The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1920. WHAT WILL THE END BE?

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3404, 7 February 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1920. WHAT WILL THE END BE?

With which is incorpuateul ‘W 1? Taihape Post. and Waimarino » Newt.“ ' ~'

l A somewhat serious stage of the I Commonwealth Marine Engineers’ . Strike has been reached; there are one iliundred and eighty-five thousand tons .of"sllipping held up in Sydney and Newcastle alone, and there are fifteen thousand men idle. It should readily be apparent whataa gap in sea transport from Australia, -with produce from other parts of the World, is being made, and it will be equally" easy to approximately determine the loss that such a far—reaching strike is causing to Australila and Australians, producers ‘ manufacturers and workers, at a time when every ounce of industry is most urgently needed in recovering a normal industrial and financial status, after a depressing period as'a result I of war. In these industrial outbreaks some leading British. newspapers have taken the stand that no Government» can coerce workers to remain at work while profiteers are permitted to continue to make profits running into mil- , lions a year. On the other hand, it is T suggested that workers would be :equally unreasonable if there were no i profiteering; again it is contended that the Government is not prepared to test i the truth of that statement by putting la stop to what is claimed to be the ' cause of the unrest. To learn anything [tangible by examinauion of what ap- ’ pears in journals and magazines anent this troublesome ‘probhem is utterly [ futile. There appears to be no end in sight of the mad orgy of robbery and of the resultant strikes and go-slows. It seems very evident that the race for big prices and higliest profits is not i yet =nearly run to a finish, and lab'our lcommotions are becoming more turbui lent and determined, I)l'ogl'essing rapidlly on the way to much more serious land alarming dimensions and nature, l as the other race for the most ‘outrageous profits proceeds. Premier Hughes is "reduced" to a state of exasperation over the Marine Engineers’ determination to get what they (lem'3.nd. and in despair he can only say that “if they remain out for six months they will be no better ofi than they‘ are to-day. There is, however, some room for doubting the situation Mr Hughes predicts being theaoutcome of the strike, for it, as it seems by Mr Hughes’ forlorn remark, the situl:-rtion will be no better after a strike extending over six months, then it must have become very much worse, or something -must have intervened. Rightly or wrongly, dc“ termined educated men have strucki Work, and relfused to operate itlleir Ships for an object, and if those men gradually drift into other employment, as coalminerg are doing here, there will be a much more serious aspect of the shipping trouble owing to a. permanent‘ sllort'.lg‘e of Marine Engineers. There is little prospect of filling the places of the strikers in Australasia. and if men were imported from other countries for what is termed “l)lackle:;'ging” or “seLrbbing,” no person could even commence to foresee what would! happen- Vvhile this diabolical, tragic, Satanic opera proceeds ‘unfortunate masses of the people find themselves between the profiteering devil and the deep blue sea strikers. There is not one scrap more virtue, honour, 1.-Ind honesty in the profiteer who corners necessaries of life than there is in the coalminer and marine engineer who Iretorts by

cornering his labour; if one is right,

ithe other is right, but if both are Wl'ollg What Pl'ocess becomes necessary l to Siwe the country from collapse, and zP€‘9Pl9 from starvation? Is there no I help? Must the masses stand idly, help'l‘/‘SSIY bi" WhLil(*-"the two enemies to ;°l'lVilis.‘Ptioli bri-ng-.everyt,hing to de-St-l'llotioll‘3‘ Would is not be in l the interests of civilisation tot ' round up and deport the ‘profiteering gangs with the traitorous Reds‘? The United States Government , has commenced operations by deporting i Reds; but the profiteers are left. to; I‘GV€‘.l in their 01'-gy -of robbery; the re- ‘ 5”” is» that as one hundred-Reds are dePol'tod a- thousand more take their P 1309; and when the thousands are rounded up the whippers-in look back f 0 discover ‘ten thousand ‘others all'e!a.dy in the Places left vacant’. and so a sort of endless chain process goes on. Of course, there is the common-sense, honest, honourable way of going to work, but the world has progressed since war w'a.s declared, and there is not even that honour among thieves as was said to exist on pre-war days. Profite'ering is Wrong because it is extortion, cheating; extortion is robbery and robbery is punishableunder the Criminal Code, yet the,'a.uthorities do not’ arraign and punish profiteers, they say they will, lbut ‘the profiteers smile sardonically, and push on with their robbery systems all the harder. The people hf this country have had the bitter experience of seeing how trickery prevents a popu- ‘ lar govel'nment "being eleoiied; -by I practice of the art of political jugglery they learn that it is impossible to get a Government representative of the people, and they witness scenes of the most transparent efiorts to excuse and’ even encourage the contagious trade! robbery which has already reached serious pandemic proportions. The authorities in New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, either know their lanti-profiteer-ing laws are nothing more than sheer humbug, or they will -not, or dare not, put them into practice—Which is it? There is an admitted “cornering” of flour for speculative, for pro-fiteering purposes, and .the Government has taken action, but what" action‘? The lcountry’S laws have been deliberately’ and designedly broken, and what action does the Government authorise‘? ;l\'one/, it silnply tells the speculators——the pz-ofiteervs——t-hat contracts for speeulative—for profiteering—purposes must be subordinated to the demands {of grocers and bakers for flour. The

Government permits profiteering tfol gproceed, so long as some show is being , made of keeping grocers and bakers /Supplied. Flourniillers are told that if‘ i they are not more circumspect in their profiteering the subsidy on flour from the public Treasury will be withdrawn. Is not the stoppage of profiteering a hopeless quest‘? VVhen asked a few Ddays ago whether sugar hoarding wasl knot prevalent, the Prime Miiiister re-l plied, “Undoubtedly there is hoard-| lring of sugiar.” And yet the Govern-' :ment will not prosecute the men who: ‘ erg hoarding, or cornering. contrary to law. The situation is becoming in‘telcrnble; the very foundations of our} Empire are shaking with the super-' gstructure of robbery that its people %are heaping upon them. Thel-lome ‘L Government is desperate with the load ‘of parasites and barnacles that is im- M lpeding progress towards financial and V l industrial stability. The man who re- r cently ‘proclaimed thzit all -mankind!‘ ‘V3S mad had Some. excuse, at least,|‘ for his statement, for the people of the '. world seem to be divided, one half is! * stark profiteering mad_ while the other | half is imbecile and vaeantly stares on. |'rhe British Treasury is withdrawing 1 paper money to the extent of twenty l U million pounds at once, and more is to 11 be withdrawn later. British bankers ; have decided to keep a ‘tight hold on their advances policy, until credit has ' improved by increased production and g by the practice of economy. May it I] i be understood by this that the British [Government is ‘attacking the very I‘oof . of the profiteering evil? Is it intended 3 ifo 50 appreciate currency that it will ( jbU.V mom ‘Of the necess'a.ries of life? t lAl'O the Xl7o]-kers. to ‘Hope for a (wink . Tetllm 0f Hl6‘ pound sterling to its real 1 Vmue 35 juxtaposed to cornmoditiesi :1 Pwt even this gratifying beginning“ Wm Only I'9-fluce the grounds‘for profit- '5 caring excuses. and must fail to satisfy . ‘ the l)90P1‘3; if cornering or'ho:u-dingil is not punished, instead of being pull- it ishablc. In stock exclmnges fortunes‘! 31‘0 bfing Wilde and lost in a i'e“'i( hours; the most appalling “wild. eat’.’ «'_f frenzy is rampant, speculation and 1 finance daring is breaking all Wm-‘]d, records; how can it be expected tlrat 13 Hl9 007117331011 will not reach the 1 inasses! of ‘the D(‘()I)]__(>? go ](mg as ]el.mZ_ L icd pmfitcering continues, there will be r maritime Strikes". and all other kind of I Sfl'll((‘.‘«‘, until (1 crisis is I'(\a,(3}lQd, and I then not a man on cnarth am my what I Wsll }I3DDOn- Trusts and combines 1 have successfully en_q;,._C(,,.ed a rabid ‘ devolution in the ranks of pi-odiicnrs, 1 professions, and labour; me}, of whose three are too busy scheming how they 1 can get more of the 9.m.gh’_., ~aßSu],9' too eager to liofice that an #379 the Vim ( tims of the “other i':ellow"--3. nee/ii designation of the trust magnate. The 5 end is not yet‘: men are verily })]a,ying- f with fire, what will the end of it all,‘ he? I