WHO PAYS?

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1910, 19 November 1913, Page 9

WHO PAYS?

Sir, —In considering the effect of the present .strike there are some points which we should not overlook if a wider view of the responsibilities of all classes is to take the place of the present selfish individualism, the whole and sole canst* of and incentive to strike. Wo must look at life broacjly and universally, not from t-ht 'limited vinwnomt that «et» class against class, labour agawst caps-

tal, And in this country, it is easy to ■ do so, since we have no idle rich and few destitute poor, except those, who aro unwilling to help themselves. Wo are all workers from tho greatest to the least, from the Governor to the' boy who sweeps a the only difference lies in the kind of work we do and the time we give to it. Some work is easy, almost mechanical, demands no strain on the nervous system or brain; other work is engrossing, and if it is to be a success must acenpv every moment of the time. And here the man who arrogates the title ''worker" to himself, most certainly scores. He is not obliged to go searching for his job. Indeed, it is so very easily found that he picks it up or drops it as he likes, as no employer could afford to do, He has his hours of labour which are not long and he is well paid for all overtime. He need not plan how to perform his task, his employer will look after tliat part of the work. He spends but little in preparing himself, since education is free and artisans learn their respective trades at- their masters' expense. Ho.pays uo taxes, except the property -tax, supports no hospitals Or charities, does nothing towards tho pension which he claims; yet all these things are his and he is free to make use of all the public benefits which for tho most part the capitalists supply, after becoming capitalists through the skill of hand and brain.

On tho other hand the professional and the business man must spend large sums to educate himself and to improve and extend his business that ho may give labour to a greater number of men. Ho must read and study, to keep himself abreast of the times in all that relates to tho extension and progress of national life. He is no firebrand and seldom speaks to his workers, too seldom perhaps for- his goad, of the growth and demands of our seething public life. He has 210 hows but must give all his time and thought to construct and scheme and plan to provide the labour for his employees, In a primitive age each man might support himself and be independent of his feltowmeli, but stieh a thing is quite impossible now. Clerks, doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, labourers, all arc dependent upon «ao another, and nothing that does not aim at the common good can beof permanent value to mankind. Then comes the farmer. He alone might he self-centred, self-existent/were it not that the whole race must draw its life from,'him; so he must toil from early dawn till dark and plan and suffer from sun and storm to give tho bread our human life demands.'

Now% in this .matter of the present strike the thoughtlessness of one class of workers has inflicted great loss upon the'innocent, Thft strikers lose a few weeks' work at most with public sympathy, even then at work to supply their needs, so that little -suffering comes upon the guilty. But 'for tho small farmer who has hard work to make his rent, who never' can count his wages and sure receipts, who has to spend and study to improve his knowledge of agriculture and fruit, a time like the present is simply ruinous. ' He sees tho work of a whole year gone in a couple of weeks, fruit- lost, sales missed, goods that meant income and rent lying rotting for Want ef that' swift carriage which the'present strike has niade impossible. Then comes the great loss 'to the exporter and the business man, and through him the lass to tho whole community, and through that the loss to our brokers across the seas, the deprivation that is bound to be felt because one part of the body politic refuses to perform its appointed work. Wo are so bound by the great cord of life, so linked together in one brotherhood, so mutually dependent that tlio failure of one member to fulfil its part makes the whole organism useless. This is not & point' to bo gratified about, but rather a thought, that should steady the outlook ■ arid make men feel their responsibility. It is a dreadful thing for men to feel that they are responsible for • human life, that every man is his brother's keepor and 'that his hand which so easily drops its tool is the. hand that makes or mars his fellow-man. Not .personal greed, not self-aggrandisement, hot even self-protection is the law of life for man, but mutual benefit and mutual help as much from class to class as between individuals, The law of'sacrifice is tho law for men, as survival is She law for tlio savage- beast. When this strife is over it would be well to look at the benefits mutually derived from labour and capital, worker and employer, class, and class. A publication of the schedules, shoving the rate of wages and the kind, of work demanded from different classes of men might gf to show that tho waterside worker is not so poorly paid' for his capacity as many a one whose place in; life demands a greater expenditure for the public good,—l am, etc., PUBLIC GOOD. Nelson. November 14. ■