Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 12th, 1920. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 12th, 1920. THE WEEK.

The disposition Ito strike as the spirit moves, should have had a curtailing effect by the result of the Auckland tramway strike. These lightning strikes becoming intolerable, and the Auckland authorities have had enough of them. The City Council made a clear statement on the position, and for once in a while the strikers were readily sensible and resumed work on the explicit terms of the employer. The City Council stood .out for discipline and the rights of authority, and right triumph cd over n)ighf. It is well that the incident has happened at this juncture and ended 1 so mildly for the strikers. A set of circumstances might easily • have -arisen which would have dislocated the transport- of the whole Dominion through -what was .the apparent wapt of pn the part of the strikers. Labor when it resorts to such tactics fo show its strength apd seeks to gain its end by th,e forc,e of its action, is taking_ a;i extreme action which is not tolerable. Where Labor has a reasonable case to put forward public opinion will be fair so long as it presses its claims in a- reasonable way. By resorting to brute strength it discounts the value of its case, for a distinct challenge is thrown down to the whole community. In the Auckland case the (innocent public were very unfairly penalised over something which they had no control. The train-wa-ymeu were palpably indiscreet 'n their action, and -the terms of the settlement show that they were made to feel and express their mistake. The Labour world should be all the better for the Auckland case whicli was an example rampant labor cannot ignore in the future.

On the subject of the Auckland episode the' Dunedin Star hits the position off very aptly with the following: Tho latest stampede from work by way if demonstrating the sympathy of the new industrial brotherhood of" workers is associated with that exalted and sacrosanct sport, horse racing. A tramway strike was precipitated in Auckland by a few “sports” in the service whose quite unnecessary sympathy with the jockeys (who are quite competent to take their own hurdles) caused them to resent the rush of the horse-racing fraternity for Ellerslie. The sporting trnmwaymen declined to run special race cars in the morning, and were very' properly dismissed by their etr plovers. Dismissal [led to action by the Tramway Union’s Executive —the tail often wags the dog in Labor circles —and by 4.30 in the afternoon no cars were running at all. Naturally some of the more thoughtful tramway-

men ‘‘were none too pleased” :.t the action of the extremists, “claiming Him too decision to cease work would ...ivo appealed to them more forcibly I—d the jockeys not been riding at Ellerslie, ’ Tne Auckland ‘Star’ says that yesterday’s spectacie was a joke. It is a gieat deal worse than a joke. The action of the trumwaymen was a direct

strike against the community. It was also direct action in defiance of the union's own officials. -Vs a London contemporary saul ol a somewhat snni--1..C strike n« A*Jiiie as regarus principle and metiiuu-, t.’c «.'cliou of the extremists in the .lUijkiaud tramway service was not only anti-social but anti-Sociai-ist. Not a good word can be said for the method. Caprice is taking, the place of counsel, and revolt is becoming the chief weapon of industrial revenge it must lead to defeat in the end. The growing habit of reckless disregard ol the necessities and elementary pleasures of the mass of the community must bring its own punishment. Any strike against the people is doomed to failure.

The vagaries of organised Labor are not confined to the stupiedf practice ol sporadic stoppages of work. Caprice now dictates the scheduled demands of industrial unions. The current h,story 'of the Arbitration Court is comic opera with the laughter suppressed ly the presence ,of some old-world dignity on the Bench. Who has not been amused, for example, over the grave argument of a Dunedin union that it is preposterous to expect men to work overtime, even on a'breakdown of essential machinery, on a Friday night when a, man’s wife naturally wants her prosperous husband to go shopping with her, to say nothing at all about a pleasant hour at “the kinemas.” Then there is tlie demand to have ‘ill workshops in. that union’s industry artificially heated so that lie temperature shall not be below 60 deg. Falir. Is the modern skilled workman unable nowadays to keep himself warm at work, or does lie really desire to establish a- Honolulu of industry in which the temperature shall never fall below 60 deg. Falir., nor rise above 83 deg? But the demand was not complete in logic. What is to be done about summer conditions,? Must all firms provide powerful fans to keep the atmosphere delightfully cool? “Boy, bring me a lemon squash, and be ——— slick about it!” And yet there has been some doubt about the war having creat a neiv heaven and a new earth. The organised worker in essential industries •is making liis own paradise very quickly. When are the nbn-union professions to get within sight of the white gate of prosperity at tlie right temperature, of effort P It is high time a round table conference was held, between employer and employee to get down to a basis of security so far as present dav unionism is concerned.

The British Empire will be sitting up and taking more than a passing interest in the Presidential campaign now being launched in the United States. The “ Press ” of Christchurch refers specially to the matter, and says that before the war the American Presidential campaign was to the outside world not much more than a very interesting spectacle. It did not appear to touch any issues of real concern to the countries outside America, and, indeed, it really was of concern only to the Americans themselves—a purely American affair. The campaign which is now opening—it formally begins when the two main parties choose their candidates, as they will do at the National Conventions this month—is in some respects likely to be very different .indeed from the campaigns of the past, inasmuch as it may turn upon issues that concern the whole world. The ratification of the Peace Treaty is the chief of these issues, but it is too early to say that the. Treaty, and the questions arising out of it, will completely dominate the campaign. For the present the main parties are going about their business as if there would as usual be a direct contest between a plain Republican and a plain Democrat, but it is considered possible that there may be a third candidate with a large chance of suceoss. Both the main parties are .divided. The Democrats are not united in support of the President’s demand for the ratification of the Treaty without reservations, and the party is in the unhappy position of having no outstanding man to succeed Mr Wilson in the leadership. The Republicans have for some years been divided into Progressives and Conservatives, and there is a further division between the East and the West, the West standing firmly against the Treatjy which the Easterners are wilder to accept with reservations. The regular Republicans have a candidate in General Leonard Wood, wiio may be described as Conservative and militarist, and the Progressives have a possible leader in Senator Hiram Johnson, of California. There are always a large number of possible candidates on eitherl side, but General Wood and Senator Johnson were regarded as the strongest Republicans in sight until the Hoover boom commenced.

j Thu candidature of Mr Hoover, known i the world over as the Food Controller, was launched by the Democratic “New York World,”- bujb Mr Hoover Ims de- ! dared himself a Progressive Republican. He is disliked by the old guard in each party—by the Democrats because lie is a Republican and because ho has lived practically his whole life abroad, and by the Republicans because lie endorsed Mr Wilson’s appeal for a Democratic Congress in 1918, and lias been closely affiliated with the Wilson . policies. In some quarters it is believed that Mr Hoover’s candidature appeals to the American imagination and will unite in one party a vast multitude of people who are weary of the old party labels, and eager to support a man with' ideals. That is to say, tliore is a widespread belief that Mr Hoover would succeed as a Third Party candidate. Tho forces arrayed against him, in the event of his appearance in that role will be numerous and powerful. The political machinery of the party bosses will be reinforced by J all those elements which are either anti- | British or opposed to tlie League of Nn_ I tions. It is expected that be will not be j warmly supported by Labour, and the farmers are believed to be hostile to him for bis policy of food control. But it is his identification noth the policy of bringing America to take an active interest in the concerns of the Old World tha-t will decide his fate one way or the -other if his candidature does not

fall through. A vast number oi “straight Americans” will make this the test question, but a number, perhaps equally large, of “foreign” Americans will also do so, and they will vote as foreigners rather than as Americans. One leading Democrat has declared, indeed, that the election will lie decided not by American votes on American policies, but by foreign votes on foreign policies. “The foreign voters of “six Middle Western States,”• lie said, “concerned only with conflicts among “their mother foreign lands and in

“wise concerned with the United States “or its policies, will swing the election. “Thus neither Democratic nor Repuhli“can policies for the United States will “win the race. Foreigners in the Unit, “ed States on foreign issues will he the “victors.” , t This is a heightened way of stating the fact that differentiates tlie present from past contests, namely, that it will be very, largely a contest

over foreign policy. And this, of couise most deeply concerns the whole world.