Words In Season
Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 192, 18 August 1920, Page 2
About this newspaper
Words In Season
Tlis IVorkcr lvas been getting a free j advertisement from its - llvv.C The highly-respectable eon- i Worh'.T. temporary, "The Do- ' minion." In fact, more j ihan one. P.rsiik's advertising The | Worker, in itseU a good thing, even | if not the rcsr.lt of charity, the "Do- i minion's" interest in this paper and I , what it ctaii<U: for may become gen- ; eral, a coiisummaiion devoutly to be j wished. "The Dominion," being writ- j ten by half-baked nicdiocritk-s. wbo ; Icnniiot wri'f- r.->r road English, is un- | Sable to ui:dcrsi;uul 'I'iic Worker's at-j titude on the Russian Revolution and the Irish struggle for independence, not to mention ihe fact that this paper 1 ! is a Krcc Ires:-;, r.ii'l nut a hurdy-gurdy ! that can be operated by ihe turning ; i of a luindU , . Th-.i is the "Domiinon'h i i niisfortuno. v> onr fault. WorUt'f' !readers who read "The Dominion" (if i I there'are any) are not likely to be j 1 misled by the misleading remarks of; !?n'amateur leader-writer, who ough! ; i to. >.-o </« tJ''"- "I'rte Lance." Others j I who are ,".n:-:ioi;s to know what the i (policy of ili!:-: paper is, and to know | what'is f.oiii:i" in the world revolution ! of ideas ?ml I'nctH. should subscribe to j this jonrnai. Terms (which are e» ; cccdintlv reasonable, all things eoi:- ! sidered) ui-ay be had on application to ! the .Manager. : *' * * * 1 .Air. Downie Stewart, M.P., is retarded ' by as | Tiie UUiil having ideas of La- CoinjiittJiwealth, bor problems rather more advanced than .those of his mid-Victorian colleagues. He has difficulty in following Labor | on its defence policy, and expressed 1 the foUoviha interesting opinion— J. fjtttns to mc that if there is one party more than another that is deeply concerned in arriving at a, sound conclusion on such a question as (hi:- it k. the Labor Party; because i'lioir hope is that some day they wi:l i-niid up an ideal Commonwealth in this Dominion that will be ihe envy of the world. "What use will it all be to them if they ..•α-o : oiiip to neglect the primary function for which every Government comes into existence? The v. 1 ole origin of government was the neecKFiiy that a community should defend iVcif against foreign aggressioii. That is the most essent'ai funciicn tlial f.ny Government: still finds i! necessary to perform. • This opinion is br.-;e<l on the idea that I Maori'and wiii be the pioneer among the natious in establishing the ideai ; common,eallh. The wish may be 1 father to the thought,-but the (bought > is not very -.veil based. It is not ai , all unlikely that the Ideal Commonwealth will be a going concern in ' older lands before God's Own Coun; try falls into line. In which case k - is reasonable to believe that the need for a defence policy will have disap: pearcd, and along wirh it. "the most essential function that any Government finds it necessary to perform"— I because war is only commercial com, petition carried out to its illogical conclusion. ' % « «• * . The action of Mr. John Rend in at, tempting to (efeat the Vrnits of objects of the : King } Arbitrntiuii. Country workers, must 1 meet with the unqualif tied condemnation of all unionists and , Labor men. His act was a blow at the principle of self-determination. th,e X recognised right of the unionists ot s this country to choose their own form y ot organisation, and to decide the ways and means whereby they shall carry on the class struggle on the industrial I field. The facts of the case, as set * forth by the timber workers, are not it disputed. Jf they can be disputed, it ~ is -Mr. Reads duty to himself, to his "" Union and fellow-workers, and to the v Labor movement generally, to produce '■ his case and show cause why he ; should not meet his deserts from the ,'. men whom he has wronged. This regrettable affair raises the whole "' question o£ Arbitralionism (otherwise L- constitutionalism of the kind laid II down and approved by the ruling <• class) as against the principles of free industrial unionism. The Arbitration 0 Court stands condemned by the mait jority of the militant class-conscious f workers of this country; even if thai o were not the case, it would be condemned by this journal, which con'" sistently has opposed Arbitrationisni nil through its existence. If Mr -d can give no better reasons foi n v /conduct than (hose he has put forward The Worker has no alternative 11 but to say that in the interests of the •v movement he should sever his connec<■ tion with it. So far as this journa ,f is concerned, we regard Union secretaries in UlO same light as Labor mem'r r bers of Parliament, more or less y necessary evils. Iv (he case of. tin 11 former, a Union official is not a public 0 man, at least Co the same extent as an M.P., and his actions, so long a.< l " they concern his union only, are no t- matters oE comment for Tlie Worker ;s When his work does affect the move 1. ment generally, this journal'has i , right to comment upon it, and unioi secretaries, no matter who they arc > will be subject to the same trealmen •; as the publicly paid representatives 0 > v the movement, when they set up a ; t dictators or do that which is right, it , Iheir own eyes without regard to tb :( principles of: Labor, or the wishes 0 JLhft workers. prtvfic.ularlv SO, whei
t.lic union secretary happen?; to be an aspirant 'for political "honors' —an ambition of union secretaries we condemn entirely, and which the movement, bot.li industrial and political, should take steps to make impossible in the future. : * *. * * 'The bulk of. the people wbo ;irc being I ; "rooked" by profiteer? i v»ill have li'.ile syini pat'uy with ihs- depntaiiion f>! business men who vu-Mc-fi on the j Prime Minister recently. ; l.c eom-jpktiiH whs made against Ilio lioani of Trade that while it provide:- for tlic publication of details oi' business it docs fi(»; allow .Vu.?)ier-ud pruiileors 1o briny into iiniv defence thecjtiestjon of j joplacemeiit values of goods sold. So i far (here i. l : hardly i-oo«> for any 'trader to say lie has been unjustly i'treated in having to expose tiir inner !secrets of bis eountii;:- bourc. r.nti lac ior aiMimonis about reniacemeiii ; value.-;, they woiikl be very vague nnd i highly ineffective in securing justice iin favor of those- who arc i heavily rooked. Our complaint is : What there- is not pufl'ieieri- I.ing done] lin the way of to .put I down this profiteering whic' , - if; being 'so systematically pracliii; d. The ! position f-xsms to lie thai every mid-j : dleman is taking advantage c-i the war aftermath to advance prices, to ibe 'extent, in .some instances, of five times '.more than the pre-war prices. For jan overcoat formerly prim! about £3, I £15 is. now asked: for a morning coat £25 iK wanted, and for a suit of clothes th'> same figure. Now, it is absurd to kpj that a five-fold advance is justified. The retailers say it i:--! not'they who .-re to blame, but the ether fellows from whom they get their materials. Then, in Heaven's name, let ihcse oiher follows be called [upon to explain. The retailer muvi ! lie attacked in. the first iiistrncc. Lc-i in transaction be tiacodto the-root to j pee wlm is the main culprit. The jonus of proof must rest on the retail : trader where the- general public is bc-1 in;;- rooked. There should ho more leases brougln ,'nrward ; ci the investigations shouid Le eompic'.e to the very source of an evil which must be Uom-.ln Vvilbout "the gloves. It is use! less to talk about unworthy suspicion,". The evil r- rampant and of a most audacious character. At the .same time the rotten crc£i" svstein and the insane methods of ] rniluction are really the forces behir.i , 'he prnilitcci,. , Ho )'.-. hiore of an cfc.t than a cau.-;u. 1 « * •» * :■ Whither lit:* Erilish free oni i)cC, : . . 1 Not -h.i; we .'.io m.'jj): , ; BrJlisl! 'concerned. as v<. i "Frccdoii!.' , neve: - did ;.;-.ve tAV-i [ real faiiii in ;bi- he■ tion*. Stii:, it terved ;he -i 1:- <"I li.c :;poft. th( poliiir-ian, (lie iv) , ' r.rn'i iilhf jonrnalir-t very well, ard wii". ', ■ ■ f.adly missed —almost as much as :! William of Hohcnzollcns. now retired ■from the world's singe. :i sadder if no - ' wiser man. That broth of a boy Ar• ehbisliop .Manri.v. who rectus to have I'mistaken his vocation, has dealt a j deadly blow at the myth of British
freedom. For a lons time he spoke and acted in Australia us, if lie were - a freeman—indeed, he had a certain 2 amount of freedom of ihe Rood old ' i British kind. He overdid it apparentt ly, for he said what he ihousht about J; - the Empire and Ireland, aii'l now he „ 1 knows what British ireedom really 1 i means. Had he l>een an obscure ' - journalist he would hr. c sot off with J t' a little cheap newspaper abuse, but 1 heiiiff i Prince Of the Church, he is I; * not allowed to go home to Ireland in k ' ca?e he says things Llo: (! Georse may 1 not like. His a pity :here are not ' I more like Mannix in the ranks of the r t proletariat, whose blo.vd and sweat [ t and tears have cemented a huge c s structure of Empire, supposed to be « c held together by sentiment, but wliirh l o is a very profitable concern for the l c royal family and the House of Peers 1 c and ihe aristocracy of commerce—all | s of whom swear by ihe Kmpire. Have ' c thr.v KOt a vested interest in the Kmc pire. leturning them so much per d cent.? It looks like it. What inter- Siest does the jfaorny-lianded toiler set c|out of Kmpirer'whether it, be the i:nia'pire of the Urit-huns, the Jap?, the - Chinese, the French, the American, or s the Jews (the empire of commerce and ( ■< finance), He has to pay the interest ( ■- on the war debt all the same, Avhat- ( i- ever his empire may be. Empires are ' l only run for the henelit of imperial- ; r. j jsiK—jinrt the workers are only im- , r Iperialisis when there is a war on and : '" the Kmpiie needs to be saved. When ' c will the workers wake up and talk c sense like Muimix? Or, better still, > start out, to build a New Empire—the i! Empire of Labor.
