The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1918. INDUSTRIAL STORMS BREWING.

Taihape Daily Times, 21 September 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1918. INDUSTRIAL STORMS BREWING.

(With which is Incorporated The 7*fti* • hape Poat and Waira»mo News).

There are not wanting some real causes for alarm over the thicken'eg dark clouds that are fast obscuring the future of ao:iul and industrial conditions in New Zealand. The ».-c-im-munity and legislature uce drifting on to the rocks of labour troubles and none puts out a hand or raises a warning voice to save the social and industrial structure from becoming a total wreck. The British Empire professes to be draining itself of blood and treasure in fighting for the cause of Right against Might, and yet we see around, wherever we look, that Might is the height of fashion and Right is kicked, cuffed, and enslaved, bound to the wheels which turn to make millions for Might, while it becomes a miserable starvling. The race between rise of wages of cost of liv-. ing has been dragged out uhtil.it has become a ridiculous social extravaganza, and were it not 'for its serious aspects it could be laughed at as the lowest of low comedies ever enacted; the situations met with are ludicrous in, the extreme, and yet the chief character, Might, goes on assisted' by supine, spineless legislation, increasing the difficultie of the other character, Right, in obtaining sufficient to exist upon until he reaches a stage of desperation and threatens to emulate i the methods of Might; while the masses of the- people drift on hoping and waiting for a denoument that will herald everlasting betterment which never comes. The temper of the people is being tried to a dangerous extreme; precept of Right is hurled at them at every turn and on every occasion, but the example of Might is j practiced without abatement Is it any wonder that there are signs of j revolt everywhere? Indeed, it would' be something' to wonder at if there I were not. Might could possibly sue-I ceed if it had the tiniest vestige of j conscience, but it is its utter con- ! sciencelessness that will encompass , its complete downfall. Tccohtinue pluming and preening while terrible j storms are obviously about to 1 break I and crash is a leading characteristic of I Might, and it goes merrily on''raising j the cost of living, robbing and plun-1 dering the people they have so long fooled with their cunning, lying precepts of Right. Prance got through her revolution against Might well ahead of other nations; Russia is gettiag through hers now; Germany is having hers forced upon her by the 'Allied arms of Right; America and the British Empire, including New Zealand, have exhausted the controversial stage of development and are now indulging in preliminary skirmishing; no one can predict the minute a signal will not be given for the first great open rupture. Is is as well to understand and realise that Might has been so far-reaching in his exploitations that the ranks of Right have been so widened as to include all classes of laibour, every man and woman who lives by wages or salary, and so a more correct estimate of any threatening upheaval becomes practicable. We have the sorry experience , of seeing the. of Might sendi ing away thousands of men to fight for Right; they have so cajoled the people until they have been made to j believe that, Might and Right are t interchangeable terms. The disciples of Right may die of shot, shell and bayonet in the trenches at the dictation of Might, or they may, If they are useless as fighters, stay at home and be subjected to slow starvation that Might may accumulate more millions and increase its power to dominate. Might is not the prevailing passion in Prussia alone; it is in the heyday of fashion in New Zealand, and throughout the whole British Empire, and it is practiced with such widespread rampancy that few indeed escape from its octopi tentacles. Legislators know very well what is required to lessen the millions-making of Might, and to Increase the comfort, health and stamina of the people, and it is because they will not, or dare not, effect any

improvement that the deep rumblings of spreading industrial discontent are

being heard throughout the whole 1 country. Temporising, the people are tired of; promises of something better by and by have proved miserably, bitterly fallacious, and huge bodiesJ>l strong men are now impatient, demanding a sufficiency to live upon; and for time from their day's work in which to eat their dinner. The whole tramway service men in Wellington are likely to be out on strike at any minute; the coal-mining troubles are by no means over; a conference was held in Wellington on Thursday, at which tramway representatives and transport workers—seamen included—were present, to discuss the high cost of living question. Every day now sees further spreading of the industrial trouble. No news of what took place at the conference was vouchsafed to newspapers, tout the Wellington Press says that interesting developments may be looked for. In fact, Might has gone to about the length of its tether, an)l it has bred a new Might that is hourly expected to come into conflict with it. Those who have a vivid recollection of the great maritime strike will know how eve ! ry busi- * ness man ,as well as every unfortunate worker and his family, must suffer by any lengthy stoppage of all means of transport. The day has gone toy when the masses of the people can be coaxed into slavery by specious cant. The attitude of Might is opening wide the doors of Parliament to men who openly boast of being members of the I.W.W. A candidate for the Wellington Central seat, in reply to a question, said/"he thought he was loyal to the King," tout he had no misgivings about being "loyal to the workers of the world." He treated with levity the suggestion that his cult had any relationship with that of the Bolsheviki, but it must be remembered that the Workers of the-World placed the British Government in some jeopardy toy their insistence in wishing to hold a conference with Bolshevik representatives with the object of securing a premature peace, a peace that would have given complete victory to Britain's enemy,.and to the arch-enemy of all forms ; of democracy. Therefore, it may with- good reason be assumed that there is something in common between Bolshevism and the Independent Workers of the World. On the ether hand there is the corrupt Might which has given birth to and built up another corrupt and undesirable form of Might. One is as ruthless in its operations as the other; as careless, callous, and indifferent to the waste of human life. All sane people are bound down to the notion that one conscienceless thing can only I be effectually combated by another equally consieneless thing, or why is no legislative effort made to put into j full practice the one and only method that can maintain industrial peace, and give comfort and plenty to all classes? If New Zealand has not enough money to pay higher wages, .or if there is insufficient food to go round making competitive prices beyond the purchasing power of wages paid, there is only the one specific—put more men to work on the land to produce the food to adequately feed our own people, and raise a greater surplus for export to provide more money. This is the yolk, thefessen'ce of vitality of the troublous problem, which only can avoid a tentative, incipient revolution, at least.