LABOUR AND POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 192, 8 May 1908, Page 8

LABOUR AND POLITICS.

VIEWS OF AN AMERICAN PROFESSOR. COMPARISONS BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND 'NEW ZEALAND; Professor Goodnow' is enjoying his Sabbatical year.•' -Se."fs' spending it' in a trip roiiricll'the world/ observing, like Ulysses, " cities-, of j men," and mannors, climates, councils', ' governments.,". Frd'm Hong-Kong he camo on to 'Australia, and, after visiting some of tho cities of tho Commonwealth, crossed .to New Zealand.' Ho has spent some time in, tho" South'lsland,, whence ho arrived, in Wellington ,on ■ "Wednesday.' Ho leaves - this . morning ..for Wanganui and Auckland.-- When ho gets, back to New York City, the students of Columbia University, where he is "Professor of Law, will receivo some' of 'theJ advantages' of his travels. Ail tho Professors at Columbia .have one; year, in, seven'as a whole holiday. They call it the) Sabbatical year, and they usually' spend it iiv'travelling. So .far, '-Professor" ''Goodnow lilies New. Zealand'. He finds'; the neoD'le contented and prosperous. ,They.,,seem.,7pretty,..well . satisfied with tho ,way ; they /'are governed. They- have treated him kindly. Ho accepts, in spite of somo unfortunate",'feather.' samples, /their- goofl opinion of'the ; climate. . Arbitration and Conciliation. ;;. One,.of, the.,, Professor's objects in visiting Australasia,is ,; to'obtain a (first-hand, knowr Jedgeyof.i tlW'working'iof its systems, of industrial Ho assured a Dominion.' reporter -yesterday that 'this particular- Australasian i experiment had been watched by. Americans with'-great interest. Some j'had-' thought-;<that similar measures would .!be beneficial i, in the United States, but - he; and! 'otlibrg had said that it 'would bo--difficult,-/and perhaps impossible,* to enforce- tho awards if- 'tho workers objected to; them. .: It/,see'med to him now - that he had come- here' just l when those' fears were being-justified by fresh experience. : It' is, believed to be a characteristic or American professors, on the grand tour' of the . Sabbatical year to turn the tables 0:1 the!interviewer■; and,' with an engaging air of innocencej-'to>. take'-'the questioning end of' the conversation/into their own hands. Professor-,Goodnow; did, this , as long as tho Nfew Z6al4nd.' labour' laws were the subject in .hand.-' The- reporter shifted the ground of attack. • • • ' ■ 1 ' " No, I do not .'think compulsory arbitra-tion-is comihg. in. America, though wo havo already; a partial .'system of,'conciliation. There,are.'in several.of the States Boards of Conciliation" appointed by the State! Governments. ....Their, vduty-is, whenever a strike occurs, or is .' threatened, ,to , call the .parties together—the, ; employers; arid' the leaders of the,;,unibri-7-'arid. itry ;to -bring 'them to a friendly . "How are the conciliators selected • Are they. ; expertsor ' representatives of capital and.labour?" , . "Well, -scarcely; . Their are regarded as political plums—rowards for party ser- : vices. -The ■ Boardsdo not command /much public;; confidence,and,-, yet they have( of ton done. a/,great;,;deal.'of; gocd - jiist by bringing tho parties,- together: That; and .giving ad-' vico are-all they-havejpower to do." American Trades Unions; '.. "Perhaps;; 'one .-reason why the workers among.us are-not demanding'compulsory, ar-bitrttion,"-'continued'the Professor, "is that they: are fable to achieve so much through their Unions. ; Ihj;nianjV industries' they have settled ( for themselves such .questions as that which'causMl, j the : rccent waterside strike at Sydney'.; ;They, simply :do, not let 'the masters employ non-Unioiiists.'As. an instance, stonemasons will refuse, to set stone that has been quarried - by, free labour. There, was, a tim 6 when\the'enftloyerS: refused' to. negotiate through the 'Trades 'Union officials,, but that is,; almost 11 past!";''. Thfe • Unions have grown strong enough ..to'get : their, own also;,' Our [concentration of, industries in, big .concern's * has • given tho Unions a "great advantage in -bargajning, 1 as compared with the conditions hero. ill' New Zealand, where! tho industries are ,cut : up' among a , number of indepSnderit employers.'" It is now tho established pi*acticeiii' : some of the most important'industries'.:for':;tho:. employers and tho Unions to hold; a conference once a year, and fik tho wages'' and other conditions for tho following 12 months. -The agreements made in that'way-are ipretty generally adhered to; Labour and Imperialism. ~ < , •; . . "Labour in'.politics,?. r No, we have not much..'of - that;', .aridthere again Australasia providoiT a contrast. In this part of. tho British 'Enipire^it^seenis'to jrie that Labour ,ia ,: thqV.cmi;trolling. ;iactpr , in ' every _ political situation. .ViThatisi/of,-bourse, why immigration'is so little! encouraged. You. are developing slowly, arid whatever may havo been tho case, years ago your .'increase' of population is 'but' slight;. , I-.havo, been very seriously wondering Australasia will bo able; with 1 its. handful, of. whites,vto preserve itself ,fr6m ! Asiatics. ' And you are doing" very '..little, i'for, your own defence. Your'military forces don't amount to much, ind you havo v no navy of your own." "Wo think it. is safer-to rolyon the Imperial Navy." '. "Don't be too, sureof that.- It was a very good. thing for' England when America broke away. • It caused a great increase in her tijadd; •qcrpSs,;v,the.;',A.tlanwc'.-. Your contribution', t,oi' the' .Navy/',is, extremely small—. £240|000^fromj'tHe,(six 'million people, in Australasia, while'' tho English taxpayers havo tb/fin'd. .£1:. a.-he^d. I ',II think- you roly too much on the old My ; at Home." . Political Corruption.; "I 'admit," _ resumed the Professor, going 'back, to'"the iirimigration question,; that by keepih'g 'put;'!alriiost''everybody, not of . your ownrace' L you- ' avoid great difficulties. America, has always been the, M,ecca of the .oppressed., ;It "was . no uricommon thing witliiri'- reberit.' yfeafs'for 30,000 immigrants 'from , 'all ; 'paTts'of''Tsurope to land in' New York -in'a';single A day.' ' Many of, these people can't'speak'a ,word of English, but wnen thoy : have be«n'nye 'ypars in tho country, they are'.'American' citizens. A good many if. tliem/'a^,/voting,' illegally, before tho jerio'd'-of'"naturalisation '• is ended. They, lave-noiie' of.'' the' "Anglo-Saxon political ;raditions', they, do riot understand , our inititu.tionsj;, and "there 'are people who aro fcry;, anxious-, to'get ~their votes. That is jno of the'causes of our political corruption, if-which, ; ,'l-think, lyoii.hear a good deal in ;his/country."_ s ,, Professor .Goodnow has been-.impressed by ;he absence" from 'the newspapers, here and n Australia; of'those'exposures of "graft" ind ! other; .forms,', of..- corruption which; are imong the regular-wfeatures of "a large section of the. American''Press. . He ,has no loubt that 'public life hero is cleaner than in' the United States, but ho enters a caveat against ' exaggerated views. In America, he says, the yellow Press finds out overy public scandal and makes-the most.of it. There is', a libel law as strict, theoretically, as that of England, - but juries will not convict. A public man who .brings- a suit for libel against ai newspaper is laughed at. The Press is ,'absolutoly unfettered. This has to bo.taken,into account,, says Professor Goodnow, by ' any inquirer who is accustomed to a severely restrained activities of the Press within the British Empiro. . Whon the conversation had reached this stago, the. Profossor again took up the role of Sabbatical inquirer.