The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1920. UNREST AND INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1920. UNREST AND INDUSTRY.

For nearly five years the stream of industry was diverted into the channels of war, and now that it should be directed to restoring the war's ravages n spirit of unrest has arisen that is seriously interfering with the work of reconstruction and the reversion to normality. The war altered many things, revealed marvellous possibilities theretofore veiled in obscurity, opened out new avenues of occupation, increased the cost of living and loft a colossal legacy of debt, the payment of which, and the interest thereon, will be a millstone around the necks of the nations. Even if the people of all the heavily burdened countries stood with their coats off ready to do their utmost towards repairing this war wastage, the task would be gigantic. This, of course, is the spirit in which the problem should be faced, but the war upset all standards of value and altered the moral outlook of millions. We look for super-efforts in production and for economy in expenditure. Search as we may, these two great factors are conspicuous by their absence; instead there are only to be found industrial unrest with its go-slow policy, and extravagance of a pronounced type. A recent writer says: . "The streets of London to-day give no sign of anything but boundless prosperity; and it is the same wherI gver I go—Rom^ ; Pwi»- Income—bru-

enfaccil extravagance is everywhere. -t gives one an uncanny feeling that some evil influence is playing with humanity—an influence with an artistic and dramatic sense that makes its victims engage in a great dran.a before ruin overtakes them. The predominant note is self-indulgence and gaiety —the bold style of fashion, the crowded promenade, the thronged theatre, the Byzantine dance, the gorgeous feast; but mingled with the note of pagan indulgence is the motif upon which the drama is to end." All classes have been more or less affected by this mad orgy of expenditure, the aftermath of war restrictions arid conditions, possibly influenced by the constant mention of expenditure in thou■{tnds of millions, whereby the sense or" proportion became blunted. Possibly also, as one recent writer declares, the.war has torn the scales from our eyes, and forced us to see things as they really are, and, by the light of this clearer vision, many conditions have come to be regarded as intolerable, which before the war seemed inevitable. The people of the Dominion have come to regard exceptional prosperity as a fixed institution. It is to be hoped it may be, but the foundation on which that prosperity is based must first be thoroughly substantial, and on this point there must be no uncertainty. If this prosperity were due to a systematic yearly increase in the volume of our exports, nothing could be more satisfactory and convincing, but as it is due to swollen prices arising out of war conditions, it would be foolish to be deluded into a false security. Whilst the spending power of all classes of the community, except those with fixed incomes, has increased considerably, the State has been mortgaging the natural resources of the country without stint. Not only will the principal and interest have to be paid by the people, but it has to remembered that the value of the sovereign has greatly decreased. If the edifice of national prosperity is to stand the test of time and the stress of circumstances there must be increased labor efficiency and greater production. Only hard work and consistent effort will avail. A peculiar feature of the present transition period is the rebellion of the worker against exploitation and his determination to have his full share of the prosperity the employers are enjoying. Unfortunately the outstanding facts are those which prove that the country is producing less and not more than before the war; that the higher wages paid result in a smaller and not a larger tally of work, and the existence of a spirit of unrest that is strangling enterprise and, in some cases paralysing industry. It is not, at all flattering to the good sense of the workers that the Premier of the Dominion should have to spend several days in patient and persistent efforts to reconcile differences between coal owners and miners, at a time when the affairs of the country need his services on highly important matters of administration, which have to be put aside for a dispute that should never have developed into a deadlock. There is but one true definition of a square deal—it must be two-sided, or it is a crooked deal. The standard of comfort is rising everywhere, and rightly so, but the standard of duty is at half mast. It was the noble impulses arising from a true conception of duty that won the war, and it only requires those impulses to be similarly in evidence in peace industries in order to place the prosperity of the country on such a solid and permanent basis that all classes may be assured of comfort and happiness for an indefinite period, no matter what happens in the outer world.