REPLY TO MR HORNSBY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10293, 30 May 1919, Page 3

REPLY TO MR HORNSBY

To the Editor, "N.Z. Times." liir, —I shall be glad if you will publish in your paperi 1 -the enclosed reply to Mr riornsby's letter which you published on ii ay 26th. THOMAS BLOODWOETH, President, United Federation of Labour. [.Enclosure.] To J. T. M. Hornsby, Esq., M.P. Dear Sir,—ln your "open letter to real Labour," published in the "New Zealand Times" of May 2nd, you have criti.:isod the sentiments 1 expressed in my .el. gram to Mr iiunttr, Secretary of tht United I'ederation of Labour, and I rppreeiate the opportunity thus afforded aio of explaining to tlosc who icare to rend, more fully tiinn 1 could state in the" telegram, what I think should to real Labour's attitude towards the Peace celebrations.

I. have said that you criticised the sentiments expressed in the wire, and it is true you did, but only to a very limitjd extent, for by far the greater part :)i your letter, is taken up with a deliberate attempt to arouse the political preludices oi the electors of this country against the Labour party. That may to -nod political tactics Judged by tne political standards of to-day; it may le .i useiui m.thod lor a politician to adopt .-.hose party has so litcle to commend it '.a its past and which is so bank-' rupt of ideas or policy for the future; out it is not good or fair criticism oi -.ie views slated ill my telegram. I do not. propose to fol'.ow you through the iong recitation of what to you seem to be sins of omission or commission en the part of the .federation throughout the war period. I may, however, remind yi u ..•Kit tne i; federation is an industrial .jody, and that it has now and has had throughout the war period considerable influence in industrial matters, and x may also remind you that New Zealand during the war period has been more free from industrial disputes than any othe! ,)i' the Jjritish Dominions, Great .Britain or her Allies. Ido not say that the federation has been solely responsible for this comparative industrial peace, but i do say that the Federation's influence has, during the war period, always gone in the direction of industrial peace, end that often, when the Parliament of which you were a member seemed by deed and word'to be deliberately inciting industrial strife. I have often wondered why it was tiiat when press, pulpit, and .jotiticians were doing their best as it seemed to them to save the Empire, men like you shou'.d on occasions find time co regret that the comparatively few despised Labour leaders in this country were not helping to win in the same way that you were, and I have formed the opinion that your object in attacking i s was then, as in the present instance, to divert attention from the failures of the Parliament which was elected to govern this country. You will no doubt have noticed that the words. "Peace celebrations" do not occur in my telegram. I deliberately left those words out because I do not regard the terms offered to the Germans as in any sense "Peace terms." riince my telegram was 6ent confirmation of the views expressed has come from what to me was a very unexpected source. in tnat the caoled news of the 2Jth inst., told us that the London "Observer" said: —"lnstead of being a settlement with security, it is a patchwork hinting at trouble in every seam. Tho terms raise more dangers than they lay and scatter dragons* teeth -across Europe.-' Now, sir, the "Observer" is not a Bolshevist organ, or eyen a Labour paper; it is a Tory paper, and its editor, Mr J. L. Garrin, who personally wrote the articles, extracts from which were cabled here, though described by A. G. Gardner as a "man of fine visions and generous impulse" is still a Tory. Undor ordinary circumstances, finding my views [supported from such a source would cause me to be suspicious that I was in tho wrong,. but I have had no such suspicion on this occasion. I You will also doubtless have noticed that my telegram gave two reasons for not taking part in the celebrations —one, "because the terms make the workers of one nation slaves to the capitalists of another," and two, "because the terms do not extend to all nations the right of self-government." I added that we oppose all wasteful expenditure on such celebrations. With the last clause vou say all sensible people will bo in complete accord—l suppose you intend yourself to be included in that category—but I can assure you that I have already found quite a lot of seemingly sensible people who aro not in accord with me even that far, and I do not so much marvel at cheir judgment in the matter since I have i-end _yoar letter and seen how far one of the sensible people" can go astray. You make no comment at all on the second of my reasons, and of the first you say I know it is to be incapable of proof. I pass over your ungentlemaujy manner of criticism, and ask if you really understand what these ihuge sums mentioned in the terms mean, if you know who they are to be paid to, what form- they are to bo paid in, and by whom the value represented in the terms, is to be produced before it is paid? You ask tho real Labour men to think over the things you had written down. I sincerely hope they will, and I also hope that you and they will think over*the above questions, and having done so, will you or they tell me I am wrong in the statement that the terms make .slaves of tie workers of one nation, or tell Mr Garvin 'he is wrong when ho states, "the vanquished race is vaguely expected to keep working for others decade after decade" ?

So far as 1 know there are only three methods of paying the huge sums mentioned. First, by gold or securities; second, by services; third, by commodities. Clearly the first is impossible, as there, is not enough gold in the world to pay the first year's interest on the debt, and I do not know Jiow services can bo rendered or commodities produced without the labour of the work-, ers. , We know that the commerce of the world really consists of the exchange of the products of ono country with tho products of oilier countries, but the proposal now is that one country shall produce commodities or raw material and send them to other countries receiving nothing* in I regard such a condition as slavery, and I cannot rejoice at its introduction because I think it will not bring peace into the world, but swords. Further, I ask you, sir. and the real Labour men to whom you appeal, to consider the position from the point of view of the worker in one of the victorious nations. What do the impositions of these terms on the conquered nations menn to us? buppose Germany pays the debt in commodities, as she assuredly would, because .in the end there is no other way, and suppose those commodities happen, to include beef, mutton, butter, cheese, wool—how is tho payment going . to affect tho real workers in New Zealand, to whom you have appealed? Sir, there is only one answer to that questionit would mean that tho products of Germany, would undersoil the produots of New Zealand. The selling pries of our exports would g;o down until in the end we would rsquiro to export several times the amount wo now export to pay the same amount of interest on our debt, and our exports being produced by (real labour, we too shou,i<t have becomp slaves to, the world's financiers, because we had by tlio Peace terms allowed the workers of Germany to become, slaves of the same: people. You will, no doubt, reply that Germany does not produce an excess qf those commodities over her own requirements, and therefore she cannot export them; that really makes no dif-

ference. If she produces any commodities and sends them on to the markets of the world without receiving an equivalent of the products of other countries in return, it will have the effect of keeping the German workers busy while those of other countries are unemployed, and will have a tendency to reduce the standard of the workers living the world over. You say, sir, that it is wickedly false for me to assert that one provision of the Peace Treaty enslaves anyone. To that I reply it may be wicked in your sight for me to say it, but it certainly is not false. Elementary arithmetic, to sny nothing of elementary economics, should have taught you that. I repeat that not only do the terms make slaves ol the German workers, but because they do that they will ultimately reduce the workers of all other countries to a state nearer actual slavery than they are today, {Sir, in the course of your letter you carelesslv and I suppose quite innocently attribute'to me opinions which I do not hold and never have held, most of which I can afford to icnore, as 1 am fairlv we.ll known and have never attempted to hide mv views, having in fact, for mv own welfare been rather too free in expressine them. I have never said that the nation, which caused the war should pro unpunished, or that criminals should not be made to answer for their crimes, and I have never said there should bo no exculpation and no reparation, and none of these sentiment* can Ixs found in mv written or spoken words on the war. neither can they be fairly inferred from the tolejjram you have attempted to use for political purposes.

The war that is ended was fought as a war to end war. I have lost many dear friends and quite a few blood relatives in it. Thev. like millions more, fought and died that the world mightbe safo for democracy, that the work! miirht so far as is humanly possible be free from war. The sacrifices made and the tremendous vietorv achieved made such a peace' possible as would have ensured the aim which inspired the armie» that rallied to the banner of freedom from all parts of the world, but ihtterms offered are in Mr Garvin's words, "peace with a vengeance," and I submit that peace minded with vengeoncr is not peace at all. When the real Peace dav comes. Mr Hornsby, I shall not be able to hinder the peoples'- rejoicing, even if I were craven enough to wish to. People will not then ask me or anyone else what Labour's attitude ought to he. Labour will know and will act. I have an idea that the real Peace mav not ,be far off, it may even come out of the present negotiations. It is said that Nero fiddled while Home burned, and there stiLl seem to be many prepared to make nierry. while "dragons' teeth are scattered across Europe." After the irreat Napoleon was crowned Bmperor of France he asked ono of his marshals what he thoudit of the ceremony. "I* was fine," was the reply, "nothing wantin? excent the million men who died in pulling down what von are eetHnj? up." That rcnlv to mv mind fits ths position today. Seventeen million men, women and children, have in a w-ar to wnr. and T am asked to be triad at a settlement which seems to me to make a mockery of that (stupendous sacrifice, and I rnnly that T cannot be clad nt such " settlement—the sacrifice, was too sacred for such a finish. THOMAS 'BLOODWOETH. TJniterJ yn'lprfHon of Labour. Auckland. Kay 27th. 1919.