6 MARCH 1920, Page 2

The French Rtriko has reinforced the familiar truth that "

direct action " must fail against a Government fairly repre- senting the majority. The strike leaders set themselves to over- awe M. Millerand and the French people by stopping their trade and cutting off the food supplies of the towns. M. Millerand and the nation declined to be overawed, seeing clearly that, if the plot succeeded, political power would have passed from a democratic Parliament to a gang of Communists in some back- street in Paris. Using the forces of the established Government with vigour and discretion, M. Millerand made the railwaymen see that they were in fact a minority, and that they must redress their grievances by peaceful negotiation and not by violence.