A BAKER'S STRIKE IN ROME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 260, 27 July 1908, Page 2

A BAKER'S STRIKE IN ROME.

' Sir,—For: men who go .to the, Arbitration : Court-agreeing to abide by'the'.award. and who then, repudiating their moral- obliga-tions,-'strike; and'refuse to pay the conse-quent-fine, is'a short imprisonment too hard .a punishment ? v ' If ii horse gallops'.blindly towards a gulf, hold him hard, harder 1 Don't be afraid of hurting his mouth. The horse . is; the •' striker',- the; gulf; poverty. Wliat -is real poverty, that creature of the'ruthle'sa god; ' 'supply-aiid-demand" ; ? For an "almost unvarying percentage of men'and women, insufficient ; food, -'insufficient warmth;*' a : long, ■ lingering death' of weeks, months,, years, generations. > Body -.. weakened .by anaemio blood; mind poiioried to numbness by ignorance—drink- the f only obtainable quick-joy. Soul 7 bralided and .cross-branded and scarred by- the, hot iron's >of brutality, hatred; despair:tortured by.', .of the little ..'children. 0 Who, here caii'-Mnow whatrit isP , Love,-sym-pathy, tho-family i group; 'the- Tiny -Tims Of life are for the aristocrat of pauperdom"; real ;poverty";knows..rione;of these. And-what is a; real, prolonged strike under freedom, of contract? -All tliis ; ' nffith the additional agony, - of' enforced idle-' aess in the midskofc work waiting- all around. Who. here.-has evo'iv seen a' real one—yet? ' A bakers'. strike' can'; cause the -• greatest suffering. I havo -seen one that lasted only a'few weeks hadicpmparativoly.happy ending,, but- froii -it ;: l' can._imagiho • what a prolonged one must' be lijie. > It was in .Rome, where-bread is thg 'st&ffi. of life (not merely a furnishing;for'-'beef;'nvutton, rice, pbtatoefc), • where the 'pooy^haye' &o;. means of- bakingsonly ! a ! small ohaMal-sa4 ibr 'all purpdse's. ■No'brea'd was iriado!in alUßome. ~There,\vere -'no-blackleg's." ; p : ossesspd,': a knife. Tho lea'ders, tv,'o' :iioii-\vorking agitators; ' ha'rhngued -on \ barrels',', and ■ led, prd- . cessions'with flag's;': Government, entreated, . appealed' to thermen'tp hd;treasonable,,'-but dared'iiot .arrest the two dgitators. avid clap them iiitogaol.'-;'Every , .stijiker had.'a,voto. Me_anwhile the wotfien .^d ; l pbU(lr&:''of';iiou>' ■ strikors suffered'terribly, We're calling out for broad. Their, men also 'fla'f£;votts. Something must be done'. ~ So, after long vacillation, Government mAched'Wdiers into tfa bakoliouses to bako. .. A littlo broad was badly made, without salt, whifcijys- a highly taxed luxury. Poor women struggled for it. • I discovered in a shop .two 4oz. brown loaves of Vienna bread, hm .weeks old. . I paid—never mind—l \ carried; th(jm ,; in triumph to our hotel. By and liv 'some .of the "masters took heart and woiit'-Wo ; their bakehouses, prolcctedby the soMidS:" When the strikers found their tactics defeated thoy turned upon their leaders. -To thfl'Jdvantaga of -all parties concerned tliose gentlfcmeii disappeared.' Tlio men accepted'the : - of Fate, and returned to their, bakeliotista:; Against all such evils our b'encficfiiV Arbitration Act stands guard. No one-Accuses judge or assessors of bribery and'corruption. The awards are laboriously honest endeavours to unravel: coils of conflicting interests' and to get very near'to justice between man; arid man —sometimes not liottr enoughP - Who believes that the' Court is' infallible In hll ranks all suffer hourly frdni the'small injustices of fallibld' human justice. "OBut it is the best we lcrio\v, : and infinitely blessed compared to the chnoi bf strikes arid- pftverty. Let us hope will uphold' the; groat principle •: of- Arbitration, and insist that those who defy the judjmerrt's of the Court'shall be punished;aiit;6rdihg tb'^law. —I am, etc., ~ July 15. EDWARD REEVES.