Howard Among the Philistines

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 86, 1 November 1912, Page 3

Howard Among the Philistines

TITBITS FROM CAPITALIST PRESS PERTINENT POINTS FOR THE PROFESSOR. Mr. E- J. Howard has been figuring prominently in the newspapers of late, chiefly in controversy, and from interviews with him and letters from him we make the following selection of admirable bits and bits: — "I have bad a lot of experience with the Lyoil ore. It is what is termed pyritic ore, contains a large percentageof sulphur and iron, coßse.quently; it -is, in a box o( "matches ft) be working at the ffa.ee. down below. ... , And yet men must live, and to get a living they will face death every day. Lyell must pay dividends, and to pay dividends men must oe rushed. What is a man or two compared to dividends?"— Letter in "Lyttelton Times." • "I venture to say the cause (of the Mt. Lyell disaster) will be found to be the competitive contract system. To rush the ore out shots must be fired. No time to waste. Rush back again, and at list, up goes the mine." —Letter in "Lyttelton Times." » • « "Wβ are sorry for those men; we are sorry for all men who, working on the brink o l f hell, are suddenly swallowed up in batches. . . Sidetrack or blur the issue as much as you like by say? ing it is a row between two sections of workers,: the trtithiVof the trouble is that the . master-class at Waihi and Reef ton want, the competitive contract system, compulsory arbitration and the use of the Bingle-handed drill."— Letter in "Lyttelton Times." In regard to the Waihi strike, Mr. Howard said that the company had stipulated l that the men must accept arbitration, single-handed poppers and the contract system. Since th« union had worked under the co-operative system wages had gone up -and the death and accident roll had been greatly lessened.—lnterview in "Southland Times." m • They had it on the authority of two ex-Ministers of Labor—Messrs. J. A Millar and George Lauren son—that tie Act never intended that 15 men cor form a union iv that way when one already existed, whether it was regis-i tered under the Conciliation and Art tration Act or not. The position war an absurd one.—lnterview in "Southland Times."

I wish to enter my protest against the continuous cowardly statements made on the Labor Page , of the We ! lington "Times." Cowardly, because they xae not true. Again cowardly because the writer of them knows they are not true* Cowardly because whave not the same""space to reply to them, and again cowardly because w« have been always ready and willing to meet the writer of them on the public platform, where each has the same chances, and we have publicly challenged the writer to there prove hi case and leave the people to judge. May I say tbat I for one am prepared to meet Mr. Mills on every platform in New Zealand.—Letter to ''N.Z. Times."

Matters in connection with the differences between the Federation o Labor and the United Labor Partr again are mis-stated. . . As '« fact, there is no United Labor Partjfl And the Federation of Labor never refused to be represented ia the conference which created the United Labor Party. The Federation of Labor has never by word or deed prevented representatives from being heaxd by any part or section of its organisation; rather has it welcomed representatives, because, be lieving the United Labor Party is wrong, then the only way to prove they are wrong is by the rank and file knowing all there is to know about them. The same thing applies to the Federation of Labor; therefore we have held hundreds of meetings at which we challenge Mr. Mills and all-comers to prove we are wrong.—Letter to "N.Z. Times,"

--'In New Zealand to-day men are working on the brink of just eucb a hell as Lyell. Kaitangata mine lie just a.s bad. Already hundreds of men have given their lives to it .. .1 have been told at Kaitangata that the first thing the women do when the men go to work is to prepare the beds and have hot water ready in case the husband is brought home injured. It ie common knowledge that this mine iffdangerous." —Letter in Times." i

"In the Miners' Hall at Waihi is a board with a long list of men's names, who have been killed in the mine. The cemetery is full of men's bodies who died through inhaling the dust, mosth the fault of the competitive contract system. Are you going to help in this slaughter, or are you going to heir the men. —Letter in "Lyttelton Times."

Mr. Howai«d is bluffing. . . . The strike at Waihi was not brought about "to prevent a minority of the enginedrivers dragging a majority of enginedrivers back under an Act of Parliament." It was brought about by the impulsive action of a leader of the Federation, an action that , was warmly condemned by the majority of the executive of the Federation at its meeting held at Wellington immediately afterwards. This action was typical of the Federation's method—strike first ■and negotiate as a last resort. —EdiItorial footnote, "N.Z. Times."

"In your footnote to my letter you uee the term "bluffing"! If that is a Parliamentary term, may I use th« term "lying"? Because you are lying when you say the strike at Waihi was brought about by the impulsive action of a leader of the Federation and

Controversy that Tells

that that action wes warmly condemned by the majority of the executive «f the Federation at its meeting held ffl Wellington immediately afterward*. 1 was not a member at that time, but I have examined the minute-book, and the endorsement by the. executive was unanimous.—-Letter to "N.Z. Times."

The Federation of Labor had. and has still got, in its organisation the majority of the engine-drivers, windere and firemen at Waihi. . . The majority of these men are still in the Federation Of Labor, and instead of the FetWn+ior. of Labor trying in coerce the enginedrivers, it is an. attempt yon the part of the minority of the engine-drivers (not the miners) to drag the majority of engine - drivers (not the miners) back under a system they do not want. . . In our office at Wellington is a po+ition signet! by 51 engine-drivers and firemen of Waihi, asking us to prevent the minority of engine - drivers of Waihi from dragging them back under nn Act they have no respect for. Is that clearp—Letter in "Lyttelton Times."

Mr. Mills proves what a marvellous juggleT of words h<? is, because, whilst condemning the campaign of abuse, he resorts to abuse, and the worst kind of abuse, because it is based on somethin he knows isn't true! For instance, he says, "by an utterly untrustworthy and thoroughly discredited Federation executive." During this strike a ballot of the *nole of the 1 members of the. Federation "nasbeeiitakeni for the ele<v. tion of the officers of ttie "central executive, and all the old officers have been returned. Now, in what way iand by whom is the executive discredited? If by the press of the Dominion, then it's an honor they should be proud of. If by the- United Labor Party, then th«y don't exist. The only people that count are the people that are directly interested in the executive, and they nave replied. New a challenge—'that the United Labor Party (if any) dare not take a vote for the present officers of the present central executive of their party in the same way as the Federation—that is, every member to have a secret vote.—Letter to"N;Z. Times." ' ■•- "Another challenge—that the United Labor Party dare not take a vote of all its present members (if any) .as to joining their own scheme in the same ;way.'*hat the Federation of Labor : demands that all unions shall take a vote before tihey can be allowed to join the Federation."-—Letter to "N.Z. Times."

"Another challenge—that the Federation of Labor is a democratic organisation. . .. That the United Labor Party (if any) is not a demoeratid organisation, nor does it represent those it pretends to represent; and, lastly, if the whole of its programme was put upon the statute book to-morrow - the workers would not be one bit better off than they are to-day. That the Federtiori of Labor has won for its members far greater benefits in four years than the Trades Council methods hare won in 20 years, or that TftL.T. methods would give them in the next 20 years.-—Letter to "N.Z. Tim«e."

"Now for principle at stake and why it interests the miners. If 15 engine-drivers can drag 66 ers back under conditions they do ut want, and 15 mineo-s can drag 1500 miners back to condition* under which the said 1500 miners had their lives shortened, surely this is sufficient to be termed a principle. This is just what has happened at Kaitangata. A minority, a small minority, made and registered a secret agreement, whereby they have forced the majority, ? large majority, to surrender to the master-class certain things they had previously won. Again, the minority, the same small minority, has forced the majority to come under an Act that will not protect life or limb, and an Act the majority has no respect for. Now, who is guilty of coercion ?"—Letter in "Lyttelton Times."

"The report of my interview in the 'Southland Times' is very good. There was just a slight error, however, re Semple, which is not fair to him, and which I feel sure you will correct. It was stated in the report that for 17 wf»eks out of the last 20 Semple received wages, whereas it should have read that for 17 weeks out of the 20 h« had received no wagoij. No one i th© Federation is at present receiving wages, except the secretary, whp is getting £2 per week. An 4 while the strike lasts no further wages will V paid."—Letter to "Southland Times."

'*Mr. Howard referred to the Reefton trouble, and asked why some of the Ijmglight was not thrown on it. The reason why, he contended, was beoause it was a lock-out, and although the men were working under an Arbitration Court award, which has 15 months to run, the companies had deliberately Broken it, and no action had been taken in regard to the breach that li" been committed." — Interview fn "Southland Times."

"The Federation demands that any tin ion seeking to join the organisation must -bake a ballot and 'must Have a majority in favor before they are permitted to join. Is that coercion? The Federation of Labor does not. require that the undone shall cancel their registration under the Arbitration Aefc before or after they join the Federation, hut they are certainly 'trying to educate the workers to the fallacy of an Arbitration Act. Again, is that coercion ?"—Letter in "Lyttelton Times"

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