BRITISH STRIKES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1234, 16 September 1911, Page 15

BRITISH STRIKES.

HOW THE MOB RULED LONDON. SOME CONTRASTS. An interesting impression of the condition of London ou August 11, when the Inst mail left, appeared in the "Daily Mail," from the pen of Mr. Charles 13. Hands:— I went about London yesterday, wrote Mr. Hands, and was reminded by the aspect of the town and the attitude of the strikers not so much of the so-called great dock strike in London in 18S9 as of another strike—that in St. Petersburg six rears ago, which was organised for political purposes, and ended by tho eahving of the strikers on the memorable l' c d Sunday that reddened tho snow in front of the. Winter Palace. The contrast between what I saw yesterday aud what I recall: of the dockers strike of. two and twenty years ago was startling. Public sympathy then '"as almost entirely on the side of tho men. They were striking for their tanner an hour, and in the opinion of most people it was a reasonable demand that ougnt to be conceded. The point at issue prolonged the strike was not so much the tanner" itself as the refusal of tho dock companies to recognise the men s «>™ DS or to treat with their leaders. There, again, for the most part public opinion was on tho side of tho men. Tho strikers, hungry, ragged, miserable -as .they marched through tho City and the Last End, were a shiidderina'rcvelation to most people of the horrors of Bast End poverty. People of all classes cheered them as they went by and handed contributions ot gold, silver, and .copper, according to their means to the broad-shouldered, bearded man in ti straw hat who marched at their head with a satchel slung over his' Shoulder..' That was the present President of the Local Government Board. r J-he) r cause was just and reasonable and their leader—"Jack" Burns; ns ho was then called—had honesty stamped upon his countenance. He voiced and explained and argued : th©-cass for th© tanner., with, convincing clearness and sincerity, and no ono doubted that every halfpenny that, went into the satchel-bag he jingled woJld bo faithfully applied to the relief of tho men's necessities*find the furtherance - 01 their legitimate cause.

Strange Silent City. ■ There . was .a strango and frightening silence in the city yesterday. ,low omnibuses were running and vans' and lorries were almost entirely absent. Un Towfer Hill,- where ordinarily it is almost impossible to. hear onesolf think for the rattle .of horses' hoofs and heavy wagon wheels over, framto. blocks, scarcely a sound was to bo heard ljut the speaker s voice and .the murmuring talk 01-tlie crowd. All tho movement and rattle ot the distribution of commodities had died ■ away. The threat had been made good and tho trade of London had been paralysed. , In the Minories a ragged procession of men, women, and children following a carmen's banner jeered hoarsely at a passing motor-car and at the people looking 'out from work-room windows. In the districts off the Commercial Road and the Mile End Road groups of sullen men lounged at street corners. . About the dock entrances pickets were waiting, but as no work was being dono or attempted neither they nor the dock policeman on guard within the gates had anything to 30. Within St. Katharine's Dock three yellow ico wagons were standing horseless.. They had been loaded with ico in tho morning, when an endeavour to bring them out had been frustrated by the strikers in the presence of. the police.; Since seTcn o'clock in tho morning they had been, standing in the sunshine,: avid tho ico bad dripped'away uselessly in the heat that'demanded'its ehiplbyfflent. The Tower Bridge had ceased its .function of. currying.merchandise' across the river. Under its shadow; lay a pleasuro steamer, the, Koh-i-n'oor, unable 'to mako its journfy-J-to lack of'coal;. 'Not far away aMtttfj-Jpleasure steamer, jVcrejgnsiiir idle from the saihe". ; <aitsc. Across the-river (in angry mob was gathered about' the gates of Courage's Brewery to ..block any attempt to.bring out'th'e drays. I was .unable to discover any labour leadir here." Apparently the. mob gathered there found delisht in the thought.'.that they, .were inflicting upon London a deprivation of beer. Another mob in a.neighboiiring street were blockading a minoral. water factory.- These manifestations were part of tho carters' strike, I'was'informed,'but' among the mob there were few who had tho appearance of carters. New Strike Motive. The strike is full of incomprehensible and contradictory features. The Port of London Authority's workmen, who are regularly employed at good wages with pensions in prospect, have been ordered to strike by tlieir leaders, but do not want to strike. Bnt they are prevented from working by the compulsion of gangs of loafers. The supposed purpose of a strike is to better the standard of the labourer's .life, to regularise his employment,' and to raise his pay. But these men of the regular staff of the Port Authority are ordered out apparently because the improved conditions of their employment make . them disinclined to strike. The object of the strike order in their case is not to improve their lot, but to iujtire the community, to "paralyse" the trade of London.

Overlooking Tower Hill is the offico of tlio lightermen's trado union. Here the strike leaders pit and order strikes which they are unable to stop or. to control. Their orders to strike aro enforced, bj the violence of th; street-corner mobs. By the foroo oi that violence they can hinder the distribution of commodities. Ilere men, smoking rank tobacco, talk smugly of their sincere regret that it should bo newssary for the general- Rood to throttle- the food supply of London. To this office the seat of government lias be?n transferred from Westminster. All drty up and down the stairs pass suppliants for the< favour of beins permitted to transport through the public streets the necessaries of London's daily life. They go away disappointed for the most part. The "government" rogrets that it cannot pormit anything in the nature of business to be carried on. It has decreed that from to-day no fresh permits for the transport of food or materials shall be is3u<Mi. It is .easifr for them to refuse psrmits than, to make them effective. The mob .they have aroused can bo relied upon to overturn wagons and pull willing drivers from their seats, but not to honour tho passports they issue unless the police enforce them. The other Government is not governing. Tho police finger tbsir batons, but except in cases of actual violence have no orders to interfere. The petitioners come lobbying to the seat of authority like the burgesses of a captured city to tho office of the provostmarshal of a conquering invader. The recognised responsible Labour leaders- of 'the skilled trades have no place in this outbreak that is dominated by the mob. Mr. Henderson, Mr. Shackleton, and Jlr. Ramsay JlacDonald have no seat at the board 'of government. They could have no authority with a mob that i 3 a defiance to oil authority.