Strike and Lock-out.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 87, 15 November 1912, Page 1

Strike and Lock-out.

News and Views.

SOME CLASSICAL DEFINITIONS

A nickname for a workman who engages for lower wages than are fixed by the trade union; also for one who takes the place of a workman on strike; a mean, dirty, paltry fellow. —Webster's Dictionary. A dirty, paltry fellow; a shabby fellow. —Worcester's Dictionary. "The loathsomest scab in Greece. A mean, low, scurry fellow." —Shakespeare. "Out, soabl" —Shakespeare. A lousy, scabby, scurvy, skulking lubberly noodle.—Henley in "Slang and its Analogies." "You're three beastly scabs." —Kipling in "Stalky and Co." * A loquacious arbitrationist parrot at Wailii is causing much amusement, having recently added to its repertoire the familiar epithets of "Scab!" and "Dirty scab!" We guess the owner will choke the bird. ! In the course of a sermon on "Modern Women" at AuckV.nd on November 3, the Bishop of AuckLii/d, Dr. Crossley, said: "Two examples of tb. modern woman had been much in the public eye of late—the suffragettes in England and the Waihi women in NewZealand. The former were not starring or ill-usod, but- preached the gospel of assault- and destruction of property to secure a political end;'but the women at Wailii, though using language that

The Campaign for Workingciass Triumph.

made unpleasant reading, were more just than their suffragette sisters, in that- they supported the wage-earner." * *• #

Aucklander: The other week a picket from Waihi visited Auckland and put on a canvass-man with signs warning scabs against going to Waihi. Up one side of Queen street went the Waihi emissary; down the other side came a sandwichman with a larger advertisement concerning some cheap calico sale. The Waihi sign, headed "War," etc., attracted considerable notice. A medium height "lornorder" apostle in uniform stepped up to our sandwichman and warned him that if he did not take "vhim things off" he would arrest him. Representations were at once made to the traffic inspector, who (in all fairness, be it said) stated that he had not ordered any interference, and that legally our sandwichman had as much right on the street as the business man's human advertising agency. On went the boards again, and in spite of the pimple-minded John's evil looks we worked the warning as long as we wanted it. Say! What sort of spineless degeneracy is necessary in a man to allow him to be a policeman?

Says the "New Age": "Animals, with all their vices, have no organised <Wi-*—it ig unknown; nor does it exist among primitive people." Which sums up the difference between wild beasts, savages, and the modern capitalist.

"Whenever the new comes," sa.VB an American writer, "the old protests, and fights for its place as long as it has a particle of power." Old superstitions, old customs, old laws, old habits and usages die very hard. But they do- die. Everything except the demonstrated truth is liable to die; is, indeed, doomed to die. That is one of the irrevocable laws of Nature.

"Socialism is in the air," cries the Employers' Federation. Yes; and Capitalism is in a funk.

"M.5.." Socialist," "L. 5.," and "Operis Pretium Est" are actively engaged -in a controversy in the correspondence columns of the' "Otago Daily Times" for and against the Federation of Labor and the Waihi strike. In a lato issue, "Scientific Socialist" has nearly a column "in defence of the best-hated and best-abused organisation of Labor New Zealand has ever had." Replying more particularly to "L.5.." the Federation champion says: " 'L.S. finally asks mc to 'name a single employer in favor of the Federation of Labor.' I frankly admit that I do not think there is such a single traitor to the emploving-class in New Zealand. This is the strongest reason why the workers should rally round tho Federation of Labor. For a Labor organisation that is 'bad' for the employing class must be 'good' for the working class. For this one reason alone the Federation of Labor will become a grent weapon to aid in tho abolition of the present capitalist system, make tho mechanism of production public property, and secure to the working-class the full product of their collective labors." The letter, as a whole, was a complete knock-out to the editorial genius of tho "D.T." He was forced to take the count, and when he had returned to consciousness had only

sufficient strength to pen this feeble footnote: "The foregoing -confused production does noa call for any comment from us.—Ed. 'O.D.T.' " Reckon he is still wondering "who frew dat brick."

It is said that there is a great difference between • workmen simply refusing to work and combining to refuse and prevent others as well. I know there is in effect, but there is no difference as far as justice is concerned, unless there is some species of injustice implied in the means of combination or in the influence brought to bear on others, either through persua-

sion or fear. It is difficult to fix minutely the limits of just fear, but in general it may be said that men on strike can justly endeavor to persuade others to join them by working through their fear of any losses that they can justly inflict on them.—J. Kelleher, in "The Irish Theological Quarterly." !.• ? ■» Mark this from the Brisbane "Worker," ye New Zealand advocates of "compulsory" arbitration: —"Under the Industrial Peace Bill it is a crime to exercise the first right of a free citizen, and sling tip an objectionable job! In every country under tho British flag the liberty to unite for industrial pro-

I tection has been legally ' recognised. j This liberty carries with it the right to i cease work in combination when the conditions of labor are unsatisfactory.It could not be otherwise. No man knows freedom who is compelled, Under penalty pf fine and imprisonment, to remain in hateful employment. If the workers of Queensland suffer under grievances so oppressive that manly flesh and blood cannot tolerate them, they have no remedy but tho strike. And if they take that remedy they render themselves liable to prosecution —to fine, imprisonment and ruin!" "No remedy but tho strike." Make a note on't, Mr. Mills.