CURE FOR THE LAW-BREAKERS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1908, 17 November 1913, Page 8

CURE FOR THE LAW-BREAKERS

DISFRANCHISE THEM;

THE STEP SERIOUSLY URGED,

(By Telp£raji!i.--Ppeci a l Correfrpondont.) ■ HoUltfka, November 15. Commenting editorially on the strike this morning's "West Coast Times" suggests disfranchisement as thepenalty for illegally striking or promotstfiko ' °' r ® oltil, g wwfctirs to

lhe Times " says:—"Two or three thousand workers go out on strike, and break the law. I'Jioy cannot all bo arrested, and if they are fined, the collection of tho > find usually causes tho Jiinocent*—tho wives and children of the striors'—some suffering. , Whon ai big labour upheaval is promoted and engineered 1® defiance of the law. the lawlessness is -nod easily checked bv the mere threat of fines or imprisonment, lhe only effective remedy in our opinion for an illegal stake, or an illegal lookout, at inciting to strike, is tho loss of the lranchiso. Tho sensible people connfcetod with tho Labour ltiovemeiit adroit .that so.mo penalty should be inflicted for breaking the law.. This is a matter Of plain justice, and must always be enacted unless tho last great caifrmity overtakes the country, and the law becomes paralysed. The prospect of disfranchisement, oven for a short term, would, have a salutary effect upon all parties to the dispute —the _ worker, who engages in an illegal -strike, and the cniplover who unlawfully sets up a lack-out, and tho wiM-eyed agitator'who incites tho workers to down tools. This seems a reasonable and sßiie proposition. Why should those who havo no respcct for tho law bo allowed to havo a share in the business of making the law? They should be treated as law-breakers, and penalised accordingly. Tho penalty winch 'we suggest could bo inflicted on the offending employer and offending employee with • ease, and, certainly, there coflld bo no defiance, no refusal- on tho part of .the strikers to pay fines, while such a penalty would inflict nosuffering on tho innocent. 011 the other hand the loss of the franchise would bo a penalty dreaded and most effective. The great'virtue Would bo that it would cause the fanatics in the Laboitr movement to come to their senses, from the leaders down to the most insignificant fin the rank and file. The prospects of : such a penalty would compel them to : stop and think. For tho sako of their , political ambitions, and for tho sake of their political skills, they would preach tho doctrine of solving labour problems by constitutional moans, instead of inciting workers to violence and war cli tho community. "Our suggestion should havo the support of all parties, .and, most of all, tho Labour Party. Tile Labour movement would he saved from the fanatics who aro now doing their best to drag sario unionism into the bottomless pit of ■ Syndicalism and revolution. .The awo which l some of tho Labour loaders havo ' for the power of the franehiso was clearly demonstrated during the second ballot fight in the Grey by-eleclio.fi. There Mr. Webb and his follow propagandists changed their political tunes most cunningly when they recogaised that Mr, Webb had to gain'tho votes of others- besides Red Fcdorationists, Does any man in his sober senses suppose that the labour upheaval which has paralysed tho Dominion's- industrial and commercial activities ever vrouid havo matured, or havo been seriously thought of even by tli® demagogues, sf the law had said, 'Well, you may strike if yon like, but, if you do, you wilt not bo able to vote at next clcetion' ? Instead of some nwstbers of Parliament and the strike leaders encouraging tho strikers to romata on strike, and inciting other workers to 'don-n tools.' wo should have the leaders of' ,t,jio Labour movement Hying round tho conn try imploriuE the workers to do their duty and obey th«> law,"