Touch and Go Part 13

JOB ARTHUR. They've agreed to come out next Monday.

GERALD. Have they?

JOB ARTHUR. Yes; there was no stopping them. They decided for it like one man.

GERALD. How was that?

JOB ARTHUR. That's what surprises me. They're a jolly sight more certain over this than they've ever been over their own interests.

GERALD. All their love for the office clerks coming out in a rush?

JOB ARTHUR. Well, I don't know about love; but that's how it is.

GERALD. What is it, if it isn't love?

JOB ARTHUR. I can't say. They're in a funny temper. It's hard to make out.

GERALD. A funny temper, are they? Then I suppose we ought to laugh.

JOB ARTHUR. No, I don't think it's a laughing matter. They're coming out on Monday for certain.

GERALD. Yes--so are the daffodils.

JOB ARTHUR. Beg pardon?

GERALD. Daffodils.

JOB ARTHUR. No, I don't follow what you mean.

GERALD. Don't you? But I thought Alfred Breffitt and William Straw were not very popular.

JOB ARTHUR. No, they aren't--not in themselves. But it's the principle of the thing--so it seems.

GERALD. What principle?

JOB ARTHUR. Why, all sticking together, for one thing--all Barlow & Walsall's men holding by one another.

GERALD. United we stand?

JOB ARTHUR. That's it. And then it's the strong defending the weak as well. There's three thousand colliers standing up for thirty-odd office men. I must say I think it's sporting myself.

GERALD. You do, do you? United we stand, divided we fall. What do they stand for really? What is it?

JOB ARTHUR. Well--for their right to a living wage. That's how I see it.

GERALD. For their right to a living wage! Just that?

JOB ARTHUR. Yes, sir--that's how I see it.

GERALD. Well, that doesn't seem so preposterously difficult does it?

JOB ARTHUR. Why, that's what I think myself, Mr. Gerald. It's such a little thing.

GERALD. Quite. I suppose the men themselves are to judge what is a living wage?

JOB ARTHUR. Oh, I think they're quite reasonable, you know.

GERALD. Oh, yes, eminently reasonable. Reason's their strong point.--And if they get their increase they'll be quite contented?

JOB ARTHUR. Yes, as far as I know, they will.

GERALD. As far as you know? Why, is there something you don't know?--something you're not sure about?

JOB ARTHUR. No--I don't think so. I think they'll be quite satisfied this time.

GERALD. Why this time? Is there going to be a next time--every-day-has-its-to-morrow kind of thing?

JOB ARTHUR. I don't know about that. It's a funny world, Mr. Barlow.

GERALD. Yes, I quite believe it. How do you see it so funny?

JOB ARTHUR. Oh, I don't know. Everything's in a funny state.

GERALD. What do you mean by everything?

JOB ARTHUR. Well--I mean things in general--Labour, for example.

GERALD. You think Labour's in a funny state, do you? What do you think it wants? What do you think, personally?

JOB ARTHUR. Well, in my own mind, I think it wants a bit of its own back.

GERALD. And how does it mean to get it?

JOB ARTHUR. Ha! that's not so easy to say. But it means to have it, in the long run.

GERALD. You mean by increasing demands for higher wages?

JOB ARTHUR. Yes, perhaps that's one road.

GERALD. Do you see any other?

JOB ARTHUR. Not just for the present.

GERALD. But later on?

JOB ARTHUR. I can't say about that. The men will be quiet enough for a bit, if it's all right about the office men, you know.

GERALD. Probably. But have Barlow & Walsall's men any special grievance apart from the rest of the miners?