CAPITAL AND LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 88, 8 January 1919, Page 6

CAPITAL AND LABOUR

Sir,—lt is li ifrhly amusing to read the letter written by Mr. Vavasour on the labour troubles of to N -day which' appeared in the columns of your valunble paper to-day. As a worker and an educated man I would like to. change' jobs with that gentleman for a week. I am earn-, ing 12s. a day at unskilled work, and have a wife and three children to keep, and owing to the high cost of living my wife is obliged to 'revert to her former occupation and do dressmaking to help keep the -pot boiling. . I venture to say that the. worker was . better off-before the war", receiving 9a. "a day than lie is at present, one reason ' being he received less money and his i stores'cost him less, and if anything, if . he wise man and was nble to pay ; rush he probably had a email balance. ,■ The worknr's life at the present time is L a most unenviable one, for,the. simple . reason thnt the purchasing power of tlio ■ sovereign has gone down considerably. I ; ask the man who is earninnr .£5 a week '■ and has threp or four children to. feed, ■ clothe, and educate how much is he put- ;. tin? bv for i> rp.iny day? His iiiit'wer [ must be. nothing. ' ' ■ ; Dnes not the sheepfarmor sell his fat '' stock to the buyer offering the most I' .money? Every time. And what-about , 'the farmer who grows wheat?... He says ', to tlie Government, unless you' can guar- : antee me Cs. 10d. a bushel for the next ! season's crop I cannot undertake to grow any. Before the war.we naid anproxit mately 4s. to ss. for good pound fowl wheat, and now we pay Bs. Gd. and 9s. for rubbish, and the price of eggs practically is the eame. ' ' It is idle talk to level the lmrpst at ; i the hands of the workers' representnJ tivi>s. X)n not* Hip fn-~im*r« organise, and i did not the. Allies organise their forces to win the War? Therefore' the writer •has- 6verv right , to "do the 1 snme.' Until the fmployer'and the eanitnlist are prepared to srive tlie worker adequatp pay--1 nient for his nroduop. which is his labour, thp relationship will .remain n's it stands to-day. What becomes of the eu'rnlus vahie over and above the cost of produe--1 tion. etc.? One has onlv tn' pay " visit ■ to this town to leßrn of the number of farmers who are -T«ti.rini from active work, and th» majority of thpin still in their prime. You never heard of. a 'worker possessing a motor-car,, but some of these ! gentlemen have two. In conclusion, a, word in my fellow- ' workers. To enable yon tn fight for your 1 Tights, keen yom-splvps efficient by keen-" ■, ing fit. "Jfr. Booze" is your greatest > enemy. C»t him. out and you are sure to : win out.—l am, etc., , , WOriKER. i Feildinj, January 6, 1319.