The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1920. A HOUSE DIVIDED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3594, 5 October 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1920. A HOUSE DIVIDED.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News,"

Incoming cable messages, during the last few days have been heavy with reports of wars and rumours of wars, revolutions, strikes and uprisings againsst laws and governments, yet the news is received with an astounding equanimity; no one is alarmed, and no one seems to have ruffled thoughts or any misgivings about ,what it all means, let alone feeling any degree of alarm. One aspect stands out clearly, unmistakcably and irrisistibly, that is that there is an organised understanding amongst certain classes of people in variqus countries, and particularly in America, that nothing is to be left undone . or unsaid that will injure the British Empire* or that will cause strife and conflict in any part or Dominion thereof. Concurrently with displays of hatred against Britain in the United States there is a more noticeable return to sane trading taking place, consequently, labour in Britain is exasperated to desperation with highest cost of living and lowest rate of wages. The American Federation of Labour has officially declared its, independence of what it terms “the radical and revolutionary European Labour movement.lt repudiates the British Labour movement; it makes known its lack of sympathy with international Labour and will in no way countenance Soviet government. This announcemct probably betokens a stand against extreme labour by the more moderate class of workers everywhere, but early developments will soon leave no doubt about what serious trouble is going to arise by one section of labour flying at the throats of the other. It . certainly seems as though a “Kil- , kenny Cat” atmosphere was threatening labour with a rift that will alarm those p'eople who now encourage it, if it does not eventually render labour quite incapable of carrying on the national work. The Americans are certainly making honest endeavour to keep the cost of living within the power of wages paid. The labour movement is by no means the only menace, or even the most serious menace to the British Empire. Its enemies are discovering themselves in ‘ several countries; in the United States they have thrown off all pretence, having commenced a “Down with Britain” campaign of a bitter and ferocious character. It is not alone in the United States and Ireland that bitterness against Britain is being fomented, it is discoverable in several countries, and is not confined to those which have been hostile to Britain and the Entente generally throughout the war. Then, it is natural to ask, what has Britain done to bring upon it. even in its remotest dominions, this multiple avalanche of hatred? There appears to be a union of forces not yet sufficiently disclosed to determine what that union consists of and from whence it comes. It may be nothing more than a silly grafting of other contentions matters on to that of labour, and were it not for the evidence in plenty that men do not stop at bloodshed the moderate labour might render extreme labour harmless in the United States, but no one will deny that the most probable result will bo a state of guerilla war of the most hideous and. blood-curdling character. American jSolil ieiaiin are angling for the Irish and German vote at the .forthcoming elections, and in so doing arc making proposals Iha t are, bringing out a much more disturbing campaign than could otherwise have been developed. Whatever the Americans may do, however, is not likely to have much bearing upon conditions of life in New Zealand. For this Dominion’s greatest menace, Labour within and without, must be looked to. Conoditions of life are becoming more exasperating than ever before , and the Government either cannot or will not realise the position as it is. The Board of Trade, after all these years . have

found something more than a bottle

of infants;’ food lias been the subject of profiteering, and they have actually discovered that neither woollen mills nor tailors have been exploiting, but that it is amongst the middle-men the chief culprits have been locatedReal, genuine profiteering cases are promised of a sensational character, but such promises now only raise the smile sardonic. It is true that the people have lost faith in words, and those in power must realise that only acts count now with the masses of workers. The seriousness of the rise in butter should not be underestimated, for three or four shillings a week added to cost of living is easily going to prove the “last straw.’’ It should be obvious that no country can be prosperous in which a few people are being legalised into immense riches while the many are, by faulty laws, unable to secure the necessaries of life, let alone any luxuries. In America there is a wave of pricecutting by wholesalers, resulting in the cheapening of living generally; not a cutting of one commodity, but of very nearly everything whereby men live. In thi s Dominion the opposite is still taking place, rents are ncreasing and the prices of all necessaries of life continue to increase.-To-day it is butter, to-morrow it will be bread. While there is a glut of tea in the world’s markets, what are tea merchants proposng? Not a reduction of price, but a limitation of the source of supply, giving labour a further claim that the life of mankind is not safe in the hands of the food-control-ling class. Of course, there is nothing more natural than that labour should continue to combine and federate. New Zealand .raiiwaymen have combined and now the raiiwaymen of Australia have combined, forming a union with a fifty thousand membership. What is it all for, and in what is it all going to end? Discretion demands that a stocktaking should be commenced to disclose just where the matter stands, to discover whether the explosion is near or far, to locate where it will fall with greatest force, so that some degree of understanding of what the outcome of all the preparations are likely tov result in may be ascertained and impressed upon the many who have become so accustomed to the cry of “Wolf” that they have long ago ceased to even notice it. The ever closer linking up of labour taken in conjunction with other restlessness now apparent, is certainly for some inevitable purpose, good or ill, and only the most superficial notions are prevalent on what that inevitable purpose is. The most perplexing feature of labour unrest is that amongst unskilled labour, where wages are highest, there is a discontent bordering on revolution, while in the skilled trades there is still serious privation ‘which the State would do well to give some attention to. It is the silently borne suffering that is driving all labour, skilled and unskilled, into the ranks of extremism.