"The Queensland Worker."

Maoriland Worker, Volume 1, Issue 5, 20 January 1911, Page 9

"The Queensland Worker."

(By One of its Admirers.) Do you take " The Queensland Worker?" If you don't, you ought to. Why? Well, wait a minute, and I'll show you. I'll just take an old number and pick out some of the best bits, and then you'll know what you'ne. missing by not sending along your penny a Aveek, and getting back at least a shilling's worth in return. McGinnis says—anent the Day of Rest: — "In a pious neighbourhood on a Sunday there are such noises as make one enA-y the dead their deaf ears. First there is the clamour of the church bell summoning heaven knows who to Divine service at heaven knows what unholy hour in the morning. Its strident tongue seems to shout right into your brain as you sleep upon your unoffending if Pagan pillow, and if the words you utter on aAvaking are not precisely those of the Lord's prayer, is it to be wondered at ? Then all through the day singers of both sexes are to be heard emitting " sacred " music of a character so positively diabolical, to the accompaniment of pianos so nerve-and-soul-destroying, that you shudderingly ask yourself what manner of place will Paradise be, when all these latter-day saints are gathered together from all the ends of the earth, and from all the ages of history, to smite their harps, and squall Broody and Spankey's hymns, as they are squalling them now, in the multifarious keys of Christian disharmony? What a pity it should seem that the way to please God is to annoy the neighbours I" ***** The Editorial Mill was also in a pious mood, and ground out quite a stock of good meal in regard to the Bible in schools : " It Avas said, when the Bill to impart religious instruction in State schools was first mooted, that it would let loose the devils of sectarian dissension. " The prediction has been verified, and the blended odours of sanctity and sulphur noAA r fill the air Intolerance is a mild term to apply to the ho\A-ling bigotry of the leaders of the Parson's League. Fiercely shaking their fists at those members of Parliament who have sought to preserve the present secular system of education, they are not only calling upon their woAvser hosts to hound them out of public life, but are representing their wowser Deity as taking an active part in the campaign of vengeance. " Men can teach one another many things AA r ithout losing their tempers and imperilling their immortal souls, but let them essay to instruct one another in religious truths, and the bitterest strife is at once engendered. '•' Democracy therefore demands that religion shall be a purely private matter, rigorously excluded from the functions of the State. " Only so is it possible to prevent a mixt community from degenerating into something not remotely resembling a menagerie of wild animals." *-«•*** And here's a terse and readable letter sent in by Comrade Revlis (where are his felloAVS in Maoriland ? Why don't they come to light in " The Maoriland Worker?"): — "Dear Worker, —Amidst all the talk of boom and prosperity one is continually confronted with the shadoAVs in the picture. Take for instance the actual present conditions under Avhich the men employed by Brisbane and suburban nurserymen and florists are toiling Avith a working Aveek of 62£ hours and the cruelly inadequate Avage of 30s. for casual men and 325. 6d. for permanent men. What chances are there under these circumstances for men to realise anything of what life in a civilised community ought to mean?

A couple of weeks back three of these men had the amazing audacity to approach their employer — a suburban nurseryman, and ask for what? "The full results of their labour?" Oh! dear no! "A living wage?" Again no! They did not even ask for " more money." They merely enquired whether it was possible to arrange a shortening of their hours! Result—a curt " Certainly not, and if you're not satisfied you can clear out !" Not being satisfied they are now numbered among the " AA-orkless." This was not the only result, however, and perhaps finally the " gardening bosses " Avill discover that their gun was loaded, and fully charged at that. The men out of work are now organising their mates and applying for a wages board. Good luck to them, and may they get it, as their fellows the candle workers have just done by the same methods, a 20 per cent, decrease in hours and a like increase in pay. At best, Avages boards and their decisions are only temporary expedients, but they curb for a while the cruel rapacity of the Arorst employers, and bring some relief to the homes and the wives and little ones dependent on the underpaid labour of the husband and father. Later on I will have more to say regarding the cowardly actions of certain employers in the gardening industry, and can assure your readers that Avhen the actual facts are made public someone Avill get a shock. COMRADE REVLIS. Brisbane." *■•*** Just to conclude I give a few short pars : — Professor David Starr Jordan, President of the Leland Stanford University, California, says the present high cost of living is the outcome of warfare. All governments, he asserts, are now ruled by capitalists, who constitute " an Unseen Empire." '' Life is extraordinarily interesting. It is a splendid thing to be born, and splendid to live," says the Bishop of Southwell. It is, but unfortunately most of us never get the chance. We only exist, and that mostly for the boss. The same paper that reported the Bishop's remarks, gives an account of the workers of Birmingham. It ought to be a nice place to enjoy life in, Avith its beautiful public buildings, its wealth and prosperity, yet there are 60,000 girls there whose weekly wage ranges from 7s. to 10s. A few dried leaves of shamrock are poetic and sacred. An acre or two of it is an unspeakable nuisance. It's the same with organising. A quiet word here and there may eventually start a revolution, while acres of flowery rhetoric and wordy warfare, choke our commonsense. And you get all that and more for one penny.—"The Queensland Worker."