SLACKING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3594, 5 October 1920, Page 3

SLACKING.

GENERAL BOOTH’S PLAINT. The world is becoming dangerously work-shy—i.hat was the considered opinion of General Eootn, the head of the Salvation Army, on- hits rcturETto London at the end ot July from a tour of Australasia. “The last thing 1. want to do is to preach on this matter, ’ ’ said General 60a.1i to a ‘‘Daily Mail” reporter. “I am a sincere friend of the working man; I know him and 1 wish him well. But the time has come when this almost world-wide antipathy to work should be discussed. It is not altogether a legacy of the war, for I began to notice it five years ago. It; was a flicker then; it is a flame now. The working man —all who work, not only the manual labourer—is professing a distaste.for work, and is getting from ‘I don’t want to work’ In 'Why should 1 work?’ This spirit is noticeable on t he Continent, in this country, and particularly in Australia.

‘‘Once it was a matter of dissatisfaction , that there should be a class which had no necessity to~w'ork. Now, it seems, there is a growing desire to emulate those who do noit; work. ‘You are lucky'lo get us to work at all,’ is the expressed attitude of many. What is still more lamentable is the way this is being handed on from .parents to children.” The remedy for work-shyness, General 800. h declar'd, is for the real leaders of Labour. th'« recognised top men of the trade unions, to combine in a sincere effort to counteract it.