CONDITIONS IN SCOTLAND

Marlborough Express, Volume LIII, Issue 277, 25 November 1919, Page 5

CONDITIONS IN SCOTLAND

FOOD SCARCE, AND DEAR.

THE INDUSTRIAL SITUATION

WORKERS' STRONG SENSE OF

JUSTICE

In the course of a letter written to his uncle, Mv G. Turner, of Blenhtim, Mr J. Roddan, of Hawick, Scotland, says: — "There is still a great scarcity of commodities. The butchers' shops have only been open once this last week, and then only for a short period. Eggs are cs per dozen, and scarce. Milk very .scarce. In fact, the outlook this winter is not promising, and rationing on a new scale for meat, butter, and sugar comes into* force early in October. Oatmeal —the 'frugal fare,' porridge and milk —is 7s per stone. As for clothing, well, the profiteer must be somewhere. He may be invisible, but you don't half feel fiim! At one time you could get a suit on to your back at half the price the cloth itself costs. "Coal, the most vital of all our iv eds, is 2s s£d per cwt. The miners' leaders want nationalisation of the coal minus, and ti'hat may come put of it I will not predict, but only hope that common sense will prevail and a national calamity be avoided. "We are a peculiar nation. Outward signs—by that I mean those resolutions put forward and carried bj large majorities at Trades Union Congresses;—would make the rest of the world; think that Britain was going to bring down at one fell swoop what she has taken centuries to build: all the machinery that has kept our Constitution intact. "Not so, my dear Uncle! There is always the firebrand and revolutionary element in trades unions—you can't avoid it; but their head is generally stronger than their heart. They don't understand-the psychology of the worker. Deep down in the heart of honest working men (and thank God they are in the majority!) there is a strong sense.of justice and fair play, and above all the love of home, the. children, the aged father and mother, the infirm, the crippled, till rise up before them. It is those qualities> that defeat, and will continue to defeat, the machinations of those who 'toil not, neither do they spin.' Our strength lies not in outward sign or show—not lip-service— but is carefully stored ready at any time'lor a real trial. Stirling Bridge and Wallace are to Scotlaad what Trafalgar and Nelson are to the British Navy. Liberty and Duty go hand in hand to form the unfathomable peculiarity of the true Briton. We are shouldered with burdens that will mot be easy to carry. These, too, at least Scotland will "make light of. The spirit to do or die never forsook us in war; it can never forsake us in peace."