LABOUR AND CAPITAL

Southland Times, Issue 18856, 23 June 1920, Page 7

LABOUR AND CAPITAL

NEED FOR CO-OPERATION. PRODUCTION AFFECTED BY ANTAGONISM. “An intelligent and sincere co-operation between the two great agents of .production —Labour and Capital—is absolutely essential to an ameliorated condition of our people, and yet that kind of co-operation, not only in New Zealand, but in the Old World, seems to be diminishing rather than increasing,” stated Mr H. Beauchamp in the course of his address at the annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand. “The policy of organised Labour the world over is to fight Capital and not to unite with it. The world is confronted with an unparalleled economic crisis. Want and starvation are stalking through Europe leaving widespread death, misery and suffering in their track. Unfed and unclothed millions are crying in despair for food and raiment. Lack of a reasonable measure of comfort is widespread owing to an insufficiency of the necessaries of life; and before this sad spectacle the mutually destructive struggle between Labour .and Capital seems to be growing more and more bitter and intense. Strikes on the shallowest pretences; ever increasing demands for shorter hours; limitation of output and a conflict growing, blindly ever more acute between employers and workmen, seem to justify almost a gospel of despair regarding our social and economic future. “Never before in the history of the world have the needs of increased production been more clamant than to-day—never before were the two partners, Labour and Capital, more bitterly estranged and antagonistic. I do not say that the blame—-for the spectacle is a sorry commentary on our civilisation—is wholly with one side or the other. Capital has never sufficiently brought to its consideration of the claims and aspirations of Labour the lamp of human sympathy. Recriminations and denunciations in the present great world crisis will serve no purpose but that of intensifying the evils of the estrangement and diminishing the hope of reconciliation. ‘lt is better to strive for the good than to rail at the ill ’ —to remedy the cause than to denounce it. <*‘Two great desiderata call aloud for recognition : First, more sanity on the part of Labour—it should cease to be so immersed in agitation and so blind to its results; and secondly more genuine evidence of willing co-operation and concession on the part of Capital. “Crusades: against the soaring cost of living, profiteer-hunting, fixation of prices—these are but symptoms of the disease of a paralysed or arrested production, and the remedy lies in getting to the root of the evil instead of applying palliatives to the symptoms. If the day of radical changes in the structure of our industrial system is inevitable the sooner it is recognised the better, and the utmost human effort n\pst be made to find a just and permanent modus vivendi. “Much of the present bitterness between the two great agencies must be due to misunderstanding or simply blind antagonism, and our unflinching determination should be to dispel these causes by bringing the parties as much as possible together. I do not ignore the stupendous difficulty of the problem, but it must be faced and solved or national disaster is before us. To this end the proposal that the Prime Minister should call a national Industrial conference of both employers and employed is surely a step in the right direction. This would at least disclose 'more clearly root causes and basic differences an£ open up a possible path to genuine co-operX.ion and industrial concord. “In a land like this, so richly endowed by Nature with all that is necessary for solid national comfort and happiness; with a sturdy race of purely British blood and a climate that stimulates energy; it is surely deplorable that industrial antagonism should so paralyse the hands of industry and stifle the creation of wealth that many have to face want where plen'.y should be their lot and comfort their heritage. That production in New Zealand has suffered grievously from the causes I have indicated no one can deny, and the following table is but eloquent proof of that conclusion: —

“At the close of 1919 there were in store 126,722,2321’0s woo! and 2,107,072 cwt- of meal, which, under normal conditions, would nearly all have been exported, and should therefore be credited in the above table, in which case the averages for 191519 would, in respect to wool, he increased by over 25,000,0001b5, and would convert the apparent shrinkage into an actual increase. But. even after making all such allowances the average increases are not encouraging and, unless a great deal more is accomplished, the pinch of “hard times” will be felt with some severity. The values of our products are declining, and, when the Imperial purchasing scheme terminates, a new set of conditions is bound to arise—a set of conditions that will be full of difficult problems for bankers, business men and producers. Wool, meat, tallow, hides and skins - have already receded from the high level reached since tbs armistice was signed in 1918. The statistical position in respect to most of these products makes it inevitable that prices must go lower. For instance, in the case of wool, the quantity in 1 hand is far in excess of the consumptive capacity of the available spindles and, even if all the spindles that were in operation prior to the war were in operation now, the weight of wool would be more than could be dealt with in a reasonable time. With the embargo placed on speculation by bankers the world over, spinners are operating only from hand to mouth and (hoy are safe in pursuing such a policy, for the wool is at their call whenever they require it. Meat, too, seems likely to present serious difficulties because of the enormous quantity in store. There is not yet sufficient shipping available to cleat the cold stores and, even if transportation could be arranged, it would not prevent prices from falling. Though some of our products may hold to something like their present values—dairy produce for instance-the general tendency is downwards and, should the decline be anything like 25 per cent., the situation would become one of some seriousness. “In the six years, 1914-19—the years of war prosperity—the exports aggregated £202.590,095, or average of £33,705,110 j per annum. A drop of 25 iter cent, would j reduce this to £25,323,837. and bring us down to the level of 1914, when the exports were valued at a little more than twenty- j six millions. Such a shrinkage would be ■ immediately reflected in the Treasury re- i turns and, unless the strictest economy is ) exercised in every department of the State, j increased taxation would, in that event, seem to be unavoidable. Businesses which have been built up on the basis of inflated prices, and land values that have been rushed upwards on the same basis, would suffer severely in the process of deflation.”

Annual Increase or Exports. Average. Decrease. 1914. 1915-19 ner cent. Wool (lbs) 2 20,472,898 214,098,975 — 2.9 Meat (cwt) 3,229,970 * 3,475,407 + 7.0 Butter, cwt 434,007 370,154 — 13.0 Cheese, cwt 863.770 1,070,930 + 23,0 Tallow, cwt 490,390 500,510 + 2.0 Hides (No.) 412,822 359,298 —12,0 Hemp, tons 23,928 20,493 + 10.0