Our Would-be Saviour.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 513, 2 October 1890, Page 2

Our Would-be Saviour.

[to the editob.J Sib,—l see in last Saturday’s issue of tbe Standibd a long article of Mr Chamoion’s, on ilia Labor Crisis. Some of his remarks are right enough, but as a whole are a long wav short of hitting the mark. In fact, some of his ideav arn altogethnr antagonistic to the we’fare of Unionism. He savs, first, “That no Trades Unionist should claim the rirht to dictate to any emolover,” which, ae I ’aka it, means that tha Unionist is supposed to woik all hours the employer deems fit an! take anything given to him in the shape of wages, »' a hungry dog wou'd a bone. I say, Unioniß's as a man have nn right to dio'.a’e; as a they have all right to ask what is fair and i-Ist. Secondly, he Bays “ that no Trades Unionist should claim the right to demand that an nmnlover b’fore taking on a man shall ask him if he belongs to fhe Union or not.” Perhaps not. Thirdly, that a nonunionist has a right to take work wherever ha nan gat it. Most decidedly he has. The Unionist claims the same right to knock off work whenever it is to hie interest to do ao. Fourthly, that no Tradre Union claims the right to apply force, or the threat of force, other than lhat dpflo»d bv law, to m»n who are not. Unionist?. Well, I think he is right there • hut if the law has been broken it is not wi'h 'he sanction of th’ Unions. Farther on Mr Chamnlon says, “Tho b«st way with non. Unionists is to argue with them,” 4c., Ao. I snpnose he means white you are working with them. Now, he little knows the colonial employer or his toady. With some man the argument business might do very well, hut the colonial toady, who is always hanging round ■' ready tokisa'he hem of his master's garmoot, is more ohieflv found on stations than elsewhere, and more vulgarly termed a crawler. I think Mr Champion wilt find him a tnuvh member • it would be much better for the Unionist to argue with tha employer, as it would not then bo exaggerated, Mr Champion concludes bv saving ” that St. Paul was the first advocate for bovonttiog ’’ the is renu’ed to have been a good sort. too), and quotes scripture as follows, “Now if any man nbiy not our word bv the Epistle, note that man, and have no company with him ; vet onunt him not ns an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." That, is exactly what Unionism is doing, A leading Australian naner treats tha above subject as follow’, “ Capital always protests against, the pressure of force : that is to sty, it protests against force when someone else applies it to Capital, and the peaceful and legitimate pre»«ure which the Trades Unions have employed, in order to maintain their right to co-operate for their own protection, has roused the monopolist Press to fraptio indignation. If Labor has any wrongs, moral suasion should he employed to set them right.; the inert influenoe of public opinion should be brrught to bear on the case ; and argument and rhetoric, and gentle exhortation should be made use of to brir,g about a general ref a'mation. It is true the monopolist ca-ea not one straw for moral suasion, and the weivht of public opinion has ns little influence on his Conscience as a pound of butter might hove if fired at the brazen gates of Tophet, and argument nr.d rhetoric have no effect on his bank account, which is his only vulnerable point, hut he always demands that labor should trust to these emptv weapons, end be content.” The following cutting from a late N ipier News might be of some interest tq your readers Our readers have no doubt noticed in our Australian cable tpeseaves during the last few days a number of quotations from letters which Mr H. H. Champion has written to the Age anent the present labor struggle. Mr Champion is described ae the celebrated labor ad vacate, and his utterances or opinions are at thia juncture cabled over ae being of great importance. A member of the Working Men’s Association, who knows Mr Champion, was rather rough on him at the meeting last nivht, and during the course of his remarks said that the last, time ho saw him was a few rears ago, when he was expelled from a mass Unionist meeting which was held in a town on the Surrey side of London. He had attended this meeting for the purpose of causing miechief, and when Mr John Burns ascended the platform and commenced speaking, Champion and a number of Ihirod roughs made it their business to interrupt him, and Buhjacteii him to a fire of unseemly remarks. Th* result was that th* offenders were expelled from the hall. Champion, stated the speaker, was an extreme Socialist, and had a disagreement with Messrs Burns and Hyndman, whose ideas did not coincide with those of Champion, rogardipy the adoption of extreme m*nsures. Champion, who is a retired soldier. ha, apparently found a better sphere of labor in Australis, end has left England for a more promising field.”—l am, to., JPSTIOZ.