OUT & ABOUT

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 35, 3 November 1911, Page 3

OUT & ABOUT

By EWAN MEE.

On the 27th ult., in company with our good General Secretary and a number of Wei- ' ling ton comrades, ; ; I met Ed\v.ard I Hartley, the Bradford Alderman., the author of " Train Talks," .___.__. -■ ' the " Clarion " Vanncr, and peripatetic Socialist lecturer. It was "years since last we .mat,", but I had no difficulty in recognising his sonsie face among the many that thronged the lonic's deck as she was made last to the wharf. Greetings over, and a few. hurried questions as to how old comrades over yonder were getting on. then Edward told us of some of his experiences on. the voyage cut. These were interesting., and I , hope he will write them up, as- he has done, his "Train Talks" in the Old : Land. Then it came;. I knew it w__i_d. ...The complaint about the food supplied "on the way out. It-seems there is .little or no improvement in this. same, during the- past 15 years. I can imagine Edward singing to himself, like many an one before him: t Alas! had I but known, iWhat sour and sickening stuff They'd feed us pilgrims on, You bet 'your blooming "puff" 1 should have lilted a .chest With food ttiv heart might own—> Time was meal" hours were blest--Ah, mey had I but known! Alas 1 had I but known! How weak have grown my legs! The flesh forsakes- the bone j Oh, for some, new-]aid eggs, !A slice or two of ham; Oa- c'en a home-baked scone, With butter or with jam— Ah, mc, had I but known! 'Alas, had I but known !' 'Tis rice three times a day; '.- : And the beef ? Oh, how you groan -And turn your nose, away! How strong the pudding "reeks"— 1 sit and make my moan: And thus for seven long weeks. Aih, mc, had I but known! But-the "seven long weeks" are over and gone. and. on the principle that "good things" beget "good things," it's up to us to "feed the fighter.' : And mc member he's rae-1 Yarksheer. And. talking of the newcomer, reminds* m_ that the other day I received a. letter from a young New Zealand comrade who left for Sydney a number of weeks ago. He tells me'he wasn't long in getting work, but as this part of his letter contains some excellent information, I had better quote it in .lull: I have been fortunate in securinga. very decent job on one of the newspapers here. No notice is taken of credentials and person al recommendations. To get engaged it is necessary to prove yourself in a two hours' test under working «mjnditions, which-.to a stranger in the place' is a sufficiently formidable affair. My test averaged double the New Zealand efficiency rate, aud I have since, been wondering where this speeding-up process will end. After the trial I was-told. there was a permanent machine for ane, but that I was expected to maintain a speed approximating tothat of the trial. I afterwards discovered that ai. elderly hand of many years' service was scrapped to make.room for mc! r And our comrade wonders where "this Bpeeiding-up process, will end!" J. should have fancied the sequel to his getting the* job would have dispelled that won<Jer, as tho mist is dispelled before the morning sun J When I sat .down . to type these'meandering thoughts, my wife took up the "Daily Drizzle," and began to peruse the "Woman's Column." She has just interrupted mc to read mc a paragraph which she declares is "exceedaiugiy interesting." Listen: Wool-growing, silk production., 'designing and dyeing, the fur and feather industry, lace, straw, artificial flowers, braid working, rib-bon-making, th© printing and boxmaking involved, and a score of , other things, are .more or less dependent on feminine fashions, and so, neither the woraen who dress, nor the men who pay fop the luxury would have it otherwise. : **Robe# and furred gowns hide all," aays Shakespeare, and in the sense Ihe means they do. But it is equally true tha_ robes and furred gowns keep thousands of factories, and I*eais of thousands of shops going, and provide a meaws of livelihood for millions. JFhiere's' perspicuity for you, and plenty ■jasf it! . But. Jistl there's "more to fo_»

low":— The mere treatment and curling of ostrich plumes employs as many as 40,000 women and boys, whose minimum wage is 2s. 6d. a day. From this you will see how many • of our sisters are dependent on our purchase of Paris hats. Speaking .more broadly, I should say—•'liow many people are. dependent . everywhere on the due indulgence of Eve's daughters' in a reasonable amount of finery. If by some decree of fashion, plumes were suddenly forbidden, the ostrich farmers of the world would be ruined, and. tens of thousands of other peo- . pie, men, women, and children, ' would be deprived of a livelihood. Talk of your economic basis after that! But by the beard of the Profit, the lady, is altogether too modest in her claim. Not only does "the mere treatment and curling of the plumes" employ quite a lot of people, but the making of the profits, which make possible "the due indulgence by (some., of) Eve's daughters in a reasonable amount of finery," also employs another and much larger "lot of people." Wonder she didn't think of that when she thought of so much, isn't it? But, say, it's a lucky thing that "decree of fashion" isn't issued, isn't it? And, terrible thought, worse still might happen. Why, the rich might, lose all their money, and being unable to buy Paris hats and things, all thp people would starve! Now I know some of your supercilious mere men folk will say "that's all very good for a woman," but the question 1 is can. you men do any better? Look ye, here is a quotation from a lettea- which appeared in-the "Press," ..'Cfo.a_stchi.roh, in reply to some- ignorant person's growling at the waste Of money on tbe Coronation festivities: The immense sums of money . • - spent, not only in England, bubthroughout the British Empire . enormously benefit aH branches of trade and . . . put many hundreds of thousands of pounds into the pockets of working-men. We have been told that the King's chief motive in encouraging the vast expenditure in connection with the Coronation was that Labor should benefit thereby. There you >aret There's preciseness, terseness, definiteness, and finality for you! Think of the fidelity and devotion revealed in that simple phrase, "We have been told." Such confidence is equalled only by the magnanimity with which the King seems to have spent those hundreds of thousands "that labor should benefit thereby," without stopping to think where

he was to get more, or even where what he was sp ending was coming from. ( "We B . ye oeen told," say* Mr. W. Guise Brittan, with serene sincerity. Verily I have nob found such faith, no not in'lsrael! * . If Mx._ Brittan will Mud mc bis'ears I will tell him something more: Once upon a time there wajs. a man who had a dog that used to go on its own a_id catch rabbits for its master, and was content to take as its share. - the offal and the bones. There came a d.y when there were no rabbits left, and the dog became an hungered. So- the master, kindly and for tho especial purpose of providing food for the dog, cut-off its tail, and with it he'made a pot of soup, and after he had paa-taken of the same he gave .the bones -"to his betaveti dog. And wasn't' that dog grateful? ■* \ ■ * © A country paper says'that "budding politicians among the Labor secretaries are as. thick as blackberries." But why 1 "blackberries?" Why not "as thick as thieves?" Somehow I think those that support them are the "thickest" of the lot. a « __ A correspondent. in the sanie. paper lias a letter on the "Mam with Ability," whichi like the sheiep's held,'provides some fine confused feedin'. He quotes.- from Foster Eraser's "America at Work," that passage where J.F.F. tells, ug in grandiloquent style that the "machine cleaner" of to-day isrthe "manager of to-morrow*-,* in fact, that every one at "the top" has risen from "the bottom," by "sheer grit and ability." Which is just another way of quoting Napoleon's saying that every private soldier carries a marshal's baton in his haversack. Still, it's scarcely necessary to point out that as it is impossible for every soldier to become a marsh aJ, seeing the supply of batons and cocked hats is limited, so is it impossible for every man to become a manager whatever the amount of "grit and ability" he may possess. , But, I say, isn't it queer how -simply these, capitalist papers allow the truth to appear without knowing it? When Socialists talk of taking over, .tihe administration of all industry and commerce into their own hands, the Tory "Daily Drizzle" and the" Liberal "Morning Mist want to know where they will get'the grit and ability. . Where do "grit and ability" come, from no<\y? Let mc quote J.F.F. a.gain: • Everyone at the top has risen" .'from the bottom by sheer grit and ability-

So you see, my friend, 'even this capitalist scribe proves overmuch Jor your purpose. He as much as declares that th® upper --'suedes" are devoid of both grit and'ability; for does he not assure us that when those attributes are in demand they are supplied by the class that provides everything else of worth —the working-class,...; that is, from "those at the •bottom." Then work when it's early, work when it's late, Be first in arid last <<Tut of the shop; Get this lay upon, and you're, sure to get on, For there's plenty pf room at the top: There's room at the top, ay, still room for more, ' : ' - -.. . : 'Of this you mast be s.vare_, But there must be room at the bottcln galore, •■■■-'■ For tihe greater, mmvber's ther^.. There's room at the top, no fear of a, crush, Let sceptics sneer and scoff, Keep pushing on until you pus'li The other fellow o;ff_ -_r * * I see Dr. Fidgett, the author of "Weeds that Run the Empire,", has been animadverting upon tbe. condition of the British and Gernian,workers as compared with those of Australia and New Zealand. In 'fajct, aim6st daily. we read in "'"6n_. ca* other of the "Capitalist .papers this, that and .'the other mucb-traYelled "J>rig"'s opinion eoiioerning the- relative positions of the . wage-workers of . .Britain, Germany and Australasia, given with an assumption of knowledge that fairly paralyses .the wayfaring man. These knowing ones quite ignore the most important factor—it cannot be that they are ignorant Of its existence. But you never can tell. Modern industry lias grown so complex, each country in turn developing an economic structure of its own, separate and distinct from, yet, paradoxical, though it may seem, related and co-related to, all others. When we are told that the wages paid the British worker are double those of the German worker, that _k>es mot mean that the British worker is twio_ better off than his German* comrade'; and, when we are. told. that the wa.ges. of the New Zeav land worker are double those of tbe British worker, we are not to conclude that the New Zealand worker is twice better off than -the British worker, _tnd four times better off than, the German worker. The two and two of this country do not equal the four of Britain, aiiy more than the i two and two of Britain, equal the t&*A of . G .rnKuny,

when, paid to the respective!- workers 1 ,...!-; coin of the realm. The question that .■ concerns us is not the amount- paid to tho worker in so many _, pieces of gold and silver, but what'do these tokens -_ exchange for in the shape of .life's riescessities, etc., and what proportion 80 they bear to the total wealth produced!, by the respective worker, . J think we may admit that conditions for the worker are better in these new countries of Australasia than 'they a_e , in either Germany or Britain, without abating one jot or tittle.of .justification for otir opposition to capitalism. Wei do not thereby admit .capitalism has changed its' nature with the change "of climate, and has grown less avaricious.It simply means that like conditions do not exist for the worker because 'like conditions do not exist for tho capital-* _ ist j that capitalism, like everything else, is subject to its environment. Tho .opening tip .of a.new country! means that the number of workers offering is limited; that land being available at a comparatively low price, no' man. need ,work for another, but may strike out on his own ; that in order to get more people to come into it, it is necessary that workers should have conditions such as will -induce them to themselves from friends and fatherland. There must be .the equivalent of sacrifice. How many, may I ask, cf the inhabitants of these new lands - would have contented themselves to remain, giving up ._ their old home.. with its dear associations and loving friends, had they been destined to live and labor in exactly, the same conditions . and with exactly the same hopeless outlook as they bad in. the. land^of...their . nativity? v • ~ Capitalism seldom gives a quid pr<s quo. In this connection, however, it must, because there is no other way, out. ,But as years'go on, conditions change;. and with the development pf commcreialism, approximate more and more to those of' the Old Land—the classic land of capitalism. Within the .■memory of many now.-living,-the rough plenty of what is known as the "golden age." in Britain, was the rule in America,. and one millionaire (even Mil dollars) was unknown. The scene has changed. Capitalism, 'the same-capital- . ism, then not so rapacious .as..iv the Old World, now out-Hcrods Herod. The extremes of wealth and poverty are greater than in Britain. Hundreds of thousands of the people of Ireland and of Scotland emigrated to America to escape the grinding greed of rack-rent-ing landlords. They hailed it as "th© land of the free!" What is the portion of their descendants to-day? Is there one man win. 'has seen' the child of Celtic parents toiling long hours in the cot! on mills of the Southern States who has seen the Scoto- or Irish-Americans waiting in the hungry bread line in New York, sweating in, the steel works at- Homestead, bmtalising themselves _ in the shambles of Chicago, contracting disease and maiming their bodies in order to get the wherewithal to live— and failing, many of them —who will not admit that the life of the .Irish peasant in his "beloved Inriisfail," of the Scots crofter in his "land of brownheath and shaggy wood," was better sweeter, happier than that of their descendants now toiling as wage-slaves in the "land of the free?" "But evictions were many and cruel in Scotland and -Ireland in those days," say you. Are they less cruel in New York to-day ? Or less numerous ? Take the borough of Manhattan, N.Y., the population of which is less than a fourth of that of Ireland after sixty years of steady decline. In one year thoro were 60,463 evictions in the poorer districts of« Manhattan. More than in the whole of Ireland for arty y£ar! Ye canno.t gather grapes of thorn 9. And signs are. 3iot wanting that similar conditions are shaping themselves; for birth in New"Zealand: A minfßer of ' years ago there" were few old £16? shops' in our chief cities. Now they ' are - quite common, not a Jew of them protruding their leprous heads even in our most fashionable streets. Half _ a dozen years .ago'"'there w.ere.no chip- , potato shops, five years ago no barrows on the streets selling cheap fruit;. now "• these, toOj are much in evidence, too much in evidence. A few years ago tho housewife had to go or send to tlje store for everything the economy v of her household demanded. To-day, and! every day, she,, time and againj answers the importuning knock at her door of the hawker of laces, - boot-polish; pens, and other low-priced but useful articles. Do these things spell prosperity? The extremes of wealth and destitu- - tion so painfully in evidence- in Britain are not yet with us in all the gance of the ono and the horror of the other, but they are on our doorstep. Within the last few years two men who came to New Zealand penniless, 1 died, both under seventy years of age, leaving behind tihem more wealth than our Father Adam would now possess had he had ten shillings a day from his creation to the present time I ' ' What do these things portent? Do tliev bring' no lesson with them for the workers of New Zealand? ■ Well were It for our children an we learn that les-3 son in time.