The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1918 WILL TRANSPORT WORKERS STRIKE?

Taihape Daily Times, 13 September 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1918 WILL TRANSPORT WORKERS STRIKE?

(With which iB Incorporated The FtAhape Post and WalEwul-jo News).

J One of the most important products I of labour is labour, and while labour I goes on interminably in its demands and strikes increasing the price of itself, there comes a stage sooner or later when a fictitious value of other products of labour is forced into the economic whirligig with which to make up the loss resulting from labour overcharging itself. This does not mean that labour is receiving in present conditions more than it is entitled to, for it is obvious that the strangulaion of an hitherto already faulty economic system of profiteers, j commercial thieves and robbers, is at the root of the labour difficulties New Zealand as well as the rest of tne Empire has had, and is having, to contend with. Labour demands in our Empire are amongst an educated labour class here, what the robberies and j murders, seizures of land, produce, I money and banks,are amongst the igi norant Russians.' Both know that ! they are being forced into the bcttoni,i most economic cellar, while profiteers j flourish in its sunshine, and both are i causing injury to economic progress in a straggle to attain some degree of justice by the only methods that they find nearest at hand and most adaptable for their purposes. The world is floundering along with an economic system of a haphazard development; when exchanging of one product for another did not permit the hoarding of wealth fast enough to satisfy the greediest elements money was invented to represent commodities, concreted labour, spent labour, concentrated and stored in a metal coin. This gave a fillip ■ to greed and'metal currency fell as hopelessly short as exchange of products had done, and then paper was printed with a promise to pay a | sum named thereon, and so a year's labour was hoarded or exchanged in a scrap of valueless paper. This was all very convenient and perhaps necessary in carrying en the business of an ever increasingly busy world; its one fault was that it permitted the cornering of labour; it gave the power to large holders of concrete labour to force down the value of unspent labour till the labourer himself found 'he was being ground down into a life of actual want with its attendant miseries and deprivations. This gave birth to combinations of labour, working me a banded together to secure justice and a battle commenced that has wrought untold misery, 'and which will go on till reform of our present stupid, unwieldy, unworkable, economic methods is forced upon ,us. During the great war in which most of the nations of the world are struggling for national and individual freedom we see labour hindering the deteat of the enemy that would -enslave him by throwing down his munitionmaking tools, refusing to work until he receives pay that will enable him to live through the endless increase in prices of everything that is ncessary to bis existence. Similar efforts to get adequate pay to meet altered conditions are being made in New Zealand, and to-morrow, or the next day, we may awake to find that transport workers are out on strike because their wages are only half the value they were when they agreed to work for them. Britishers boast about the war for justice against Germany, while they continue to disregard the i industrial war against injustice in their own country. It Is futile to continue either dishonest blatancy or cruel subtlety in trying to suppress demands for more just and humane conditions. The greatest industrial and commercial kings of the earth hav e realised the fact, but they have not yet made their views heard as they are yet chiefly engaged in tran-

sition experiments. Statistics in New Zealand show that in purchasing ne-

cessaries of life., meat, dairy produce, groceries, rent and bread, the sovereign ibefore the war is only worth thirteen shillings now; in tact in taking all other things not included under the headings mentioned it is certain that the erstwhile twenty shillings have been whittled down by the profiteer till they are not now worth ten shillings. The whittlers of wages become bolder and more voracious, and they are determined to go to war with labour rather than stop one shilling of the flow of profits that is streaming into their banking accounts, What we, the people of the country have to decide is, are we going to submit to a transport strike that may involve the stoppage of all transport services, rendering it impracticable to get food, coal, clothing or anything else in our long category of needs. In viewing the situation sanely we should realise that with every strike labour has become more powerful, and political machinery has drifted further into labour's Control. Great statesmen in England and in 'America have spoken the word of caution, ana they have openly preached the doctrine that economic reforms of a comprehensive and drastic nature must b 8 adopted to save the country from revolution. They have stated that the danger is a real one, and they have unhesitatingly admitted that justice is on the side of labour. New Zealand, Canadian, and Australian soldiers sent to the war have constituted an unanswerable argument for better paid labour to produce a physique, stamina and spirit that is essential to ensure continuance of the Empire's existence, and ti is obvious that only a few, a very few. can ultimately benefit by a continuance of economic cannibalism. The comfort and welfare of all classes must and will depend upon the spending power of the masses; businesses, professions, and all classes engaged in exchange of commodities can only enjoy somewhat uniform prosperity by a just and reasonable spending power being enjoyed by the people. It is most sincerely hoped that the Na-' tional Government will not permit any disorganisation 'of the ' country's transport services at such a critical time as the present is.