spectacle of thousands of English miners voting for a strike, and at the same time praying that no strike will take place. If such men are asked how it is that they can act BO foolishly, their answer is : " We must stand by the unions." The machine has got itself in motion, and nobody dares stop it for fear of being called a friend of blacklegs.
