"THE POOR WORKING MAN."

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 April 1910, Page 2

"THE POOR WORKING MAN."

To the Editor. .Sir,— "Some Labour Fallacies," which the "Chronicle" quotes I'roin tlio "Opunako, Times," is ono of those old fairy tales regularly distributed to tlie press, nutl designed by fat main to show how good it is of him to give employment to the "poor working man," .and tlio folly of the wicket agitator, et<*., I'lc \ T o wonder people take to bor.se racing or to drink, when such siulf is served out to them a.s political economy. The main purport of the article is to .show that labour would starve without capital, but it does not state that "capital" is mostly accumulated overcharges and 'unpaid labour, and labour starves yven while the store. , ? and'the coffers are full. Admitting Mi at cheap money and high prices for our prnfiiets increase employment, the question is not merely one of employment—for a mule has constant employment, and is looked after in times of depression. , -Ts it to be "aken for granted that a workman ; s_ never to rise a-bove the mule, financial gambling, untluo horwiiinir 'if land and other values, is caused by the haste of the idler to gather 'ii the profits; and they end in 'lringiug about depression, iinemnloynient. and suffering. The real trouble is that the worker's reward ! n the best of times, is seldom abnve '■npplying hare neeespitiV. Tlio •'ller takpß the balance in the name "profit." An, accumulation of •lrnfit heconips "capita.!" which is •'s?*l as a stick to emplov ,nnd further bont labour with. The useful '•ira.jn worker, tho muscular cum Srain worker, and the i,nveiiteor. tl\o really produce every thing, get uily a pittance compared to the idle schemer or drone. That is the. question. T5. B. Slithers says: "It is plain that the contention that ibility takes the enormous rewards s so much igmorance and bluff, ind what are Christian gentlemen loin? whiMi they tell the workers these fairy tales? Tt is asserted that our increased wealth is duo tf> ability, chiefly to the inventor. Let us admit that. Docs the inventor get the Mggest reward tolay? On the contrary the person who gets the biggest rewards is tho idle landlord or capitalist, who never produces anything. Who _ aro these inventors who are receiving enormous incomes from their patent rights? Let us have teir names. The Duke of Westminster we know. Did he ever invent anything? Did he ever produce by his ability n hundred-thousandth part of tho wealth he takes from the workers every year for doing nothing? Kent and interest takes CSO millions out of a total income of 1800 millions, and almost the whole of it received by a few people, numbering not more than one and -a quarter millions, out of a population r,f 44 millions." Againi "There is not,■a single inventor on genius in the country, and never-was one, who receives so high a reward' for bis services as we pay to idle people for no service at all. N.iy, beiiw hindrances to the production of wealth." The above is the other side of the question which seldom sees print.—l am, et/\, H. LRGER.