THEY WONDER WHY HE STRIKES.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 57, 12 April 1912, Page 14

THEY WONDER WHY HE STRIKES.

Sir,—lt is tho duty of every workingman to-day to do something in support of liis. class ii> the groat conflict beCapital and La,hor. 1 hear strikos and unions dcprecaUxl on all sides, ami even sometimes from my fellow-workers, who do not grasp the fact that their bettor conditions of work and wages havo boon brought abo-ub by agitation, unionism and strikes. Never was it so necessary for the workers to stand should«r to shoulder in all departments of industry as it is to-day. When will the farm hands, the men who work all hours for such a small wage, wake tip to their own interest* and act upon the maxim that "Union is strength P" The shop assistants who put in 52 hours a wock, should also organise all over the country aud come out for 44 hours, any work after that to bo overtime. I maintain that the avenge laborer and artisan is most poorly paid compared to the landlord and professional man. Tho average laborer earns Bs. to 9s. a day when fine tho mechanic.about 10s, but wet weather often reduces their earnings considerably. Most of our workers are married men, many with three to fave children, and just think what they have to keep them on and what is their proportion of earnings compared with the professional class. t Wβ are accused of causing trouble by unionism and strikes. Have not the medical men unions, tho dentists likewise? Are not the lawyers—the Devil's of the closest corporation in tho world, and do they not rigidly adjiere to a fixed scale of charges—charges extortionate in the extreme? Unless these men make- anything bejtween £20 to £30 a week they think they are having a bad time. And the working-man with his family lias to suffer because of the extortion of the professional man Instance, 10s. a ■ visit to see a sick child, unless the father is in a lodge; then more often than not it means poor attendance. The medical men of the country districts are neglectful and inexperienced in many cases, yet they make large incomes. Again, if the working man has to take a journey with his family to distant fields for work, the farce and freight on railway or steamer for Ins family and their few belongings cripple liim for many a long day. Ihe (.Jovernmcnt has no mercy in its charges and it's a blue look-out for the head of a large family when he's forced to avail himself of the railway. His wife has no convenience on tho trains to feed her little ones or get a cup of tea for herself. Luncheon is supplied at 2s. a head, but what chance has the workingman with a family when prices are so exorbitant as this? If he wants a house, the average toiler ha 3 to take a place mostly without conveniences. Probably they call it a five-roomed house. More often it is a one-roomed show with four cupboards; rent, from 10s. a week; and he is expected to bring up healthy children for the next generation. If he wants one ordinary necessary of life, via., butter, he has to pay Is. 3d. or Is. 4d. a lb. There is very little for the children. And the capitalists wonder why he strikes 1 Then, again, tho civil servant gets paid when sick, also pensioned when a certain age, but how does the average worker fare? No pay when sick bad- 20s. a week from his lodge. What is that—a mere drop in the bucket with half a dozen hungry mouths to feed ? The old age pension, too, is positively inadequate. Yes, the average worker--with a family stands no chance to-day, and unless ho goes on agitating for better conditions and wages that are more in keeping with tho emoluments of Ins professional friends, his life will always be a mere existence. —Yours, etc., WORKING MAN. New Plymouth.