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Thk proposal to form a Free Labor Association, which shall have its affiliated branches all over tho colonies, with a head office in London, is tho natural result of the action of the unions in boycotting free labor. As we havo before pointed out, thero is far more labor available outside the unions than there is within them, and the preposterous offorts of a minority to control the trade and industry of the world to the injury of independent workmen aro certain to be frustrated. Although the strikes are the visible outcome of what is called tho labor dispute, their reai object is to form a mere section of the laboring classes into a close corporation with a view of establishing a permanent forco hostile to capital. As the whole of society, from "tho king in his palace to the beggar at bis gates," rests on the independent employment of capital, it becomes the duty of every good citizen to resist a revolutionary movement which if successful can only be disastrous to buth liberty and civilisation.' The object of a Free Labor Association will not be inimical to labor ; quite the contrary, it will bo for tbo protection of labor against the tyranny of the unions. Wo have little hesitation in saying that half the members of t1,..; several unions iv these colouioti were compelled to join by fear and coercion. They feared that if they did not join they would bo between two stools, the employers and tho unions, unemployed by tho oue side, and tlouted by the other. A Free Labor Asaoeiation will protect theso men from any such fear, and while it will guarantee them permanent work it will also shield them from the attacks of the unions. Wo are certain that if such an aasur.wce can be given them, if employers will be truo to tlio men who have been loyal to them, there will bo a vast thinning out of the unionist ranks. The loafers who arc now living on the agitation, and their dupes who prefer tit-ike pay to honestly earned wages, would then see where, the}' have landed themselves.

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18900902.2.9

Bibliographic details

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5925, 2 September 1890, Page 2

Word Count
356

Untitled Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5925, 2 September 1890, Page 2

Untitled Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5925, 2 September 1890, Page 2