The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1912. THE WAIHI STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 106, 20 September 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1912. THE WAIHI STRIKE.

The Waihi strike is developing into something more than a mere industrial dispu J e, for the obstinacy and short-sighted-ness of the men, led by a. number of loud-mouthed and irresponsible labor agitators who live on the game, threatens to extend the dispute throughout the Dominion. We have every sympathy with the working man and no one would more cheerfully take his part in the event of his having a legitimate grievance. But here is the case of a body of well-paid, happy and. contented workers, with no grievance against life or the conditions of their labor, who are persuaded into throwing down their tools and going on strike at the instigation of a self-seeking coterie of extreme Socialists who are simply using Labor as a peg upon which to hang their revolutionary theories. The Waihi miners are striking in support of some vague and nebulous "principle" which changes its color, chameleon-like, according to the personality of the particular orator who is engaged in expounding it. The gaoling of the strikers was a necessary corollary to their action, and they are the sorriest band of ragged heroes that ever went cheerfully to the stake. There must be sympathy for their fate, but none for their action. Fine words butter no parsnips, and we should have been j-lad to see Hie valiant Mr. Parry and the kind and gentle-hearted Mr. Semple oll'cring to accept indeterminate sentences in place of the terms of imprisonment imposed upon their unfortunate dupes. The position is a good deal similar to that of the suffragettes at Home, and Mr. Eraser, the Magistrate, who must he commended for his infinite patience and tact, had no op!ion but to insist that the law should be obeyed le-t cosmos develop into chaos, and Mr. Semple's talk of a "class-biassed Magistracy" and "a capitalistic Press"' is jin! so much arrant nonsense of the most, harmless and unconvincing character. The ominous threats that these gentlemen have been pleased to make, shrouded in a garment of childish mystery, point, of course, to their intention to try and precipitate a general strike throughout Hie country. But with some inside knowledge of the situation wc do not be-

lieve that the working men of this country will allow themselves to be trapped into such miserable action or will allow their wives and families to be vexed and harassed at the whim of a few contemptible agitators who have no stake in the country and who are simply battening on the credulity of their fellows. We know that a majority of the unions, even while according support to the Wailii strikers, view the whole proceedings with grave disapproval, and they are not prepared to add to their financial support the moral support of a wicked and unjustifiable general strike, with its consequent disorganisation of the whole industrial and social life of the Dominion. The expressions of sympathy with such a proposal that have been forthcoming, come only from the merest fraction of the workers, and we are satisfied that the dispute, instead of attaining larger proportions; is ncaring its end. When the Waihi strikers return to work, as they will do shortly, sadder and wiser men. they will earn the thanks of the whole community, and they will, by that time, have learned that every man's hand is not against them, and that their position has been wholly due to their putting their trust in a coterie of irresponsible agitators whose ore thought is their own self-agrandisement, and who have sought the bubble reputation of notoriety, at the mouth of an extremely futile popgun.

MEAT FOR AMERICA. The demand for the admission of frozen meat into the Unite 4 States appears to be igrowing, San Francisco having joined New York in suggesting this remedy for famine prices. The American Meat Trust, which is blamed for the extraordinarily severe charges imposed on the housewives by the retailers,, was formally dissolved a few months ago after the Federal Government had initiated a prosecution under the anti-trust laws. But the announcement of the dissolution was followed immediately by another increas in the price of meat, making a total rise of about forty per cent, in six months, and the public, not unnaturally, jumped to the conclusion that the Trust was still operating in fact if not in name. Some of the New York newspapers said that the merchant princes of the meat trade were simply making the public pay for the inconvenience caused them by the threat of a prosecution. The heads of the big firms concerned replied that prices had risen to an unprecedented degree in the stock yards and that there was an actual shortage of cattle and sheep, caused by' tlie rapid growth of population. They quoted statistics | showing decreased exports and a serious shrinkage in the stock returns from- the Middle West, and mentioned further that the Mexican revolt had cut off one. source of supply. If it really is the case that the United States cannot provide meat for its own people at a reasonable price, the agitation for the lowering of the duties on frozen beef and mutton is likely to grow in vigor. But the ways of a Trust are peculiar and enquiries that have been made in America have not shown that the boom prices in the Chicago stockyards are of material advantage to the producers. Perhaps it is a hopeful sign, from the point of view of Australasia, that the American companies are seeking a footing in the Commonwealth. They may foresee an extension of the export trade that will affect their Home market.