The miners' strike is now in its eighth week. There
is no apparent change in the situation, but the Prime Minister on Wednesday invited the coal-owners' and miners' representatives to meet' him on Friday, and there may be .a good deal behind the invitation. The vanity of the miners' leaders, who know that they have failed in the attempt to force " nationalization " upon an unwilling country, but are reluctant to admit their failure; is of course the main stumbling-block. Most of the leaders have openly or tacitly abandoned the. demand for' a "national pool," involving • Stste control. Mr.
Herbert.
Smith. the President of the Miners' Federation, said on Sunday that the miners only wanted "a national settle- ment that will give a living wage higher than we got in 1914, with a two years' agreement." The extreme men like Mr. Duncan Graham, who still ignores the- Duke of Northumber land's:assertion that -he is promoting revolution, continue, how- ever, to insist upon the- original demands, and it is such. men, we fear, who control the Miners' Federation executive Mean- while 700 men employed at a Shropshire. colliery have resumed work on hearing that the-pit would otherwise be closed for good. Others will now probably muster up courage .to.follow the same sensible course
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