THE FIGHT FOR BREAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 434, 17 February 1909, Page 4

THE FIGHT FOR BREAD.

■ _—— —— . . UNEMPLOYED IN CREAT BRITAIN, SOME OF TUK CAUSES. _ (By. a. New Ze,u,Andek.O , I differ from a great many of the writerl on . this great question. The causes, no/; doubt, arc many ' find various, but the" parties most to blame for. the large portion of this great evil are the middle-class and the working-class themselves.- Great Britain has ' allowed cheap mechanics from Italy,' Switzerland, France, Germany, . Austria, l'oland, Russia,' Sweden, Norway, and Denmark to bo dumped down ; in, her midst, and very keenly havo they competed against her own sons qf toil, thus taking the bread out of ;thcir mouths, and vastly swelling the tanks of tho unemployed. Another great curse is the multiple .shop', ■ov store business, which has . grown to such an,, extent that' they have shut up, hundreds of .slnall retail shops, and men who have stack .io their own ■ trade; 1 and vera doing Well for themselves .and their families, have been ■ crushed out of tho ; trade, though thoy sold as cheaply, cheaper, than the multiple shop does. The one, great stcrfo tries to draw all the trade and,cash toFitself, to its own enrichment, but to tho fearful- destruction of other tradesmen,' thus adding thousands to the ranks of the unem-. ployed. Is it not far better for every town to have two or three hundred shops than one?. Just think of it. Who supports-theso great stores and multiple shops '< The working man, every time!- ;■

Tlio Octopus principle In Tratio. Even in the'tea-room trade, such establishments as Lyons's, and the.' Aerated, liread Company s tea-rooms, situated -all ' : over London, have squeezed out thousands of holiest .workers, who did this, kind of. trade/ not to mention Lipton's, shops, Boot \ and Co.,' chemists and druggists,. l'reeman,.. Kardy and Wills, Mansfield's, Eandell's, andv. ' Abbott's, all in tho boot-trade, who have hundreds of shops, and there-.,are hundreds .■ . of others which 1 could mention, all supported by'the "middle and Working-class" to the ruin of artisans like themselves. These . insatiable firms, greedy to grow -rich.at-the,, expense; of othor'sr-to wax opulent nt any cost—are not content with the. trade of . their own town, but thoy. must needs cap-; ture the trade of other towns as well. .They , are like commercial creameries; they, take • the cream from every district, and leave the j ■ watery'skimmed milk for others, but, un- - like the creameries, they- leave no cash behind. AVliy tho '.Government . should .-not .. . charge the multiple'shops andgreat stores , double . tho amount , of " ino'ome, tax 1 do not know, or charge them on all the . . different branches of trade which they have.;; .taken into their store's.' . They .caro not 'whom they ruin,, so . long .as they . prospor ■ themselves. This is.another. reason w-hy - un-. employment is so common everywhere, and it must inevitably grow commoner while thi3. kind, of trade is allowed. Tho Government : \ puts a : graduated - tax' on those,who;, have over a certain number of acres df.land; whyr S not on those with: .an injurious aggregation ■ of .businesses? It. is a stato of things that. ; should not bo, allowed—this accumulation of : . businesses,. which . keeps hundreds out ; of ; employment, onrichirig the Jeff,-? while -. impoverishing tho inany. ■

The feliglit of Amalgamated Railways. ■ • Then, there "; ore the railways of Great Britain, The cry is, "Let us amalgamate!" What dote this mean? . Dischat&iiig nien b'y ; hundreds, and again, multiplying tho. ranks of the -unemployed.. The- 'boards iof Mail-, agemerit; of many, if not all, of the 'rail-, ways, have built 'huge palatial hotels, in tho principal towns or' Great J3ritain and -Ireland. These are not a quarter, part occupied,' and they hiivo.:'destroyed the. hotel trade in. all the largo 'cities, throwing . hundreds- .<# people out .of ivork,- though, as y6tj .theyhave, done ho : good .to themselves, -'This-. iswhere the,.Bhareliolders..divideiids. liave'igorie,>. •.Th4 dividends.. .paid ■ lately i.have ;been -at the : rate of li to 1} per cent;, which is' most disheartening to the shareholders. In fact,': •thehotols wereiadting the parti of . the. horseleech everywhere;;. running . away with tha shareholders! money, and; adding to the large. army of tho unemployed.

Enriching >ths. Few; Impoverishing,the • Many.- - • .Then -there are. the c'o-operativo. shopa—■ terrible.-. snake-like commercial 'deceivers,'' - that have : stilt- up hundreds of . retail; Shops, and which aro supported by the selfish middle-classes, and' also by the- work-, icg Vuian. And r /what, to. my .' mind, ;i3 worse, still, the farmers, who are: supposed to .grow arid produce the articles 'which' the people require' to livo on, do all they 'can to destroy'the .retail shopkeepers,, who are to buy their produce from ..them.: The glamour of .profits 'seems ; to '-blind them to the destructive;,consequences they deal out to their fellow men . and -is. another cause of; unemployment. -" The ' public -pay mora every'time on every purchase., they'mako for the goods they want. I know, that they can buy"'cheaper and . .better: from the 'ordinary retail shop, and get moro ciplity and better, attention every time. .-.1 could givo a truly. terrible account', from different places /I have visited, in Rockdale,' Manchester, . Edinburgh, ' Glasgow, and, Perth, iuit here I will only say that .I trust that the . great .middle, and-working class -will wake>up to , their own -interest; and do -their, duty by . putting down., the. multiple . sliops and stores, and stick to the man who is a: healthy retailer." The great safeguard that, keeps the... retailer healthy : is the eternal competition' iii. all. retail trade. The get the benefit, and ; the many aro mads rich, instead of the one.' ■ . ;