The Stroud Journal
May 7 1926
The General Strike
Jottings by Jonathan
The general strike hit Stroud Public Library a blow from which it will recover, but which for the moment has left it almost breathless, or speechless.
No more, do the out-of-work enter its portals to scan the morning papers for news or perchance a promising advertisement of a situation for which they can apply.
No more can the betting man with his bit of pencil and paper copy down the names of horses and seductive tips.
For the man of business and leisure there are no lists of stocks and shares, and the sporting enthusiast is debarred information respecting the Australian cricketers or the latest golf and tennis news.
A spirit of loneliness and desertion permeates the rooms, and if any casual visitor seeks to solace his soul with the contents of a magazine or the more massive volumes of the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” he cannot, one thinks, escape from the sombre atmosphere engendered by the baneful strike.
The British newspapers, like Charlie’s Aunt, are “still running”, but, admirable as they are, they do not compensate for the absence of the hard-hitting, caustic “Morning Post”, the more solid and sober lucubrations of “The Telegraph”, the literary excellence of “The Manchester Guardian”, and the interesting pages of “The Daily News.”
It required a stoppage of these and other organs of the Press to make us realise how much we are indebted to them for instruction and amusement.
News by wireless can never entirely supersede the printed page.
(With thanks to Stroud Town Council)