THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1901.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 116, 17 October 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1901.

Dubino the. past year or so New Zeaianders have realised to the full that swcb a thing as trades 1, unionism had permeated the Bocial structure, but in the Old Country the lesson would have appeared to be learned long since. An article by one of Scotland's leading writer* gives a recarae of tlie position up.on which it would be well for us to ponder. He Bays :—" In theory, the tradeunion is an organisation for the protection of labour against the tyranny and oppression of capital* In practice, the British tradeunion is an organisation for the restraint of labour and the manacling of capital*/ . .'.The modern trade-union is a combination for the sole purpose of furthering the Fupposed interests of the workmen, without regard, to the interests of the trade or craft as a whole. In the old system, there was the element of solidarity in the relations between capital and labour. In the new system, there is the element of antagonism. In the old system, the craftsman prospered accord* ing to his skill and industry. In the new system, skilland industry are reduced to one common denominator, called the trade* union rate of wage. If American manufacturers are enabled to undersell their British rivals, in some of their pet industries, it is not because the American work* man is a better craftsman than the British—he is, indeed, often imported from Britain -r- but because he is an unfettered producer. That is to say, Amer* ican labour ia more productive than British." The chief mistake of the trade-unionists, Mr Taylor thinks, is " the fallacy that there is just a certain amount of work to be done in the world, which, spread out thin T will yo ail round the army of manual workers. This mistaken principle ignores the fact that work create* work, and that the more cheaply work can be done, the more there will be to do. It opposes the teaching of experience that, as machine* toola displace labour in one direction, they create more labour in another direction. If Great Britain fails in the industrial race, it will not be because her work* raer> cannot createaa well as others, but that they will not.' And we do not need to go much further than this in search of an explanation of the pressure of foreign competition—that a German or American Workman will give equal attention simultaneously to three, four, or six machines or tools, whilst the British workman is compelled' by his trade-union to limit bis attention to one, so that employment mty be given to half-a dozen other men who ought to be busy elsewhere. It was, he says, the exactions and limitations of the Thames shipbuilder* that drove the great shipbuilding industry from London to the northern iivers, where it has flourished ever since,, while the Thames has now oaty'on*-, shipyard of any importance. It vma the exactions and limitations •of the trades unions that d/rbve lace-making from Nottingham to Scotland. It was the exactions of the trades uions that drove flint glass-making from England to Germany, and bottle-making from Scotland to Belgium. TW story of the flint glass trade is a very instructive one/ This used to be a very extensive and lucrative business in Great Britain, affording highly-paid employment to many thousands of workers. These workers bad, of course, their trade. unioa. : ', Th#. union waxed fat, and kicked * on the question of apprentice*. And it succeeded in enforcing strict limitation to the number of boys l to be allowed to enter the trade in any one year or in any one factory. Having secured this, they put the screw t>p wages until they raised the pay of an ordinary Journeyman to-between £& 10s and £4 a'week. The monopoly of labour was complete, but not the monopoly of supply. The Germans stepped in and took the trade bodily from «nder the nose of the Plibt Glassmakersr Union, which now does not, in the whole United Kingdom-, contain as many-members as there are workers in many a single factory in Germany. The industry has gon«, save two" or three high-class concerns making* costly tdble-ware for the wealthy; and with it the, workers, who either emigrated to America or sought employment , in other overcrowded aVeßUes. Much th*

9\me kind of thing, happened ii the bottle - making industry Apprentices and production wer Icept down, and wages were fdrcei up, until bottles became so dea that Belgium Bailed in am "scooped the market." Germai table-glass and Belgian bottlei how tell the tale, in everj British household, of wha aggressive and tyrannical trade unionism can do for the industriei of the country. Let it be noted that the initial cause df the ruin •of these industries was the limitation placed on apprentice--ship, for that is one of the most dangerous and lamentable fea--ttiireß (if trade-unionist policy as still pursued. To give an idea of the extent to which the work of the men is curtailed b;y the union rules, the following paragraph is quoted from a report of the Employers' Association': G retportsthat, when making ammunition boxe3 for six-pounder cartridges some years ago, it was found that, in finishing up the 'Tiinges, any member of the society employed on the job used •always to do eight in a day. The foreman in charge knew'that 'this was not a day's work/and he changed the men ; but in every case notwithstanding ■that considerable changes were made, the union men made exactly eight per day. A young ■Swiss (non-unionist:), whs did not speak English, was then put on the job, and the first day he did fifty. The same firm report that, in 'filing up the outside handles of machine-guns, it was/ tfound that any member of the society working on 'the job generally did one a day. The firm knew that this was net a 'day's work, but were unable to to get a society man to do more. The work was then given to a ; gun-filer not belonging to any society, and he did twelve a day. sn-marked contrast to-all this are; the conditions in the American factories, in proof which Mr Taylor qaotes as follows from astatement from Mr George 0. Draper, secretary to an American :

•cotton - rnairtifactuiKpig concern : In spinning, the product of themachine has practically doubled; in thefest thirty years, and the: rapacity" of the operative has not -only doubled With the machine, ; but has trebled or even quad-, rupled. '•iCh©. improvement has been of such a nature that the 1 ■lncrease in speed has bee«' -attended with, benefit to the. product.. In weaving, the .product /per operative has easily trebled.; it-is certafe that the product per -operative in other departments of a cotton-mill has at least doubled. a weaver tended but >one loom, and th»t*t a moderate I speed. To-day weavers on -the Northrcrp looms often tend twenty-four machines, running 'at a speed yearly double that of 'the original power 'looms. 1 ' We near on all hands the cry that British commercial supremacy is -sio%v!y becoming a thing of the past; if this is so we have not far 'to loolc for the cause. "Whether New Zealanders will be warned: in time-is another matter.