The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1925. UNIONISM RIGHTLY APPLIED.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 November 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1925. UNIONISM RIGHTLY APPLIED.

In Friday's issue there v. as an article in this column hearing on unionism as a means ot securing lietter conditions for labour. Apropos the subject, we rewived by .•jaturdaymail a N"u York publication which gave an interesting comment on unionism in America and its method of apply ing the principle of organisation a- to achieve the right and best results. We cannot do better oil so interesting a subject than ((note the article in question in full. The report protceils:—A rather significant incident at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labour at Atlantic City was the declaration of a policy that will seek to raise wages and reduce hours as greater efficiency, new methods, machinery and the harnessing of water power increase the production in industry. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labour, was among the first to herald the new wage policy and emphasise its significance. “It places the American Labour movement in a most advanced position on labour theories." he said. “ It may lie regarded as the enunciation of a new idea. It is a position far in advance of any we have ever taken before. We are at the threshold of a great industrial era. Wo are in the infancy of sujier power. A new condition is before us and we must meet it. This is our way of meeting it." Mr Gromt said. The convention unanimously adopted the acceptance of a resolution embodying this policy. Before discussing the resolution, it may lie well to publish another announcement made by the Federation : - “ We hold that tho host interests of wage earners, as well the whole social group, are served, in-

frontin' production in quality ns well ns quantity, liv lii<ili wage standards, which assure sustained purchasing Power t;> I'ip workers and therefore higher national standards for flip onviroiim<*nt in which thov live and the

menus to enjoy cultured opportunities.' It is a tribute to ttip intelligence of labour that it perceives the eomin<! change in the world's productive capacity. The declaration favouring an increased production in (piantity as well

as quality, re-operation in curtailing waste, etc., is In line with sound cononiic polities. The past history of organised lal our dees not reveal a similar attiutde in welcoming the adoption of deereased man power made possible by the inventive genius of the age. Yet lalrour has benefited more from improved machinery and eronoinieal processes of manufacture than any other class. Wages are higher, hours of labour are less, and the standard of living raised to a degree not dreamed of a few decades ago. Wily ? Simply because mechanical genius and superior brain power have contributed to making life better and easier for the world at large. That is real service. These who have striven to the general advancement of humanity through these beneficences are the real hone-" factors of mankind. Labour in declaring its intention of reaping sonic of the benefits that are to come through the

imminence of great discoveries and inventions might have expressed itself in a more appreciative key. Instead of an anticipated demand, hacked by an implied threat, the better course would have been to pass a resolution of thaukfulnss that shorter hours and better, or, what is tantamount to the same thing, an enhanced purchasing power, are in sight. These things cannot lie made possible by mere resolutions. They become realities only through the incessant toil of genius, and the intense application of higlilv gifted brain power, bv men whose thought is but remotely on pecuniary gain or the number of hours of labour involved, and more directly on tlie service which they can render their fellow men. Xo one can find fault with a policy which trill insure sustained purchasing power and the means to enjoy opportunities.

It is the right of every man to hope and strive for that. But these advantages should not he enjoyed to the disadvantage of others. There are periods of dislocation when reward seems too much one-sided, as for illustration. the situation in which the fanning population of America found itself after the war. when a week’s toil in producing crops was matched by only one day’s toil expressed in the wages received by workers in various other industries. The short day and the heavy wage that industrial labor believes to he its inherent right cannot he maintained as just, when the agricultural worker, he he hired man or proprietor, is compelled to toil many hours longer for a disproportionately small reward. Industrial labor is prone to look only on its own side of the case, and to make demands regardless of the consequences to the rest oi the ((immunity or nation. When labor is stronger than the resisting forces to he overcome. it usually has its own way. Tint when elimination of labor is brought about by the substitution of new mechanical method', for man power, then labor is in a weakened position. This is not to sav that labor’s condition will he worse, for the whole history of the world shows that anything that enhances. hastens and cheapens production and manufacture acts automatically to lift the living condition of everybody, regardless ot whether Tie is directly connected with the process of industry involved or not. The great weakness and real stumbling block that lies in the path of labour and hv this is meant every living being who must earn his own way—is the failure to recognise that wages expressed in dollars nr pounds are to a more or less extent meaningless. It is what a man can receive' in exchange for his own labor that counts. If he, or an organisation representing him, attempts to violate economic laws liy restricting production and thus putting an artificial value oil the article produced, he and that organisation are not only opposing progress and creating distress or scarcity so far as other people are concerned. hut they arc digging a t it for lhemselves into which inevitably the\ must fall. And unfortunately, the stumble drags innocent sufferers as well as those who caused the damage. Look at what happens when men refuse to create a surplus. The export trade of a whole nation may be involved. In fact, that very thing stands as typical of a condition from which one or more ouunIrics in Europe are yet to emerge. This world will advance faster along the oath cf prosperity and happiness when men begin to talk of larger production instead of re'triiled output. Inventive gtnius may be relied upon to make methods of product! n t asier. and thus in turn to insure r sibte shorter hours and more leisure. Hilt the class of eitirons who feel that tliev are benefiting themselves by holding down production are nneoiiseioiislv following the false path that leads to a national or international a I insliouso.