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ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

why the Coal Industry presents so dismal apicture to the eye is because it has other troubleswhich have weakened its power of resistanceand have left it no margin of strength with whichto support a new misfortune.

In these circumstances the colliery ownerspropose that the gap should be bridged by areduction of wages, irrespective of a reductionin the cost of living—that is to say, by a lower-ing in the standard of life of the miners. Theyare to make this sacrifice to meet circumstancesfor which they are in no way responsible andover which they have no control.

It is a grave criticism of our way of managingour economic affairs that this should seem toany one to be a reasonable proposal; though itis equally unreasonable that the colliery ownershould suffer the loss, except on the principlethat it is the capitalist who bears the risk. Ifminers were free to transfer themselves to otherindustries, if a collier out of work or underpaidcould offer himself as a baker, a bricklayer, ora railway porter at a lower wage than is nowcurrent in these industries, it would be anothermatter. But notoriously they are not so free.Like other victims of economic transition inpast times, the miners are to be offered thechoice between starvation and submission, thefruits of their submission to accrue to the benefitof other classes. But in view of the disappear-ance of an effective mobility of labour and ofa competitive wage level between different in-dustries, I am not sure that they are not worse