The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1021. DECREASING PRODUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1021. DECREASING PRODUCTION.

It is characteristic of the Labor problem that, although various phases are continually before the Arbitration Courts, yet no disposition is evinced on the part of the Union leaders to profit either by sound advice or the force of circumstances. This deplorable weakness of unionism constitutes a puzzle that has hitherto baffled all attempts to unravel. The failure to understand that there are certain laws governing the output of industry cannot be attributed to ignorance; therefore the only other possible cause must be selfwill. Arbitrary action may appear to be the acme of freedom, but in reality it partakes more of the nature of the mule than of intelligent manhood. The economic law can no more be flouted with impunity than can the laws of nature. That is the great lesson which is being demonstrated throughout the world to-day, in no part of the world so emphatically as in Russia, where the leaders of Bolshevism have been forced to admit, after most painful experience, that the economic laws, if trampled underfoot, will have their revesge in ways that will compel reinstatement. High wages and short working hours may be alluring to the simple-minded and .credulous, but they are a will o’ the wisp that lands the workers into the bog of unemployment or the whirlpool of industrial upheavals. A recent judgment given by the Commonwealth Arbitration Court in respect of the claim made by the Pastoralists’ Federation for a forty-four hours week should convince union leaders that the time has come when reason should take the place of clamor. At a time like the present, when unemployment is rife, and when only bv increased production at the lowest possible cost can there be any hope of overcoming the adverse conditions affecting industry, the workers might just as well ask for the moon as for shorter hours of work at the current rate of wages. The Common wealth Court could not possibly arrive at any other conclusion than that it was not satisfied ‘ ‘ that any of the reductions asked for in the standard hours of work should be imposed on the employers at the present time.” The President (Mr. Justice Powers) took advantage of the opportunity to review reports from various parts of the world as to trade conditions and wages, evidently with the view of impressing the workers, through the union leaders, of the danger to the community of any action whereby production would be decreased. In ■stressing the fact that since November, 1920, the hours of labor in ■ether parts of the world had been increased and wages reduced, to an alarming extent compared with the higher rates ruling in Australia, Mr. Justice Powers’ remarks 1 can equally well be applied to the workers of New Zealand. He I quoted figures to show that Australian manufacturers had. to eom-

pete on shorter hours and 1920 wages with manufacturers elsewhere who could sell their goods at nearly half the price obtained twelve months back. The moral is obvious, namely, that Australian manufacturers eanHot hope to find a market outside the Commonwealth, and, unless higher protective duties are imposed, those goods will be ousted from the local market. Already the .percentage of unemployment in the Commonwealth has risen from slightly over six in September, 1920, to over eleven, and every industry there is less prosperous than in the preceding year, with the prospect of becoming worse unless the workers generally do their best and produce at least as much per man as in 1913. It would be highly advantageous if the workers throughout the Empire took heed of the practical advice given by Mr. Justice Powers. “The quickest way to shorten hours for all workers,” said His Honor, “is for each worker to do his best in working hours, without working unreasonably hard, and for the union leaders to allow that to be done, and also to allow piece work, under proper safeguards, as in England and America. Any other course must result in keeping the workers all their lives on a fixed wage and on a dead level.” The curious feature is that these com-mon-sense facts are thoroughly well known by the workers, but the autocratic tyranny of unionism stands in the way of their acceptance in practice. Who are the men that to-day are able to command employment? Those who have made themselves efficient. The law of supply and' demand is the dominant factor. To-day the supply is greater than the demand, therefore efficiency and expedition have their rightful value. These are the men who earn their pay, and the others must be content to receive less. The plain duty imposed on the Government is to abolish preference to unionists.