THE REVIVAL OF BAITING.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") BID,—Your article " The Revival of Baiting " in your issue of May 17th, which has just reached me, brings us face to face with a fact which has been growing more and more apparent, and that is the futility of the Coal Commission. It is quite certain that none of the parties are willing to modify their views for any reason whatever; the Reports will be as diverse and as obvious as those of last March, and no matter how it may be disguised, the Government will again surrender igno- miniously to the miners. The pistol, in fact, will again bo held to the nation's head, for it would be foolish indeed to suppose that the miners will consent to any delay in the granting of the concessions in the first Report after the dates conditionally fixed, or that they will hesitate to strike if the whole of the demands now under discussion are not conceded, nor will they be content even then. There is no body of opinion in England of which the miners are afraid, and the only way in which a disastrous oppression both of trade and of indi- viduals can be averted is for all sober persons to unite immediately in a proper organization for the defence of the country. At the present time the middle class is too helpless even to express its resentment of the infamous suggestion that it should assist the miners to repudiate their obligations as citizens by refusing to pay the Income Tax. The miners struck during the war; they have done their best to imperil the Peace; they are killing the Reconstruction. They may appeal for others as well or themselves only, but they are utterly selfish and utterly callous. They demand a working day short enough to shame a decent man, but they will have fresh bread for breakfast, even though their brother-workers labour all night to provide it. The sufferance of such people in England makes our country very far indeed from being a place fit for heroes (or any one else) to live in.—I am, Sir, 81c.,
Command Pay Office, A.P.O., L 3, Italy, May 28th.
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