The Prime Minister, in a letter published on Wednesday, confirmed
Sir Robert Home's statement as to the necessity of controlling the price of coal until the export price approximated more closely to the domestic price. At the same time the Government wished to free the industry from State control. Mr. Lloyd George described as preposterous the suggestion that the Government sought to attack the trade unions. In all industrial matters the Government had recognized the right of the trade unions to speak for their members. " But if a trade union or any section of the community attempts to usurp the functions committed to Government by the whole body of the people, such a claim must be unhesitatingly resisted." Those who made the claim, not those who opposed it, were imperilling trade unionism. Mr. Lloyd George did well to state this plainly, in order to encourage the moderate majority in the trade unions who are becoming more and more impatient of the revolutionary tactics of Mr. Smillie and his friends.
