ABSTRACT
Trends in the coal trade had been causing much uneasiness. The colliery workmen, locked out from April 9th, might seem in a desperate position from the beginning. To the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain conference both Brace and Mabon put the case that the struggle was for ten per cent advance and that there would be no renewal of the Sliding Scale. While things were again at a deadlock military forces were called for. Troops were drafted into parts of the area. The longer the lockout lasted the more deeply and widely its effects began to be felt. The feeling began to grow that some outside body, and, in particular, that the Government should intervene in some way. The miners had earlier begun to lose hope of a successful issue; and meanwhile the effect of the long privation was telling hard on their families.
