The Dominion WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1916. LABOUR AND ITS AIMS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2917, 1 November 1916, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1916. LABOUR AND ITS AIMS

]?0n various reasons, it is always rather a delicate matter to suggest to organised Labour tliat a needed plank in its platform is the encouragement of more strenuous exertion by the general body of workers. On that account we must applaud as courageous a • statement lately made by Mr. E. J£. Mui.gax at the Workers' Educational Association Conference in Auckland. Ho said that no pari of the educative work of the association would . be more important than that liav-. ing for its object tho teaching of workers that, to make up for tho wastage of the war, there must bo 'greater efficiency and more strenuous effort. Mr. Mulgan spokowitli particular reference to the conditions arising out of the war, but his remarks are susceptible of a wider application which well deserves the consideration of workers generally. The tendency for years past has l)ecn to procecd almost entirely on the assumption that labour conditions can only be improved in tho ' interests of the -workers by claims of increased rates of pay and lessened hours of work. The standard of efficiency and the output of the worker have been treated as matters /in which the worker is more concerned to resist improvement and advance than to assist in those directions. It is not our purpose, however, to examine this phase of the matter in any detail, for to do so at tli6 moment would bo to run a risk of awakening useless contention and ill-feeling instead of stimulating thought and inquiry on practical lines, which is the only object we havo in view. But no rational man, whatever tho exact shade of his politics may be, will deny the wisdom and utility of looking very closely into the merits of the question of policy aud national economy here raised. That industrial efficiency and a bountiful and rising production of wealth aro peccssary to the welfare and betterment of the mass of people in the community is an axiom from which none but the unreasonable will dissent. The establishment of conditions making for the creation of individual fortunes is not, of course, the goal to aim at. though, in passing, it may be said that the incentive given by the prospect of exceptional rewards for exceptional exertions cannot be wisely ignored in adjusting social conditions. But it is of more importance that there is ample scope for bettering tho average lot, and even those who aro. not prepared to admit that greater efficiency and more strenuous exertion on the part of tho general mass of the population are factors essential to social betterment should bo prepared to examine with an open mind the questions and conditions involved. It would be absurd to contend that existing industrial conditions in New Zealand aro based on clear-cut ideas and the j perception and recognition of wellestablished truths. It is safe to say that the thinking section of the population, and not a few of its members who. hardly think at all, are agog for change and improvement. Action to these ends is wholly desirable, provided always that it is based on clear thinking aud not on mere petulant discontent over half-understood grievances and conditions, tho underlying causes of which aro often not understood at all'by a very large proportion of the people concerned. A great part of tho confusion of, thought that exists in this country in regard to industrial and social questions is not so much ail obstacle to progress as a ground _ to work upon. Difficulties and dissensions will tend to disappear as knowledge spreads. It is perhaps necessary to make an exception in the case of the extremist agitators, who proclaim that the way to milennial conditions is to organise one section of the commuuity as a wilddog pack to pull down and destroy another section. ReaSSn will hardly serve with agitators of this type, but it is still true that the universal remedy and the only remedy for confused and unsatisfactory social conditions will be found in thought, inquiry, and education. The spread of knowledge and understanding

will not only compose differences that are capable of beings reconciled. It will make for the ultimate elimination of what is insane, outrageous and immoral, in the_ field of social agitation, and will silence far more effectively than any act of positive repression the agitators who gain a certain hearing now only because so many people are apt to be swayed by the suggestion of the moment, instead of by conviction, based on ordered thought and an accurate realisation of facts. •As matters stand we are confronted by industrial and other problems which are not being attacked in a sound manner. One of these problems and not the least important is that which was touched upon by Mr. Mulgan in reference to after-war conditions. It is arguable, at least, that some of the shackles which need to bo struck from labour and industry in this country are self-imposed. It is arguable that in existing conditions relating to a great part of the industry pi the Dominion there is an increasing and almost dominant tendency to apportion a stereotyped reward which tends inevitably to induce a stereotyped, and declining, effort, and to produce conditions threatening our future as a community. i Eight thinking and the" spread of knowledge aro the masterkeys which will enable us to unlock this and other problems by which we are faced. That ruling conditions are open to amendments and improvements which would tend to. better the general and common lot is not in itself a thing to mourn about nor does it justify pessimism or discouragement. But it is a reproach to the Dominion and particularly to the more intelligent and bcttcr : informed section of its population that so little has been done to promote right thinking and an understanding of social and industrial problems and conditions by the general mass of the people. This licglect is mainly responsible for what is ba vren or positively vicious iu current agitations for the alleviation of existing conditions, and until tho ncglcct is atoned and remedied we shall make at best slow and blundering progress in bettering these conditions.