Is it not extraordinary that people should suffer because there is power to produce more than we need? Yet unemployment is always the first result of using what is known as labour-saving machinery; and, if we would understand the conflict of interests which exists between the employing and the working class, we must admit that the owner of the machine (supported as he is by all the power of the State) who drives out workmen and refuses to allow them to work is acting in an anti-social manner, even though he is but following law and custom. There is a complete division of interest here, which must be understood by all those who wish to lend a hand in improving conditions, for until this is overcome and machinery is made the servant of all men there will be no peace in the world of industry. Occasionally there are lock-outs and strikes. A lock-out is a declaration of war by the employers, a strike is a declaration of war by the workmen. In both cases the employers’ weapon is starvation. The employers hope to beat the men by refusing to allow them to earn wages, and the workmen strive to beat the employer by stopping profit and dividends. During a lock-out or strike untold suffering and misery are endured by the women and children, and it is this fact which the employers rely upon to assist them in winning their fight, for, although dividends may have stopped, it is very seldom the case that an employer’s wife and children starve. In fact, some employers are able to make a labour dispute pay, because they are able, owing to the shortage produced by the dispute, to make money out of old stocks. It is certain that during the great coal dispute coal-owners, by raising prices and selling off rubbish which was otherwise unsaleable, more than recouped themselves for any shortage of profit the strike may have occasioned.