Evening Post.

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 108, 7 May 1926, Page 6

Evening Post.

FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1926.

A PERILOUS TYRANNY

Had it occurred a week ago, the dismissal of the Australian captain at Leyton before a run had been scored would have thrilled the heart of England, and the hopes of recovering those long-lost Ashes would have been appreciably quickened. But now the chances of the rain-sodden wicket at Leyton arouse neither hope nor fear. In spite of the virtual suppression o£ the whole British Press, the belated half-column with which the Australians' match at Leicester was honoured in the second number of the first general newspaper ever issued by a British Government has excited no gratitude. The slogan of "Cricket as Usual" is proving as delusive as did the slogan of "Business as Usual" at the beginning of the Great War. "Business as Usual" was a happy ideal for the shopkeepers, especially with the unusual addition which some of them made to it of "Please pay cash," but it did not suit the needs or desires of the nation, and therefore it failed. The new slogan is experiencing a similar trouble. At the outset it commended itself to the nation no less than to the cricketers, but though the cricketers continue to play their part the nation has failed. It has more important business to attend to, and, like great acting, great cricket languishes without the moral and financial backing which popular enthusiasm alone can supply. According to contract, the cricketers continue to play, but nobody marks them. Except by another great War, who would have supposed that the mind of the nation could have been so completely diverted from what was perhaps its paramount interest in times of peace? It may indeed be said that the British people are now engaged, in an even greater war than that which German ambition brought upon the world, and that they are wise to so regard it. The wisdom is perhaps involuntary, for in this struggle there is no interval between the home front and the fighting line, and instead of being limited for the stay-at-home non-combatant to the occasional runaway visit of a Zeppelin, the present peril has been knocking at his door, interfering with his daily life, and threatening him with ruin and starvation from the moment when the Trade Unions declared war. But if the deafness and the blindness which were not uncommon at the outset of the Great War were impossible in the presence of so palpable a peril, the severer ordeal called for greater courage. Admirably indeed has this call been answered. The calmness and the resolution with which the British people have faced a terrible crisis is worthy of their attitude during Germany's last desperate rush in the spring of 1918, and of the proud tradition which they then confirmed and enhanced. Little, 'indeed, has the "Paris Press had to say since the Armistice in favour of the nation to which France owed her salvation. Even the joint triumph of Locarno did not suspend its pin-pricks and its. sneers, but they appear to have been silenced now in a common admiration. "The remarkable coolness of the British public in the present crisis" is the theme of all the French newspapsrs. It is "the man in the street in England," says the "Petit Parisien," "who has set his face resolutoly against revolution," and the "Gaulois" recognises that in so doing he is fighting on behalf of "all civilised peoples," ana deserves their support accordingly. Nor should the praise which is due to the British nation be confined to the majority which has been called upon to resist an unconstitutional and intolerable tyranny. We speak of the challengers as having declared war on the State, and as owing their inspiration in large measure to Bolshevik ideals. But they have certainly not resorted to Bolshevik methods. It is, of course, by direct action that they are seeking to enforce their will, but the direct action does not take the form of bloodshed and violence. Their aim is to starve the nation into submission by a sort of peaceful blockade. Some acts of violence there have already been. There have been a few cases of incendiarism, and a considerable increase is reported to-day in the number of violent interferences with tramcars and motor traffic. Even so, the grand total of all these offences must appear surprisingly small if due allowance be made for the 'many thousands of idle men and the intensity of their feelings. It is also clear that these acts of violence have been sporadic and in direct violation of the advice of the Labour leaders. Strict orders, says the official statement reported to-day, have been issued to the men to be exemplary in their conduct, and not to give grounds for police interference. The extent to which these orders have been hitherto obeyed is astonishing. Is there any other country in which the sudden idleness of millions of men as the climax to a prolonged and bitter industrial dispute could have given the police so little trouble? But even to British patience and disjcipline then ate limits. Despite .the

best intentions and the most strenuous exertions of the leaders, the movement must sooner or later get out of hand. No more than the majority can the minority take defeat and starvation lying down. Like Frankenstein, the men who called a general strike have called a monster into existence which they cannot possibly control. The position is full of peril. The strike leaders are graciously pleased to tell the Government that Ihe door is still open, but the declaration of war still stands, and, short of its withdrawal, an accommodating formula has still to be found.