The Way to Paralyse Trade.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 212, 12 September 1904, Page 2

The Way to Paralyse Trade.

"You have a mighty fine country," Mill ])r M. L. King, of I.ew York, to a representative of the Adelaide Itogisttr, " t>ut you arc fast passing,, laws which are inimical to its) wel'i'are. I mean, some of your labor law». Take, for instance, the minimum wage anlii arbitration, 01 which I have -heard so much in tin Commonwealth. Tine idea of dictating to the employer as to what wage ho shall pay his men—wlhethur they aro able to earn it or not—i. 1 simply unUnahle, ami must, rami; in ono of two things. Wither u» employer does not get his money's worth, or he stops employing so freely. It means the discourtvgy ment of enterprise of all kinds, ami so far «s I can see, a gjvat piufly employers here are holding- I»iu;k t<> see what will happen. It, in paralysing 'business. Why should anybody sa,\ to an employer : ' We'll settle what your work should ibe worth ; you can't do it yourself ; but you luwi Ito pay -the bill?' You are lvlpi.ng a number of labourers for the time being, but it cuts both ways. Then your immigration iegiWation, which, so l'nr as I can judge, is also |>arl of the labor union business;, -is mo.-it unjust, antl, to my mind, indiscreet it is similar to our Chinese Kxclusion Act—passed at the behest of the Labor adviß-utes—which has ten u great restriction to business. Thi fruit rots on the trees in California because there are not enough -hands to pick it. We need 1i,000,000 Chinamen in the Tnitod States, anil your country, too, is crying for suitabli labor. You are driving the sugai People from Queensland to Fiji a iul other places, und many other industries are suffering because of tin White Australia policy. It is com. mini talk everywhere how (he Australian font ileal is in t'-.e h a mls of the unions, who, although a men minority of the people, have been ruun'-ng the whole biisitier.w for then benefit, while the rest of the population is oppressed. To us Americans t'vis seems ridiculous, and you have lost a lot of foreign capital because outsiders will not do business undei the present legislation. la our country we like all (.he foreign competition we can gvt, for it all m a kes business." Dr King is medical 1 di-rei-lor of (/he New York I.,jfc Insurance Company, ami during his month's stay in AuMtralia he has kept h'is eyes widely open.