Mr Tregear on Socialism.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8194, 22 May 1906, Page 7

Mr Tregear on Socialism.

The Robber and his Victim. An Extraordinary Letter. WELLINGTON. Thursday. A remarkable Socialistic letter, written by Mr Tregear (secretary of the LabourDepartment) to Mr Benson, in acknow- : ledging the receipt of a book, has-been published in the Beacon. In the courso of the letter, Mr Tregear says :— " I sometimes feel wo Socialists are the only sane people in a world of lunatics. Of course the world retort 3 that it is wo who are mad. That is the way things go in mental hospitals Nevertheless, there is a great hope for us. Our ranks are being augmented every day in the most astonishing way. I see in my own lifetime the advent of social rights coming up like a thnnderstorm against the wind. Here, in New Zealand, we keep pegging away, sapping little by little the foundations of one monstrous privilege after another. We got arbitration upon its sturdy legs ; now we have again a crusade againso landlords in cities and suburbs, because every advantage in wages, etc., gained for the workers by arbitration is being exploited and neutralised by robber rents. We are taking, voluntarily by sale or compulsorily, lands near towns for workmen's homes, to enable the holder to erect houses, etc,, thereon, secured, of course, on the land and improvements themselves. The result is that no country is prospering in the world at the present time like New Zealand. Let no man think, however, that our prosperity leaves us without evils to combat. We have barely touched the fringe of the soiled economic garment. So long as the wage system endures, so long as capital holds land, machinery, and other means of production, so long is the bulk of oar population only a collection of well-fed, wellclotlied slaves. I am glad to see in your book you have driven your shafts right at the heart of the matter. The only question is this: Is it best to accept nothing, to let evils " stew in their own gravy," or shall we slowly feel our way by national railways, telegraphs, insurance, steamers, unions, etc., as we are doing in New Zealand, and gradually educate those who differ through their prejudices |by conviction ? This is evolution, but you understand that m doing so we also build our own difficulties as we go. We have made our factories clean and pleasant places to work in, looked after wages, hours, and overtime pay, holidays, and the health of the women and children. The result is carelessness as to the real problems ; fatuous contented acquiescence in things as they are. Only when I show them how they are being robbed does the pleasant afternoon feeling gives way sufficiently to take them to the ballot box. When will the great American (we may add Australian) people learn that republican (Conservative) is nothing ; democrat (Liberal) nothing ; and that there is only one real issue, viz., that between the robber and i his victim"? Moreover that the ballot box is the only social weapon ! " The fetter has created considerable talk and excited interest in commercial circles, and the Advisory Board of the New Zealand Employers' Federation has referred the matter to various members of its executive committees throughout the colony, with a view to further action. More is, therefore, likely to be heard of the matter.