The Daily News WEDNESDAY, MAY 27. LABOR AND ITS POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 133, 27 May 1908, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, MAY 27. LABOR AND ITS POWER.

H may In' aHirnieu tliat no man, 110 in stitiitiuii or organisation in any cmiimunity ir, to in' tninlcd with absolute power. Time was wlicn capital c'liitrolIwl tin' livi's —even tlic very souls—of men, ami with what recklessness thai power was abused ninl not now ln> dwelt iijum. To-day. in inauv industries. power has |ii(--«'<l intii tlic liamU of labour. ami their is very <iravc danger that it will he as wantonly abuse! as ever it was hv capital. In'the case of the ll!,icUl»,ill f,ilike tin. I,liners knew that the interests of tin* mine-owners were wholly in their lianils; if work 1 Ctisi'il, inevitalily till' owners must

sutler !or«s; iiiei'clore. they sent a peremptory ultiuiaruin that (heir wi>hes were law and inn>( be complied with. I he position is precisely the >ame in the ca>e of the late Auckland tramway >trike. Jhe conductors and the drivers knew that the moment tiicy abandoned their ears iln* company was hclplex. I 'll company had educated them to a knowledge of the duties to be perform ed; in Auckland there were no other nieii capable of taking their place*; power was absolutely in their hands; and that power they h aw jit to exercise, not only to the injury of the company but to the very great inconvenience of thousands of the travelling public. Was the statement of grievance put forward j •'t.flicient to justify the extreme line of I action they took? Jf through foul air. if through the unseaworthiness of the ship, if through the unreliability of brakes, if from any cautse a worker is placed in danger of his life, ho is then justified in abandoning his post, for self-preservation is the first of all laws. Hut in thifS Dominion there k 110 other justilieation for striking. If any man sutlers wrong the law provides a remedy. Tf the Auckland Tramway Company have not kept faith, if they have violated agreements, there is a 'Court provided In-fore which they can he. cited, j and. if proved guilty, punUhed. Jn th ■ days when capital held pow<»r the industrial workers "were crushed into an l exi-denoe that was intolerable, but millions benefited through cheap production: now (hat labour is exercising ! power, not only do the comparatively 1 few shareholders suffer, but thousands of oUut entirely inuo<vu( people are penalised. Thus labour threatens to prove just as and mercihvs as ever capital was. A Court was established not alone for the settlement of disputed between labour and eapilal, but for the protection of the great body of the people who were dependent upon the product of the united operations of both. In the case of Blackball strike, the general public suffered little, sufHeicnt supplies of coal being available; in the case of the tramways, the stoppage of traffic nnwt to the people of Auckland have proved perfectly paralysing. but the new. selfish, law-defying tyranny that has arisen is perfectly cavvle>s who suffers in the insertion of what it is pleased to consider its "•rights." In this Dominion there is no caste. Wealth and position confer no privikges on any man: all are equally subject to the law. The Auckland tramway strikers bad no " vighN" saw what the law allowed. When I hey break the law they a( once pnl th.'inselves Im'voik] the pale of public sympathy. The State maintain* a considerable lone of policemen to constrain to an observance of the law: to attempt to justify the law-breaker would, therefore. not onlv be grossly ineou-d^.ent. but ' .subversive of the fir>t principles upon which society exists. The midnight plunderer knows the penalty provider! for his crime.- but he takes the ri<k of l«'in<r*Cinighi. The Auckland Mlikers wen- perfectly aware of the penalty provided for their offence. hu\ like the thief, they hoped to escape, a* the Blackball strikers had hitherto done.