That Balance-Sheet.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 73, 2 August 1912, Page 4

That Balance-Sheet.

Tiie Federatio

A Letter fo

The "(Jisboviu; limes," having devoted a leading article to the Federation of Labor and its balance-sheet, in which "Dominion , ' sititoinents were echoed, the following reply was suat by Mr. P. I'Vaser and inserted on July 23: —

tSii-,--You have certainly done your readers, wlio arc, 1 should judge, practically cvcrwjuc of any discernment in Poverty Hay. a dv.tinct service by placing before them in such attractive fashion (he balance-shirt of the New Zealand Federation of Labor. Judsby the amount of attention this document has received in the press, on the platform and in the pulpit (for even in those hi-b 'places it has not been considered altogether unworthy of some slight attention) it must, certainly be so far, the most important publication of the year. No other financial statement, whether of a public or private nature, lias been considered worthy of one-tenth part thr- scouting and criticism showered upon this fortunate bal-ance--beet. Animal reports of all description have been presented and liavo passed into oblivion practically unnoticed. No company prospectus, no company balance-sheet, no statement of exports and imports, no table of natiorol income and expenditure., not even •the. exceedingly enterprising and ambitious, if rather mixed, financial account of tlie United (?) Labor Tarty has been found so faseinat'inp; and allensrossing. All of which interest hns afforded considerable satisfaction, not to mention amusement, to the members of the Federation. The document in question nffo'-ds no scone for financial genius or literary merit- Therefore, the only satisfactory explanation of its wonderful powers of attraction is that the people of New Zealand, workers and employers alike, are fully aware of the important part our organisation plays in the national life of this Dominion. Whe.u you state that the financial affairs of the Federation ought to be made public property you are in accord with the opinions of. the Federation Executive, who publish their balancesheet in Trrß Maohjmnt) Wohkeh newspaper. This is hardly in keeping with the customs of other organisations, such as the Employers' Federation, for instance, whose financial status ought to be of at least as much interest as that of the Federation of Labor. The ways of the Employers' Federation, however, appear to be dark and mvslerious. the extent, of their financial operations uncertain and unascertainable, and their balance-sheet taboo. Now, there has been a considerable amount of dissatisfaction with the financial workings of the Federation of Labor expressed practically everywhere except amongst the members of that body itself, who are, after all, the •people immediately concerned,, and who ought to be the best judges as to whether they have received a proper return for their money or not. As I have a 'faint suspicion that your method of presenting tho facts in yesterday's leading article may convey quite unintentionally, I am sure, a slightly obliquo impression as to Hie actual cost of conducting tlie Federation's business, I venture to put the figures in question in a manner much easier to comprehend. For the period September 1, 1911, to May 10, 1912, the total expenditure was £1247 IGs. Id., which works out at nearly £07 per week, or, taking the membership at 10,000, lid. per member per week. But of this amount, £1362 ]Cs. Gd. was invested in The MAnmiiANß Worker, leaving as the actual expenditure, of tlie organisation £1084 19s. 7d., not quit© £30 per week, or nearly i]d. (three farthings) per member per week. Of this sum, however, £103 10s. 10d. was subscribed voluntarily by various unions for the purpose of enabling tho organiser to 'visit Australia, and £47 6s. 4d. was ■collected at meetings held during Mr. Scott Bennett's tour, thus leaving £924 2s. 4d. as tho actual amount of ordinary revenue expended. In organising work and salaries there was paid .the sum of £364 3s. ')<]... a weekly average for the period of £10 2s. 4d., including travelling expenses. Out of this colossal sum one requires a littlo bit of limagination to picture tho "fat" jobs .available. The. secretary haxl the hardihood to accept no less than £1 os. lOcl. iper week. The treasurer luxuriated on <t'he orineely emolument of 4s. 2d. (four shillings and twopence) for a like 'period, white the president's life was a perfect whirlwind of riot and excess on ;the lordly income- of Bs. 4A. (eight shillings and fourpence), paid, with• startl* iing regularity once every seven- dftyfl. The organise r received almost as lnAich

n and its Cost.

i< AH to Read.

as lie would if lie was engaged at his former occupation of digging coal, to which, by tho way, ho is always ready to return if tho nieiH'txTS of the Federation at any time consider him incapable or unsatisfactory in his present position —an impression never so remote from the minds of Federationists as at this particular moment. Four pounds per week certainly cannot bt described as more than a living wage, for any man with a wife and fairly large family to support, while £2 Bs. per week is surely not too much to allow for travelling thousands of miles on boat and train. tfvcn third-class hotels and hash factories are not in business for fun, and, as a rule, present their bills even to agitators. The .CI O3 contributed voluntarily by a number of the Fed-oration unions for the purpose of sending the organiser to Australia to enable him to recuperate from illness brought on by four years' arduous, unremitting, selfsacrificing and successful work was splendid testimony as to the esteem, regard and appreciation felt for him hy the rank and filr of the organisation. While in Australia, be arranged an agreement with the coal minors thfre. which the miners of this country fully appreciate. Tini= agreement, the srop' 1 and effect of which may be ni'd;T<-t:K)(l one of these times, cost the Federation £7 ss. 2d.

Taking everything into ooii.sid.rrn inn, I consider wo have the services of (lie organiser remarkably cheap, especially when it is remembered tli.it many law\ti's, directors, bank managers, editors, parsons, and politicians, with about one-half tho brains and energy of Mr. Remplo, who do not pet through onethird the work, and who, in point of usefulness, cannot compare with him for a single moment, are paid much larger salaries. Deducting the. amount collected at meetings, tlio expenditure in connection with Mr. Scott Bennett's tour was £47 6s. 4d.. and we were extremely lucky to obtain such an able and experienced propagandist and orai«r for such a small outlay, which the results more than fully justified. Tho .CIS 7 <ls. Od. which appears as payments for 15 deputations, undertaken by nine delegates (not five, as the 'Times" unaccountably puts it) in connection with the. drawing-up of agreements, does not figure large, when it is stated that the time of these conferences often ran from a week to a fortnight and involved travelling long distances. Now, what have the members of the Federation received in return for their money ? I waive all reference to shortening of hours, in many instances considerable ; to improvement in ventilation, to increased security to life and limb, to more, complete and sounder organisation, and a hundred other benefits, and content' myself with the financial gain alone. Taking that, I find that for a- total expenditure of £2427 IGβ. Id. by the whole membership, the waterside workers, the tramwaymen, tho cement workers, and a section of tho miners have received an increase of wages amounting at the very lowest estimate to £100,000 (one hundred thousand pounds) per annum. For every ss. invested £l-> will, as a result of the year's operations, be drawn yearly in the future—a dividend of GOOO per cent, (six thousand per cent.) per annum. As a sound fina?ieial investment alone the Federation of Labor would be hard to heat' in the Dominion. In addition to all this there is the owning of Tite Maokiland Worker, the foremost labor and literary weekly in tho Southern Hemisphere As to present expense, I can furnish your readers with some little information. There is not a single delegate cf the Federation being paid at present. As soon as the strike was declared, all salaries ceased. Travelling expenses alone aro allowed, and the Scriptural injunction, "Take neither purse nor script," was firmly impressed tipon the delegates. They wore not asked to shako tho dust off their feet where they were not received, because this is Oriental and futile. The Federation has no time to waste in futility. There is good reason for surprise that any body should achieve so much at so little expense, but that has only been possible because of the loyalty and co-op-eration of tho members. Never was an organisation more loyally and enthusiastically served. Time, talent and money, as much of the latter as workers can spare, has been given ungrudgingly and'at tho present moment the Federation is tho liveliest corpse imaginable. "Fat" billets, you will see, exist only in the imagination of t3i© , Federation'e critics. Aβ to our ideals am! metnode, the J

are those of intelligent Labor everywhere Our ideal is "The World's Wealth for tho World's Workers, - ' our watchword, "An injury to one an injury to all," our message. "Workers' of the world, unite : you have nothing to lose but your rhair.s; you have a world to gam." I am content to place before tho workers of Poverty Day the fact that tho fight proceeding at Waihi and R«ecfton is a fight against union-smashing, and for the conservation of health, for Dhe security of life and limb, and for the protection of tho miners, their wives and families from one of' th* rrtost dreadful of modern diseases — '.miners' phthisis—and to leave the rest in their hande. —I em, etc., JP. FIHSEB^