THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1912. THE "RED FLAGGERS."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10674, 2 July 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1912. THE "RED FLAGGERS."

It is perfectly dear that the Labour Federationists, or. "Red Flaggers," as they are more 'familiarly tenmed. have alienated the sympathy of a large section of the workers of the Dominion, .as 'well as of the. general public, by the vicious methods they have employed in regard to the Waihi miners. Not only have they succeeded, by their precipitate and iH-advised action, in paralysing . <an important industry; they have (brought humiliation and shame "Upon 'the- cause they claim to be espousing, and have converted the haippy homes of 'innocent people into poverty-stricken Shovels, where the ignawing ipamgs o fliunge.r are clutching at the vitafls of .mothers and children, and where grim, gaunt starvation stares the unhappy victims in the foce. Is it not deploralble to think that in this age o'f moderation and enlightenment it should be possible for a band of misguided revolutionaries 'to so influence the minds of a. body of workers that they revolt against conditions which aire the very antithesis of oppression, and produce misery and wretchedness 'where happiness and contentment should reign? Is it any wondeir that the great bulk of the workers refuse to countenance 'the methods of the "Red F,l aggers'," and ■shut up their ibowels of compassion where appealed to for financial'.help? If there were the slightest cause for oamplaiat. at tho treatment of the min-

ers at 'Waihi, public soAtimont would long sine© have 'been aroused, and speedy rcdiress would have been insisted upon. But .uo; the men who have engineered this outrage* upon the public consa'ie-neo oatnnot produce a single reason', other than childish petulance, for their discreditable conduct. 'With loud and- vulgar declamation they proclaim that a car-tain, section of anen. who, .for their own protection, have registered under ihe Arbitration Act, are- "scahs," while they forget that they themselves, by withdrawing .from the general body of workers add cancelling their registration, liave been- guilty of the basest ingratitude to their fellow workers, and of th-ci .most despicable form of "srahbery." These are the inen—these soeiaJ vampires who prey upon the susceptibilities of the uninitiated—- | who talk of the "brotherhood elf'man," i the righteousness of their cause, and tlfe brutality of thosa who stand in their 'revolutionary paths. No wonder, we. say, that iincn of intelligence, possessed of a true sentse of justice and I fair pla.y, 'despise alnd resent the act--1 ion. of these irresponsible "Red Flag- | gers." The pity of it iy fihat while 1 the leaders of the wicked revolt travel up and down the country, living on | the 'fat cf the land, their unhappy f dupes, the victims of their cruel propaganda, are eking out a bare existI once on the pittance of .-a- strike-pay j which is slowly but suirely becoming , exhausted, (fn, their desperation these social posts an:d wreckers of home? are appealing to Australia for help for their wretched cause. But when the peopte of the Commonwealth know the tnuth, as they .must kniow it, not even the humahity of the workers in that country will .nsepond to the unwarranted appeal made by the militant revolutionaries. Why do the miners entrust their destinies to a body of irresponsibles who >would lead them, like lambs, to the slaugnterp Why do they not take the advice of thei'r best 'friends, and cut adrift from the "Red ] Flag" institution, which would sell j them body aiiid scJul ? Why do they not 1 return peaceably to the work, that is awaiting them, and "blame their mis- ! fortune to those who have duped them [ into revolt ?