GRASS ON THE SLAG HEAPS: The Story of the Welsh Miners

The war has changed the desperate picture analyzed in these pages to boom employment, so this should serve as a warning for postwar guidance. A study of the ""mobility of labor"" based on years between wars, of the problems, governmental experimentation and the results. The history of mining in Wales is traced, with details of expansion and contraction and how industrial conflict, deep economic depression, prolonged unemployment brought deterioration of the community. Then the demoralizing effects of relief, the mounting starvation, sickness, inadequacy of clothing, the measures attempted to ameliorate conditions, the subsidized migrations for retraining for other vocations, the effort to bring industry to the community, the sins of commission and omission on the government's part. There is emphasis on the bungling, misdirection, the inadequacy of flexibility and resourcefulness, that the cautious experimentation evidenced, the confusion, the lack of local leadership, the waste of men and machines. A useful analysis for future reference.