FAIR WAGE AND SMALL PROFITS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1035, 25 May 1894, Page 3

FAIR WAGE AND SMALL PROFITS.

♦ A letter in the Ministeral journal, the New Zealand Times, from the fact of finding insertion in that paper and the distinction of a leading article upon it, is supposed to come from a person of high authority and experience in politics. He wants to know, if there is to be a fair wage for labor, how the producer is to be protected against the competition of the market to which he must send his produce? If a 'living wage ' is resquisite for labor a ' fair profit' must be had for the capitalist and producer, or he will not produce. He certainly will not produce at a loss, or the risk of a loss, The Times calls the letter a ' carefully insidious attack on the proposal in the Trade Council's letter to the Washington Corporation that local bodies shall stipulate in all contracts for a fair wage.' The writer of the letter thinks that after a good deal of wasted energy the leaders of the Labor party have missed the real point at issue, and cites the following forcible but homely illustration of the political issue that has to be decided : — ' People like myself are quite content to be humble learners at the school which they have set up, if only we can see that there is any reasonable prospect of a fair degree of happiness and comfort for all under their system. ' By their fruits you shall judge them,' or the ' proof of the pudding is in the eating,' are good old sayings, true at ali times. So far the New Zealand pudding, which the Trades and Labor Councils have had all the assistance of a powerful government in making, does not appear to be turning out particularly well, as the most apparent result is that the poor are much poorer and the rich richer than before they began to make the pudding. In other words, interest on money is higher, and there is much less employment for labor of all classes. It will be very interesting to watch whether the taking out of the ingredient of competition in the ' pudding ' now being made will make it better or worse. Till this question is decided, I fear that most of us who employ much labor will be disposed to say that as it is wrong to let work by tender, and we must lose heavily if we attempt to do it in any other way, the best thing is to do nothing till things have fairly settled down on the new basis in a way we can understand and work on. This will mean still less demand for labor, but this is one of the small difficulties which no doubt the Trades and Labor Council are quite ready to deal with.'