Strife | Page 8

Will you pay your men one penny more than they force you to pay
them?
[WILDER is silent.]

WANKLIN. [Chiming in.] I humbly thought that not to pay more than
was necessary was the A B C of commerce.
HARNESS. [With irony.] Yes, that seems to be the A B C of
commerce, sir; and the A B C of commerce is between your interests
and the men's.
SCANTLEBURY. [Whispering.] We ought to arrange something.
HARNESS. [Drily.] Am I to understand then, gentlemen, that your
Board is going to make no concessions?
[WANKLIN and WILDER bend forward as if to speak, but stop.]
ANTHONY. [Nodding.] None.
[WANKLIN and WILDER again bend forward, and SCANTLEBURY
gives an unexpected grunt.]
HARNESS. You were about to say something, I believe?
[But SCANTLEBURY says nothing.]
EDGAR. [Looking up suddenly.] We're sorry for the state of the men.
HARNESS. [Icily.] The men have no use for your pity, sir. What they
want is justice.
ANTHONY. Then let them be just.
HARNESS. For that word "just" read "humble," Mr. Anthony. Why
should they be humble? Barring the accident of money, are n't they as
good men as you?
ANTHONY. Cant!
HARNESS. Well, I've been five years in America. It colours a man's
notions.
SCANTLEBURY. [Suddenly, as though avenging his uncompleted
grunt.] Let's have the men in and hear what they've got to say!
[ANTHONY nods, and UNDERWOOD goes out by the single door.]
HARNESS. [Drily.] As I'm to have an interview with them this
afternoon, gentlemen, I 'll ask you to postpone your final decision till
that's over.
[Again ANTHONY nods, and taking up his glass drinks.]
[UNDERWOOD comes in again, followed by ROBERTS, GREEN,
BULGIN, THOMAS, ROUS. They file in, hat in hand, and stand silent
in a row. ROBERTS is lean, of middle height, with a slight stoop. He
has a little rat-gnawn, brown-grey beard, moustaches, high cheek-bones,
hollow cheeks, small fiery eyes. He wears an old and grease-stained
blue serge suit, and carries an old bowler hat. He stands nearest the

Chairman. GREEN, next to him, has a clean, worn face, with a small
grey goatee beard and drooping moustaches, iron spectacles, and mild,
straightforward eyes. He wears an overcoat, green with age, and a linen
collar. Next to him is BULGIN, a tall, strong man, with a dark
moustache, and fighting jaw, wearing a red muffler, who keeps
changing his cap from one hand to the other. Next to him is THOMAS,
an old man with a grey moustache, full beard, and weatherbeaten, bony
face, whose overcoat discloses a lean, plucked-looking neck. On his
right, ROUS, the youngest of the five, looks like a soldier; he has a
glitter in his eyes.]
UNDERWOOD. [Pointing.] There are some chairs there against the
wall, Roberts; won't you draw them up and sit down?
ROBERTS. Thank you, Mr. Underwood--we'll stand in the presence of
the Board. [He speaks in a biting and staccato voice, rolling his r's,
pronouncing his a's like an Italian a, and his consonants short and crisp.]
How are you, Mr. Harness? Did n't expect t' have the pleasure of seeing
you till this afternoon.
HARNESS. [Steadily.] We shall meet again then, Roberts.
ROBERTS. Glad to hear that; we shall have some news for you to take
to your people.
ANTHONY. What do the men want?
ROBERTS. [Acidly.] Beg pardon, I don't quite catch the Chairman's
remark.
TENCH. [From behind the Chairman's chair.] The Chairman wishes to
know what the men have to say.
ROBERTS. It's what the Board has to say we've come to hear. It's for
the Board to speak first.
ANTHONY. The Board has nothing to say.
ROBERTS. [Looking along the line of men.] In that case we're wasting
the Directors' time. We'll be taking our feet off this pretty carpet.
[He turns, the men move slowly, as though hypnotically influenced.]
WANKLIN: [Suavely.] Come, Roberts, you did n't give us this long
cold journey for the pleasure of saying that.
THOMAS. [A pure Welshman.] No, sir, an' what I say iss----
ROBERTS.[Bitingly.] Go on, Henry Thomas, go on. You 're better able
to speak to the--Directors than me. [THOMAS is silent.]
TENCH. The Chairman means, Roberts, that it was the men who asked

for the conference, the Board wish to hear what they have to say.
ROBERTS. Gad! If I was to begin to tell ye all they have to say, I
wouldn't be finished to-day. And there'd be some that'd wish they'd
never left their London palaces.
HARNESS. What's your proposition, man? Be reasonable.
ROBERTS. You want reason Mr. Harness? Take a look round this
afternoon before the meeting. [He looks at the men; no sound escapes
them.] You'll see some very pretty scenery.
HARNESS. All right my friend; you won't put me off.
ROBERTS. [To the men.] We shan't put