LABOUR AND CAPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 16, 14 October 1907, Page 8

LABOUR AND CAPITAL.

AN ADDRESS TO UNIONISTS. Mr. Bcllambi .Taylor, who was at ono timo assistant secretary to tho Amalgamated Chomical Workors' Union, of the North of England, addressed an open-air meeting of water-side workors outside tho Town Hall on Saturday afternoon.

During tho courso of his remarks, Mr. Taylor said that he "was struck by tho want of organisation among what might be a powerful body of workers. In the fall of 1906, and during tho spring and summer of 1907, ho had had the honour of working for tho Amalgamated Chomical Workers of tho North of England, travelling round tho industrial centres of the Mother Country, and studying the conditions of . the . labouring classes. Lately the Governments of Canada, Australia, and Wow Zealand had established agencios all over tho United Kingdom with a view to encouraging tho labouring classes to emigrate. ■In many of tho rural districts he had met, while touring England, men who camo to him for practical advice as to the true stato of things in these, comparatively speaking, new countries. la a great many cases ho had found that tho agents had givon a glowing, romantic account of tho state of the labour market. Every man hero would agree that recently a most unsuitable class of omigrant had hoen arriving by the Government subsidised steamers, who, iii viow of boing described as agricultural labourers, recoived assisted passages to the 1 Dominion. And, although emigration was essential to tho future prosperity of the country, it was hardly necessary to point out that this class of emigrant was most .harmful to the Union, inasmuch as ho was unsuitable to work upcountry, where he was chiefly in demand, and that ho was lacking in energy and courago to strike out'for himself.' Mnding that no one would give him employment up country, where good wages were paid only to efficient mon,'.ho either went back to the land of his birth or else he loafed around the docks until ho got employment on the wharves of ships. The speaker said; ho was surprised to find m New Zealand's Government city, where ono would naturally expect; to find ideal trades unionism, that'the "Waterside AVorkers , Union was so numerically weak, and that the members of tho ■ Union had no preference" or material benefit as compared with the outsider. It made him think that, tho intelligent labouring man gave too much credence to' social agitators, who coolly told them that capital should bo done away with, as it was merely an accumulation of unpaid wages. Ho need hardly say that.such statements woro merely the noisy prattle of unediicated'men, and had nothing whatever' to do with the workingclasses of to-day. Practically speaking, a' ■union, or, voluntary association of men should be for mutual assistance, and protection, and for securing generally : tho most, favourable conditions'of. labour. The object for which trades unions, had been formed might bo expressed briefly as overcoming or off-sotting the disabilities of labour... Of.thoso disabilities the chief was that, owing to the lack of a reserve fund,.tho labourer .'■' could not stand out as all other sellers.dp,"':"for .tho prico the labourer must sell to-day," "the employer, need not buy until to-morrow." To the master it was merely a question,of profits. To the worker it was a qubstion of life. Mr. Bellambi Taylor endeavoured to impress on the large audience that the. maxims of a , wise trade union policy should give all preference of labour to. too unionist; never to press for a larger gain tha'u was'covered by the difficulty of roplacing the present body of.omployees by outsido labour; to insist on employers dealing' with the members as acolleotiyobody, not pormitting tho grading of individual members, as this would make it increasingly difficult for. an able-bodied, though pldorly, man to obtain employment; to endeavour to settle all disputes amicably by compnlsory arbitration with tho omployors, as, practically speaking,, from tho moment a striko had to be proclaimed tho real work of "a union had failed, for tho union'had. not boon ablo to safeguard tho interests or its members. '.. - ; . ... •-.... Mr. BEN TILLETT. "]■_/ "Comrado" .Tillett, as ho becomes among his brother. Socialists, was ■entertained by the i ■Wellington party of tho organisation in thoir MaWs Street hall on Saturday night. j Songs, recitations, and tea.wero-features of tho gathering, which was very largoly ; at°Tho 'Chairman,. Mr. "W. / Craig, congratulated the party ou tho forward movement they had madorin tho last few years, refornng m particular to the acquisition. of .new. rooms, their increasing numbers; and itho live, condition of the propaganda work.. On tho heols of Mr. Tillett they would be ablo to wolcomo Comrade Keir Hardie, who was at the present time under, a cloud--(inter]ection: "Not much") — as far as the capitalists Press was concerned. He might quote Solomon's maxim: "Ho that judgeth a man be-, fore he hcareth. him, it is: folly and shame unto him." Tho broad issuo to which raternational' Socialism was .advancing was realisod by political parties the: world ovor, and tho present contury-would see a straightiout conflict between tho forces of' Socialism: and human advancement' on; tho ono side, and capitalism on tho. other. '.'. ■ Mr Ben Tillett > sang "William Morris's "March of , : the Workers,": and .briefly expressed his thanks to the local party for its reception of him, and the regret he would feel in leaving. •' ' ■ " Thero has never been a working-class revolution in tho history of-tho world; every revolution has been a middle-class revolution. But revolutions are played out. Wo are not coins to use physical<forco or throw.bombs., So siid Mr. Ben Tillett at'thb Opera House last : night, to' an audienco. that overflowed to tho doors. ■ ' ■ ' -■ ■;' ''"■ ■ "Revolutionary .-Socialism and Government" was the text,- and.he revelled, in denunciation of capital. "Raisuli.is a gentleman compared" to somo of these millionaires,,, he declared, and tho audience cheered; _ But it looked uncomfortable when ho.turned his battery on the Workers. :" It is nothing but the callous indifference, the lovo; of,pleasure, and their •'piggish contentment that compel them to exist in the wretched state that tliey do," ho shouted. , ' Durinf 'the evening'.music was discoursed bv Onvcr's ' Orchestra, Miss 1 Sherwin, and Messrs'.' H. M'Gregor, Gilchrist, H. Oliver, and G. Watkins 1 . . ' ' .