LETTERS TO - TH 11; EDITOR
THE COAL INDUSTRY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Those who are convinced that the nationalization of industry would prove no less a failure in Britain than it has in Russia view with deep concern the concession which the Government has made to mine-owners by under- taking to pay a share of the wages bill over the next nine months. Such a move can only be regarded as a first and inevitable step towards a nationalization of the coal industry. Let us admit that the Government was, no doubt, actuated by the best of motives, and judged that the loss to the nation, through the payment of a sum which, it is stated, may reach ten or twenty millions, would unquestionably be less than that caused by a protracted strike, which threatened to extend to transport and other services, but do not let us blind our eyes to the consequences. If on termination of the period the two parties fail to come to an agreement, hostilities will undoubtedly be resumed, unless the Government once more sanctions a raid on State funds, thus forcing the nation, in defiance of public opinion and policy, to become a guarantor to the coal industry.
Of all our industries, coal is probably the least susceptible of nationalization. Textile, engineering and shipbuilding plants vary but little, while coal seams differ in depth, thick- ness and accessibility to ports, thus causing substantial divergencies in prime cost, yet the Unions dictate a minimum wage. There are mines to-day working under satisfactory conditions, possessed of reserves, while others in less favoured circumstances find it impossible to make ends meet if they have to pay the wages fixed by the Unions. Obviously, were each mine-owner free to make his own arrangements he would by bargain with the miners devise a wage which would allow him to keep his capital intact in bad times, trusting to active trade conditions for periodic additions to it. If the men found it impossible to accept his terms he would close the mine, and leave the miners to find employment elsewhere, while he would direct his capital to other uses. The entry of the Government on the scene simply means that non- competitive mines will be kept going at the expense of the taxpayer, and wages will be based on the worst, instead of the best, conditions of work, while the cost of coal will be corre- spondingly increased. The inevitable result will be the loss of our coal export trade, and the necessity to protect our own market by an import tariff sufficient to prevent the competition of foreign coal on our own market. Moreover, the commerce of the country is suffering from oppressive taxation, and this dole to coal adds to the crushing burden, and prevents the revival of trade without which neither coal nor any other industry can hope to get out of the rut. Briefly, the Govern- ment, having during the War departed from economic law, is constrained to try to retrieve the position by plunging deeper into the abyss, weakening our financial fabric, and making it less possible to face a competition which will become much keener as our neighbours recover from the effects of the War. At this pace Britain will soon be unable to feed and foster her present population, and cannot possibly maintain life by a periodic administration of artificial respiration. The remedy lies in a return to sound economic common sense. The alternative is the decay of British industry, since other well-organized trades can scarcely fail to follow the lead of the mine-owners and miners. July 31st may well be looked upon as the day when Britain's Government passed into the hands of the Trade Unions. They were strong enough to force the Treasury to assume a burden which neither Parlia- ment nor the people is in a position to -sanction without affecting our national credit, and have initiated a new order which has in it the seeds of death.--I am, Sir, &c.,
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