The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY, 22, 1912. AIMING HIGH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 174, 22 January 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY, 22, 1912. AIMING HIGH.

To the man who is old-fashioned enough to believe that an individual should stand or fall on his own merit, the reiteration of the various "aims of labor" pall somewhat. There may be reasons, beyond the comprehension of an individual outside the sacred circle of united labor,, why united labor—meaning a small proportion of New Zealanders—should dominate the country and administer it. "Labor" (as the members of small inexpert cliques understand it) has for some undiscovered reason come to the conclusion that a new aristocracy should arise consisting of "labor." We hold, and it may be very generally held, that any man alive has a perfect right to strive to reach the highest place in politics, art, letters, trade, and so on. But that small parties should believe they deserve to dominate a whole country, because they happen to labor for a living, seems to us a much more absurd idea than even the dominancy of the bluest-blooded aristocrats. Labor's aims? Well, the president of the Waterside Workers' Federation in Wellington mentioned some of them the other day. He said the Arbitration Court belonged to the past. That is to say, by its means the worker has benefited, but not to the extent to which he believes he is entitled. Therefore, out with the Arbitration Court. This in itself is a small matter. The work of the country must be done whether the Court lives or dies. "What they had to aim at was to secure control of the land and the means of production." This, of course, is mere repetition of a weary old war-cry. None of these people ever tells us how or why or wherefore. It would be interesting to know by what fair means the land could be held by 'Labor," how the innumerable interests which tin? mere mention of the word "land'' conjures up would be conserved should ''Labor"—or shall we say "the State"?—suddenly decided to secure the land and the means

of production. We shall say in two words what would happen if any band of men whose belief is that all the virtues of the world lie under the skin of an "organised worker" suddenly became pirates. Civil war., The idea of "Labor" is related to the idea of the gentleman who suggested giving half of Australia to Germany. Labor is a good deal like the squatter "who wanted the earth for a sheep-run and the moon for a lambing paddock." Labor desires its paradise to be ready made. It would be glad to enter into full possession of "the land and the means of production, distribution and exchange" without knowing how or doing anything to bring it about, except to repeat weary old excerpts from people who lived to give advice but did not take it themselves. You shall take a glance at Taranaki and its dairy farms, with their owners driven out and Labor owning the province. We are not Bure whether Labor would compensate owners for the land, but we expect not. The idea seems to be that Labor has been so harshly treated that possession of the earth would be in the nature of payment for overtime. We shall see the Semples and the Webbs and others enthroned directing the Taranaki Cow to produce her fulness for the benefit of "the People." We shall see every milker getting his enormous salary every month by cheque from the Department that owns the earth in Wellington, or wherever Labor intends to make its capital. We shall see the men of the Amalgamated Bootlace Makers' Co-operative Association attending to the distribution and exchange of things, and there may be many a humble bootlace maker now struggling along on a pitiful ten shillings a day who may be suddenly called to manage a State Bank, or become skipper of one of the mammoth ships that Labor is going to buy without knowing where the money is coming from. "They wanted the ships and mines and factories to be owned by the people." Who want? People who do not own anything, have no initiative by which they can achieve anything; people whose one idea is that the other fellow ought to present them with a ready-made business, in going order and showing a profit. "Aim at industrial organisation," said the organiser. It is good, sound, bmest advice. Of course, organise all you know, and more. By constant aggression you can drive every person with jobs to give away clean out of the country. Shame on the man who doesn't wear moleskins now, but used to. Down with the Lancashire cotton kings, "eighty per cent, of whom used to be either clerks or operatives." Down with individuality and success, genius, application, skill in work. Down with everything—especially Capital. We don't want capital—not us! We desire nothing at all—except New Zealand and the means of production, distribution and exchange. It's a modest want. What are we going. to give in exchange? Advice, my dear sir, and speeches and quotations from the works of the great Socialists. What have we given in exchange for. benefits already received? Poor work, less skill, and disloyalty. Why shouldn't we own . the country ? The meek person who. attends to the business of creating a job for Labor to earn money at says nothing. He is too busy scratching up enough coin to bring the Labor millenium to pass. If Labor would only quit talking about the glad future when it will run the whole affair and tell us how it is going to accomplish it, it would give the wretches who hardly ever take their coats off time to get away to Russia or, Central Africa before the New Order of Things struck 1 this poor little dab of scoria.