The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1919. THE LOGIC OF STRIKES.

Taihape Daily Times, 7 October 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1919. THE LOGIC OF STRIKES.

With which is incorporatefl “The Taihape Post: and Waimarino Newn.”

The great railway strike in Britain has terminated, and satisfied men-are again‘ at work. Railwaymen ceased work to have an unjust .principle' righted; they were, in a measure, fore. ed to ‘the strike weapon by the arrogant attitude -of an autocrat Minister. Mr Lloyd George/s «methods have seti tled.'thc strike now, and it seemsmore than pro'bable that he would have prevented the strike a.l_together on present terms, had he no‘t. been interfered with . by a man who invited force -by using force. This st.rike, involving hundreds of thousands of men, has been settled by conference_. and in this connection [ should not the circum.sta.nces be ‘taken ‘as an object-lesson in New Zealand? *Here we live in uncertainty about a coal supplythat may be cut ofi' at any hour, becaus'e"c'o'al so-wners refuse ‘to con’-=. for ‘with coal‘-"workers while smart is a hope: of avoiding rupture. The ‘British 1 railway strike ‘may be clainled' to”be la ‘ ‘demonstration-‘of the ove.rwhelming-“-ad-‘vantage t-0 *t‘lle.nat"ion of essential services being under Govern’me.nt-' control,” for from what cventuafed at" the British C-oral Commission it is qui‘te”'safe to say that had the railwaymen to deal 'with private ownership instead of with the g}‘ov'ernmen‘f, there would have been i no set.tlement- today of a. rupture that I was ‘fraught with incalculable ‘disaster to Empire arrdindividual. At least the evidence we have forced upon us in New Zealand’b‘y coal-owners refusing! to thresh coalll differences out with ‘ miners leads to" no other conclusion. It 1 should be a crime punishable by law for any party to refuse to meet thel other to an industrial dificrence in con- I ference so long as either had any prospect to discuss that which might save the masses of the p-e-ople from depths of suficring that are almost unbeliev-j able. It is undeniable ‘that if this couun-i i try is tovbe a “-bear-pit” for labour‘ and capital as "it has been in the past, 1 there can be no real progress; in fact, conditions must go from bad to worse. 1 Men pay high prices for land and plume themselves with the thought that the money they make will enable them ‘tel get all the labour they want at pre-1‘ war ra.tcs, or, perhaps, by paying ai little-. more‘, bust: 'these men do m-ofic! realise that the wages the masses are earning are all expended ‘in food and‘, clothing. .Wc say, because we know,} that no man with any family at all can I live healthfully at less than from 85/ to 90/ a week, so out of proportion have prices of necessaries of life become in compa.ris~on with wages. It is claimed by Ministers of the Crown, and by many politicians,_ that there is a great wave of prosperity passing overi New Zealand, -but if that claim is borne out by fact it is certainly not the , masses of the people that are participating in any such prosperity. Much talk islheard about Savings Bank, accounts increasing, but it is dishonest in the extreme to suggest that such ill- I creases are anything more than re-’ flecting increased earnings of a few, and that few are .not workers in a fair I understanding of the term. If thereiis I a wave of prosperity it is .a. wave that I is also accentuating the Widely increasing chasm between the earning of‘ manual and profit-taking labour; it is| a wave laden with resentment that may yet. grow into: revolution, and We believe that the nationalisation. of the{ most important public services provides the only s-olution of the ditfi-I culty. Nationalisation will have the effect of eventually.’ completely climin-I ating every vestige of profiteering and i dishonest trading; a large prdportion of I labour will be employed by the State, therefore GOVel'nm.en'fs will find it necessary to keep down the cost -of living so that labour will only need a wage than ‘contributes to State Works being, at least, self-supporting. In the great railway strike in Britain We have it clearly discovered what part" is played in wage-making :by cost of living; the adult railwayman that received a wage of about 18/per week before the war is, ‘while cost of living is 110 per‘ cent’ higher than before the war, to re-

I ceive 51/ per week. And it is a st:l*ed ‘arrangement that volume of wages is Ito fluctuate with cost of living. In this is for-med the most likely Sollliioll [of the wages question; so long as the R State permits profiteering its \\’'J{%.’os 1 sheet will go mounting up, alld Sills‘ 3-5 lthe State applies the muzzle to Pro‘ l fiteering so will its wages bill go dOWII- - becomes inimical to the best interests of the State, hence regui lation of profits must come. The Bri~ r tish G7overn~nlent. has also had it fully’ demonstrated that a system of extori tion in trading, increases the number l of 't;radel's much beyond what is ample lfor eflfective distribution, and tllero»b)' l depletes the labour market; those that islrould be producing, tempted byhigh S profits, have joined the ranks of parasites on production. Tlfe farmer has 110 greater enemy than the profiteer whose Thievery causes legitimate 13130111‘ 'SO forsake pr-oduction for profit-making. thus lessening the VOlll-mo of labour, and enabling that which is left to get whatever wages is asked for it. With nationalisation of essential public services, such as land and water t‘ran»si'f. means of communication, coal-mining, electricity, a.nd others ‘that have not yet been forced upon pubic notice, the state {VIII he by far the largest em-‘ ployer -of labour, and, as such, will come into direcfand sharp Conflict with the lproflteear. When Ina.l'ion.ali’silition comes, the ‘State is not likely to per-mi't the thieving proclivities of any section of the community to put a few millions a year on to its wages bill. The State will be the chief victim of profiteering, for the principle" is now well establish» ed. ‘that wages must justly fluctuate with the cost of living. It is ‘on this principle that the great railway strike in Britain has been called ofli, and it is the operation of this principle that will eventually end profitcering, and, sequentially, strikes. We pointed out in a recent article" that the State lost much more ‘by the strike weapon than labour Idid, _ and a cablcgram from America yesterday amply corroborated 0 our enntcntion. In 2000 strikes since last July 25,000,000 dollars were lost in 1 wages, but the loss in production to the 1 State was no less than 100,000,000 of dollars. Whatever labour in New Zealand has lost in wages by strikes, we cilain 'lJGz.‘:Sur4e tllht to the 'C'()1'1'I1-‘ try is four fimbs g'l'eatér.3"' Strikes are far more unprofitable t-o-"the -Sta-te than 1 tovthe» striker, ajnd‘when'it'is recognised that what the ‘strikers!’ continue to win the employers continues toilose, popular feeling will compel the State to». inforce fair trading 's”ys'tem.s ' so .'that wages do not become disproportionately high. It is very important that Wei should notice the changing attitude of‘ the British Grovernment to strikes. It, is obvious that strik-ers have a good case or they have none; in the railway strike Government has admitted the men had a case by agreeing to pay wages for the week the men had been idle. It was fairly well undersi-o~od in Britain that the Army could not be de- I pended upon to use. military force against the strikers, and who will say that were a greast. strike ‘prov-oke-d in, New Zealand that workers under arms would shoot down their .brothers who, worked--with pick and shovels? We. be»; lieve that producers and people generally will realise that nationalisation of l essen-‘.ia.l‘ public services will not only raise those services to the highest state of perfection, but will also xtend to completely solve the wages question and thereby ensure industrial peace,, social happiness, and nationa.l progress.