TOPICAL READING.
SELF RELIANCE. The old self-reliant characteristics — making for national independence and self-respect—are gradually flis- ! appearing, ' says the "Manawatu Standard," before a policy that
teaches the young New Zealander to look to the State for all those things the acquisition of which calls for a little striving and exertion. TIME FOR ACTION. It is, of course, desirable that if we are going to have wireless telegraphy we should get the best system available, but that science, as is the case with so many others, is continually advancing, and ' t the stage reached to-day will probably be quite out of
date in a few years. But if we were , to wait until science had uttered the last word about "wireless,'" and made the last step possible towards perfecting communication by this means, neither we nor our children nor their children wou d ever see it installed. The delay has oeeti quite long enough, and it is n.ost gratifying to learn that action id at last to take the place of talk. HOLIDAY MANNERS. The average colonial on most days of the year is not a discourteous person, but at holiday time he is often so apt to lose his perspective, and to forget
the respect that is due to his womenkind. At places of amusement, and in the inevitable rush for the trams, it is a common spectacle to see men
and boys elbowing the women a ide and hustling for the best seats. Most of this, of course, is due to the excitement of the moment, but it cannot be excused on that account. "A day of freedom is a day of pleasure," but there is no reason why a day of pleasure- should be a day of freedom from the amenities of decent society.
THE "OPEN SHOP." Hitherto we have heard very little of an interesting struggle that has been going on in America of recent years between employers and labour unions—the struggle for the "open shop," that is, equality of treatment for union and non-union men. it appears from a recent cable message that the Steel Trust has adopted the policy of the "open door," and that in consequence the Federation of Labour has declared war on it. The
"open shop," according to a correspondent of "The Times," is the result of that ' terrorism for which American labour leaders have become notorious. There are, of course, trade unions'in America capable of dealing with employers witft fairness and self-restraint but the United States of recent years has reached a bad eminence of unscrupulous labour agitation. Employers" organisations have been formed to establish the "open shop," and combat in every possible legal way the evil effects of labour organisations. Chicago is the headquarters of a powerful employers' association, which in 1907 had a membership of between 3,000 and 4,000 firms. It is a federation of smaller organisations r each representing a different business. An individual firm can only obtain admission by inducing its own trade association to join, and dues are collected from the affiliated associations according to the number of their employees and the probability of having strikes. The Association contends for the following principles:—The "open shop," no sympathetic strikes, no restriction of output, no limitation of apprentices, the enforcement of the law. The most important of these, in the eyes of the organisation, is the "open shop." Non-union men, it is contended, should not be forced into unions against their will, but should be allowed to work wherever they please. The organisation does its best to protect such men. But the organisation is defensive, not aggressive. It aims at the settlement of. disputes by arbitration, at industrial peace. It does not oppose workers joining unions, but it wants unions to be reasonable in their demands and obey the letter and spirit of the law.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9685, 8 January 1910, Page 4
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637TOPICAL READING. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9685, 8 January 1910, Page 4
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