WHY LABOUR "VOTED FOR THE TORY."

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1904, 12 November 1913, Page 7

WHY LABOUR "VOTED FOR THE TORY."

IN LINLITHGOW BY-ELECTION. By Tderraph—Press Association—Copyright London, Novembor 10. Mr. Koir Hardie, Labour M.P., referring to the Linlithgowshire election, says that the Independent labour party voted for the Tory candidate as a protest against Larkin's arrest and Mr. M'Kennrt's (Home Secretary) silence regarding tho Piccadilly flat case. The Government's only chance of continuing in office, he declared, was not to keep the workers poor and at work, murdering them in mines and maiming them in mills and on the railways.

Some of the sympathy that is extended to Mr. Larkin (Vntes~iSf> Dublin correspondent of the London "Times") has nothing directly to do the merits of the particular industrial dispute in which he is now engaged. ' Those, for instance, who look forward to a decline in the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in secular affairs appreciate the courage with which a member of that Church has withstood tho attacks made upon his movement from clerical quarters. "Larkinism" has been denounced fiom various pulpits as anti-Catholic force. Mr. Larkin has compared himself to the Fenians, who were told by an Irish Bishop that eternity was not long enough for their punishment. Whatever one's point tf view, the opposition of tho priests and their organs in tho Press, and.the failure of that opposition to weaken the loyalty of the strikers, mnst be regarded as one of tho most serions_ and significant features of the situation. Ths paralysis of the Irish Parliamentary party in face of the crisis is another favourite subject' of comment. The party is apparently no longer all-powerful. There is not the slightest doubt, public opinion concedes, that if Parliamentary elections for the county and city of Dublin were held today, two or threo of the Nationalist members would lose their seats. The thought of this is not much compensation for Unionists—most Unionists in Dublin belong to the propertied classes-but there aro cynics who say that from the capitalist standpoint nothing better could happen than that Mr. Larkin should become a member of Parliament! Nationalists ar»uo that the : events of the last few weeks show that an Irish Parliament will have much to occupy itself with besides the» persecution' of TJlstermen! lheir meaning is that the Irish Parliament will not be decided according to creed or old political and racial traditions, but by economic interests. Other apologists for "Larkinism" are eager to insist on the larger aspect of the situation, I hero is a feeling that, although the .Transport Union were fully justified, yet the general question of wages and conditions of labour in Dublin is one that urgently renuires tho most serious attention. It is enough for many of Mr. Larkin 9 sympathisers that he has raised the problem and forced Dublin to look it in tho face. Tho injustice done to many employers, particularly small employers-often themselves of tho working class-by Mr. Larkin's interference is forgotten; so is the number of fiascoes with which Mr. Larkin has been associated; all that .is remembered is that he has in certain cases, notably in those of the dockers and fann labourers, increased wages when they deserved to bo increased.