2 JULY 1921, Page 11

Mr. Balfour, speaking at the Constitutional Club on Thursday, June

23rd, pointed the moral of the miners' strike. Such disputes .affected and impoverished everybody. But the very suffering caused by these strikes made them a valuable political weapon in the hands of the small, powerful, and unscrupulous class who sought to coerce the community into accepting social changes. This method of effecting social changes was, Mr. Balfour said, destructive of civilized life. It substituted force for debate, and substituted irresponsible organizations for Parliament. It could only lead to misery and ruin. Mr. Balfour admitted that he had no remedy to propose, but he felt that the wage-earners, who were not revolutionaries and did not wish to shatter the industrial system, must consider whither they were being led.