SNIPPETS by O-K.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 41, 15 December 1911, Page 3

SNIPPETS by O-K.

It's a funny thing, how anxious the politician is to reform things—a,t election times. But he has a short memory. . , It is easy to recognise the capitalist's creed; it always begins and ends with £s. d. Most.of the middle is full of the same stuff, too. When our women find out what Socialism means, it will bo almost hare. .Summarised, this is what our trade union activities lead to at the present time: Wages rise, prices rise, wages rise, prices rise,, and so on in a circle. The out-of-work is worse bjff under a. system of high prices—-everything , is up, and he, having nothing,, is passed right out. The rottenest job ever I struck was looking for a job. Fancy a man having to look for man's first curse.. It is a nightmare and no mistake. . ' When we get wise we will see that no man is out of work for a day; he'll have to do his bit whether he's a big bug or not 3 but there is this consolation —it will only be a bit, 7r When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" The •Devil. The worker is in as .-.much demand just now as the politician, as lie is. ordinarily by /the capitalists. The "protit" this time is the vote. When, will the toilers find out that it is to their own interest to send men to Parliament who understand their position as wage-slaves, and who. are anxious to alter it? The only reform in the political field worthy of the worker's attention is that'connected with the "bread-and-butter" question. Fat-has a strangle-hold on the cocky in Maoriland; freehold really means free to let in the big-gutted mortgagee. "Statesmen" are groaning about the reduced birth-rate, although they them-F-eh-es do vei-y. little to boost 1 it_ along. They are getting scared there will be a shortage in the required number of , wage-slaves. Bill Jones, the miner, in bis motorcar, would be a bigger shock than any- ' thine, and yet Bill has worked harder than" any dozen of those who sport this gear. . / ' The sweet morsels of life are for those who toil not, and our government is designed to keep it so. * * .■]*.'' ■■.'. Mr E. Ste-vejison--addressed an opetiair meeting at Hastings of -about-three hundred people last week in opposition to compulsory military training.--.The meeting was hostile, thawghout, ended in an uproar. A band of about two hundred jouthe, singing "Soldiers of the King," "Rule Britannia, 5 ?- and o flier patriotic adrs, chased the speaker, who took refuge an a. restauraj.it and escaped through the rear of the premises to the Ranfurly Hotel. . The-: police, arrived at this stage, and the crowd dispersed. —Mr. Stevenson was a delegate to the recent "anti-militarist conforence, at which 'he distinguished himself by ha& ability and thoroughness. '# * * Mr J. B. Joel recently received an offer of £10,000 from tho Argentine for the St. Leger winner Your Majesty (oy Persimmon). The price at which he was willing -to dispose of the horse was, however. £25,000. To earn that sum a man would have to work ror 7o years at £1 a day. A horse, is worth more than a man under capitalism.. * * . • A supposed American, multi-million-aire named Bishop suicided with a 'revolver at Paris owing to the fact that lie was suffering from an incurable disease. , ; j -~ 5 A court martial at Lille , (France) condemned a trooper na-ined Benzeboc to death for flinging his cap at t!he ■president of the court martial. That man's motive was a desire to share tho imprisonment of a friend who was sentenced to ten years for throwing a shoe at a- suirgeoii in a penitentiary. « * » HOW MANY Seven sheep were standing By the pasture wall; "Tell mc," said the teacher, To h.er scholaiis small, "One poor sheep was frightened, Jumped, and ran. away; One from seven —how many .Woolly sheep would stay?" Up. went Kitty's fingers — A. farmer's daughter she, Not so bright at figures As she ought to be. "Please, ma'am."—"Well, then, Kitty, Tell us if you know." "Please, if one jumped or«r, All the rest would go."* , -—"Po-imary Pieces.'*