I40 EMPLOYERS AND WORKMEN 



between employers and workmen in the coal- 

 fields, or whether it is that the peculiar character 

 of the miner makes his quarrel more bitter than 

 those of other workmen, strikes of colliers seem, 

 at all events, numerous, widespread, and sternly 

 fought. It is worthy of consideration, therefore, 

 whether, since great coal strikes cause such 

 suffering, even in remote districts far from any 

 colliery, and such loss of national capital that 

 can be ill afforded, it would not be judicious 

 to give all the older and very experienced work- 

 men the opportunity of becoming part owners. 



If all trades, including the great carrying trades, 

 are dependent on the activity of the colliers, no 

 less are all trades dependent, for their very life, 

 on the great carrying trades, on the services by 

 land, and on the services by sea. No very exact 

 comparison can be made between the amount 

 of interest furnished by one kind of work and 

 the amount of interest furnished by another kind. 

 It depends partly on the men themselves, and 

 particularly so in the carrying trades. Simply 

 because of their importance in the national in- 

 dustrial life, being to that life as veins and 

 arteries are to the body, it is suggested they 

 be treated exactly as it may be decided to treat 

 the coal trade. 



So important is the case of agricultural work- 

 men that it is relegated to a section by itself. 



It remains to consider whether, and if so, in 

 what way, the suggested general co-operation 

 requires, for its greater utility, the changes 

 described in the second proposition. 



