Yours of the 9th inst. to hand, and I very much regret that the Executive Council of the Farmers' Federation could not see their way to accept the offer of this Union to meet in conference with a view of bringing about a settlement of the St. Faith's and Trunch districts disputes. It must be obvious to them, as they are supporting their members in the dispute, that they are an interested party in the dispute in just the same way as the Labourers' Union is by giving support to its members. It would have been a wise and humane policy for the two organizations to meet and endeavour to bring about a settlement. We having made the offer and not for the first time, and the Federation have refused it, now the onus must rest on the Farmers' Federation, whatever may be the evils arising out of their refusal. There would have been no lowering of the prestige of either of the societies had they met in conference. But your Executive seems to ignore entirely the last paragraph in my letter where I offered on behalf of the men for an equal number of the men to meet an equal number of the employers and only the secretaries of the two organizations to attend the conference of the employers and their men. By your making no mention of this part of my letter I take it that that offer is rejected too. Such being the case, there the question must rest so far as we are concerned, and we must leave the public to judge which side has acted in the most conciliatory spirit. Yours faithfully, (_Signed_) GEORGE EDWARDS. This ended all efforts for a settlement so far as I was concerned. All future efforts would have to be left to others. If the men had to go down then I would go down with them, but I would go down fighting. I ought to say also that Sir Ailwyn Fellowes, now Lord Ailwyn, expressed a willingness to intervene if both parties agreed. I at once on behalf of the men agreed, but the Farmers' Federation refused. And so the dispute continued and, as the weeks went by, the relationship became more strained. I think I can say never was there a Labour dispute when so many efforts at securing a settlement were made by the men's leaders as I made on this occasion, and never a leader's efforts thwarted by the employers' organizations as mine were by the Farmers' Federation. It seemed that they could not bring themselves to see that the days of autocratic methods of dealing with their men were fast passing away and that the days of collective bargaining were rapidly approaching. They constantly kept the old parrot cry, "I always did do as I liked with my men, why can't I now?" Happily there is a better spirit existing now. Both sides do meet together now and discuss these problems, but it is a sad reflection that it took a great war to bring about this long-desired change. CHAPTER XIII DEFEAT