American Methods

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 91, 13 December 1912, Page 6

American Methods

-■""'"■'—»"♦*'■*"" —- A WORD ABOUT MILLS.

"The Odd Man Out" has tte folk*. ing in the "Westralian Workei" , :—

UNDERGROUND TACTICS

I felt considerably gratified the other day on reading the annual report of the chairman of the South Australian branch of the Employers' Federation. Judging by that report the branch is in a magnificent position financially, ! and as the members pay dues on a Wages sheet of a million sterling, the fund should be equal to almost any strain industrially or politically, t was especially pleased to notice" the" detefmiried way the chairman let tt b# known that tblse Labor cads were not goiflg to get another look in, and that, bo far as the workers were concerned, the end of their say in industrial mat* Utb had arrived.. With all this money behind it (and the trusts were, I Understand, generous contributors) the Federation should be able to adopt really up46-date tactics. American methods should be introduced wherever possible. The American chaps are sharp as needles at this game. Having vast hordes of savages to control—even if the average worker isn't a savage it is mighty convenient to treat him as slich or to make him one, because ytrti afe not then troubled by conscientious scruples or r6t of that captains of industry make this control a scientific matter. Their cardinal principle is to scatter the brutes, to prevent them combining in any fashion. They are real adepts at this gattie. They don't stop, as we dd in Australia, at forming loyal Unions—that is, tififons to break strikes—but they go much further". They have paid servants td jom the. workers' unions. These mefi net rtnly report everything that goes on, but they also sow suspicion in the ranks against'the leaders. They also cause splits and dissensions wherever possible, and f6rm factions. Some of these touts are bo mighty smart that they even become leaders themselves. These ihen are also useful in hatching dynamite plots, so as to provide our magistrates (t say "our" advisedly) a c'nane'e of jailing the fellows with influence in the unions. These af& the *«al OK methods in America, and I thinE it is about time they were imported to Aue« tralia. Badger, of Queensland, and ■Stioht. of Tashiania, have done pretty well, I admit, but they strike mc as being a bit slow, t noticed that the Adelaide Trades arid Lab'c-f Council received a rep6rt recently td the effect that private detectives > were getting into the unions with a view to securing oarly and first-hand information for the' Employers' Federation. Thfe, if true, looks like good It looks as if the employers are adopting scieiv tific methods at last to get these working dogs in the leash. New Zealand, too, appears to be on the rifeht track. Much of the credit of the Waihi debacle must be attributed to a fellow named Mills, a cute Yank wh6 was given a good salary by one of ofcr papers to preach a Lib.-Lab. gospel. Of course, the strike would have petered Out anyhow—what else have capitalists made the laws for if not to down strikes?—but no doubt Mills was of £reat service to Our side, by causing a split in the workers' big canip.