Liquor and Labour.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 7 September 1918, Page 2

Liquor and Labour.

CANADIAN LEADER'S VIEWS. "Labour is going to be the political power o!' the future," said Mr W. T. Hay ley in the course of his " address at the Century Ilall on Tuesday eventing. '•This i,< not the statement of labour leaders. It is the verdict of such men as> Olias. M. Schwab, the great American Steel! King." Mr Bayley dealt at length with the connection between liquor and labour, and in the course of his remarks, iie asked, "Did you ever hear of the liquor traffic helping a working man into Parliament? Liquor ha.> never been the friend of the Labour movement. From the very beginning it has placed, obstacles in the way of tlhe working man's emancipation. How did the licensed trade come into being? In fcho reiigu of Elizabeth those who held the reins of.office became alarmed at the growing power of till© workers and it was v a Cecil who proposed as a remedy that something should be brought into being to counteract this menace. What ho termed 'a sewer' was needed to dlivert their energies and paralyse their power to thank and it was he who was responsible for the opening of pub. lie lion sen, "which," declared Mr Rayley, "hadj delayed the emancipation of the toilers of Britain by at least a century." The lecturer, himself one of the leaders of tlhe Canadian Labour Party, declared that no sane loader an that country was an opponent of Prohibition. He described the dramatic conversion of the .biggest opponent of Prohibition in the ranks of labour, and then gave an account of the great strike in Winnipeg 17,000 workers came out, (holding up all the mtmicioal enterprises. For--three weeks the fight lasted and the men gained 9o per cent of their d/emands. At the close of the fight the leading men of the city and the pies,- highly praised the splendid self-control of the strikers andl the clear-headedness of the leaders, and this was on'ly made possible because Winnipeg was_ a dry city and consequently 110 drink was obtainable. A new day is dawning for Labour, ' said Mr Baylev. "This is recognised hy all olasses.' Labour is going to hold the balance of power in England after the war. The Labour programme of reconstruction after the war is recognised ar; the most statesmanlike put forward by any party in England. But labour be ready for the great task thatwill be imposed on her? . Russia without vodka—and there came a revolution that promised to make. all. things new. But now vodka has got a , grip a"am, and for years to com© tmerc will be turmoil and disath. 'Booze' ip "the terrible force spoiling and frustrating all efforts to emancipate those who_ do the maximum of the world's dirty work and get the minimum of its comforts. The most contemptible form of capitalii-m is this system wihiicli, in makino- its profits, debauches its victims.