CORRESPONDENCE HON. A. H. BARLOW AND LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1913, Page 11

CORRESPONDENCE HON. A. H. BARLOW AND LABOUR

TO *£« tttllTOß. Sir,— Your sub-leader «f the 21st inst, pertaining, , to the remarks of the Hon. A. H. Barlow, is to be commended -for its unbiased exposition of facts. The Queensland oritio of labour can well bo measured by the fact that ho finds it necessary to dome 1200 miles to a foreign Stttto to adversely oriticieo tho Labour party of Australia, and its policy, and at, the same time irfdii'eoUy deliver a. blow' at the Labour party of New Zealand far the benefit of the Massey Tory Governtnont, now, unfortunately, handling tho destiny of the Country, ag tho result of the acts of a few stillborn politicians. No doubt the people of thia country would havo lent more cognisance to' the destructive critioifim of Mr. Barlow had the attack been made on Australian soil, but to come 1200 miles or so to delivet a blow under tho shelter of ' this country, whero, the, person Btruck don't exist to reply, io neither straight business nor tnanly; jbtifc ia equal to the Tory brand of politician, and the Queensland kanaka that the Federal Labo'itr party caused to bo shifted some years ago from tho sugar fields and industry of Banana* land, so th&t the white labourer and his family might get a chance to exist in the country they were taxed by a Tory Government to maintain. In denouncing federation, it is easy to see that the fundamental objeotion of Mr. Barlow is the, fact that tho Labour party—his political opponents-— has captured both Houses of the Federal Parliament, and i« very successfully controlling the destiny of the Commonwealth in the interest of the , common mass of its people. The criticism of Mr. Barlow is as common on the Labour table as the sparkling cham* pagne on that of the class this Queensland Cabinet Minister directly represent^. His criticism may' be of the comio opera production, and in that respect entertaining, but so distant from th<> Actual truth as to warrant the displeasure of every unbiased person of a community, ' He desires to know what we think of steady upright tradesmen being forced by the terrorists— whatever' they are— not to deliver goods to the starving people,. Here the word "terrorist" is used in application to 'the Labour leaders controlling the recent Brisbane strike, and its* application in that connection is evidence that Mr, Barlow looks on Labour leaders, and the Labour movement, as being equal to the French Bonnot gang of murderers. But what does Mr. Barlow think of his own class '—■the capitalist class — starving . men, women, and little children of the working class, and driving them to the gutter of human destruction by, a pernicious economio system embodying unemployment by an over-glutted market, bad sanitary conditions, a starvation wage, long hours, and other cruel conditions; a system that takes the child from its schooling at an early age and forces it into the factories 'and workshops to help build the .ever-growing profits of the class of Mr. Barlow, a system that cripples and sends humanity to an early grave? Pie refers to the Queensland strike and military aid for the bosses, and because the Commonwealth Labour Government would not give. this aid to 'economically cripple men and women workers, he alleges in one breath that ■the Government infringed section 119 of the Constitution of Australia, *nd in the next condemns that Government" for not selecting Ballarat or Some" such place for the' Federal capital. * The t#o things are the maximum of inconsistency, and so far as section 119 is concerned, it does riot compel the Government to send iroops to the seat of industrial trouble. He speaks of 'the extravagance of the Labour Govern•metit, but forgets to mention that the Barton Federal Government— whitJh, wad of the Barlow school of political thought-rwhich was the first Common; wealth JSdvef-ntrtenly''iriS«>daced a. Bill to give the Governor-General of Aus-^ tralia the munificent salary of £20,000 per annum, £4375 more than the salary paid Co tho President of the United States of America; but the Labour party strenu* ously fought this proposal, in the House and succeeded in getting it reduced to £10,000. One of the last .acts of the" t)eakin Government was to" pass a Loan Bill for a ' million' and a-half . Itn* mediately the Labour party obtained control the* repealed this measure, and thus kept the" financial | slate olga-n. Similar instances might bo quoted of where the Labour party has been very careful in the handling of the people's purse, but, evidently, as the party is not spending public moneys in the interest pf the class of Mr, Barlow, but in tho interest of th 6 common ' people, tho expenditure is inoßfc extravagant. We aro also told through the Tory spectacles of this Queensland politician that Labour is a "cub the painter" party; disloyal to the Throne and to tho British flag, and out for separation. , It's peculiar that ' Mi*. Barlow and his 00-politioal friends , cannot eo&vinco tho people of Australia s to that way of thinking. If tha building of a Navy for the protection of .her shores,; and people is cQsloval and cutting* the painter, it's peculiar that intellectual statesmen of England, such as Asquith, Churchill, Grey, and Lloyd George, and 'also Admiral' King-Hall, don't agree with him. Speaking of disloyalty, however, what does Mr. Barlow think of a colonial Legislature passing a piece of legislation for the good government and protection of its people ;< its reservation for Royal assent; tho capitalists of England bringing pressure to bear on the Crown, whioh results in the King of England vetoing the measure, thereby depriving the citizens of the country involved of the protection asked for? That in itself is convincing evidence of the nefarious influence exercised by the olass to which Mr. 'Barlow belongs, to deprive the working men and women of a measure, of protection against insanitary conditions, low- wages,' unemploy ment, and premature graves.— l am, etc., W. T. YOUNG. 24th February, 1913.