THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1913. AN APPEAL TO REASON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 10 November 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1913. AN APPEAL TO REASON.

The time has arrived when the great army of workers in this/ country, who are being incited by irresponsible leaders to acts of lawlessness and revolt, should pause, and survey the situation as it affects themselves. Let us, for the purpose of argument, admit that the producers of the country are not receiving a fair share of the products of their labour. In making this admission we do go with a knowledge that there is no part of the world in Which the conditions are as prosperous as here. But allowing that the worker is treated as a meiiial and a serf; that he is being robbed of his natural heritage; that he is being unmercifully exploited by rings, combines, and capitalistic monopolies. Allowing all these things, how does the worker propose to effect a remedy ? Is he insane enough to think that by throwing thousands of men and women out of employment, by holding up the means of transport, by paralysing trade, he is going to attain Ms objective? Does he suppose that by ruining the dairy farmer, stopping our export of wool, frozen meat, and dairy produce, menacing the merchant and the storekeeper, and clogging the wheels of industry, he is going to improve" his own position ? If he 'does, then he is the most cred- I ulous mortal on the face of God's earth. Has he read history? Has ho studied industrial and political economy? Has he observed the progress of events in the march of civilisation ? If he has, he will know that revolution leaves in its trail hunger, starvation, remorse, and abject misery. What is happening in New Zealand at the present moment? A body of irresponsible individuals calling themselves the leaders of the Federation of Labour are producing a condition of industrial chaos for no other reason than to assert their power us a political organisation. Supposing that, in the long run, they „

gain tlieir poin.t and secure for the watersiders <lll agreement to their own liking, how much better off will the average toiler be? Is the worker not aware that every hour the strike lasts, thousands of pounds are being lost to the Dominion ? Does he not realise that the paralysis of trade means an era oi ; hunger and depression ? 'Cannot tliose who appreciate the advantage of tile Labour laws placed upon the Statute Book by W. P. Reeves and Richard John Seddon see that the Federation of Labour is out to destroy the very foundations of those laws? Are they going to meekly surrender themselves to a band of revolutionaries led by a .stranger from .Milwaukee and a few industrial firebrands whose existence depends upon their ability to delude the masses? Are they willing to sacrifice their political prospects to the pernicious doctrine of revolution ? Are they so blind that they cannot see that by adopting the brutal strike weapon they are ostracising every small-farmer, every storekeeper, every man and woman in the land who is being innocently victimised? In all earnestness, and with a full sense of the importance of labour to the development of the resources of our splendid country, we appeal to those who are possessed of the power of discrimination between right and wrong, to pause find consider the position. For, as sure as night follows day, so surely will the continuation of v the industrial warfare bring ruin and misery to the masses, it is not the shipping companies,, nor the tradesman, nor the capitalist who will suffer from this I wicked and cruel revolt. They all I possess the means for recouping i themselves any loss they may susI tain. But the man who will suffer most, the man who will feel the pinch, will be the worker with a family. Tho Treasury coffers being* depleted, there will be very little mdney available fo,r the prosecution of public works. The farmer, having been robbed of the full price for his produce, will have nothing to spend on ' labour, or with the tradesman. The merchant and the retailer, having' been put to great loss and inconvenience in trade, will be compelled to put up the price of household commodities. Poverty and unemployment will stalk through, the land, and thousands who to-day, in tli°.ir thoughtless moments, applaud the revolutionary, will .revile and execrate him. Yes, this will be the end of it all. There is no use blinking our eyes to the fact. We are sowing the wind of industrial strife. We shall reap the whirlwind of poverty and distress. In the name of honest labour;.in the name of the women and children who are being led as lambs to the slaughter; irt the name of righteousness and justice, we appeal to every patriotic citizen, to every thoughtful worker, to demand that the reign of terror brought about by a handful of revolutionaries shall come to an end. ,Wo ask over* Britisher, every person possessed of the srue instincts of manhood, to declare, .'as the most brilliant Laboui leaders the world possesses are continually declaring, that the man who calls a strike to settle a dispute when -a proper is provided, is an enemy to society, a foe to civilisation, and a- disgrace to humamtr.