THE- COMMONWEAL

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 57, 12 April 1912, Page 4

THE- COMMONWEAL

Party.

Organiser's Notes.

By E. R. HARTLEY

Wo arc like ('barley's aunt, still running and running well, at \Vaihi. A big audience listened to a recent addross in which 1 showed that a few hundred years ago profit and interest were almost unknown and laws wore passed to make them illegal. * # * Material conditions altering, the middleman or distributor became neo.essary, and instead of making the distributor a public servant whose only object and duty would be to jjct the best and largest amount of anything the public needed at the smallest cost, when the distributor was indispensable, we allowed the system of profitmaking to be established, whereby the distributor's success is not judged by the amount of good things we get ; but by the amount of profit —that is, unnecessary cost- he takes out of us. *' -x * I showed how this idea had crept into everything. A farm was sold a tew days ago. Sold four times in two days. The owner thought he had done well and made a big profit when he got £500; but the fourth buyer gave £1350, and still thinks he can get more! The beef, mutton, butter, or any of the crops from that farm will cost the consumers so much more because of the £800 taken by the speculators, and working-men are gammoned to allow and encourage, such things in the hope that they, too, will 6ome time join the gang of robbers who do sueli things. * * * I pointed out, in the case of an insurance company, which recently held its meeting, that while 50 years ago the capitalists subscribed £4850, the business to-day has assets of £1,000,000, and could sell out for two and a-half millions. Less than £5000 has grown 500 times; that is, after drawing interest on their capital for over 50 years and in this way getting their money back six times over, they have now £500 invested for every £1 they put in originally. All this by supplying the needs of the people at a profit, or, to put it in another way, charging more than the thing was worth. The profit ajid interest-mongers are more dangerous than even the land sharks, but they are all robbers. * » • At a subsequent meeting, I spoke on "Ileal Unionism," tracing the history and growth of trades unions, and showing that now the masters had joined in one big Federation of Employers, the men must either federate in one Big Universal Union or be defeated, as a section always must be. * # # I showed further that the employing classes everywhere were now recognising that their greatest strength lay in their power of using the law-making a,nd law-administering bodies, by means of injunctions, lawsuits, the use of soldiers and police, etc., and to combat tlbem we must us© every weapon wo have —strike, ballot, boycott—indeed, every weapon and any weapon to choke off Messrs. Profit and Co. * * * A couple of evenings later I gave a highly successful dramatic and humorous recital. Before 1 joined the Socialist movement, 1 could make good money out of this, and when in full warpaint —evening dress, with a vast expanse of shirt front and glistening patent leather shoes —was quite a favorite. Since joining the movement I've been worth nothing else but to try and make Socialists.