THE H.B. TRIBUNE. THURSDAY, FEB. 15, 1917. “GO SLOW.”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 355, 15 February 1917, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. THURSDAY, FEB. 15, 1917. “GO SLOW.”

Statements have from time to time lately appeared in the Press alleging the deliberate reduction of output by coal miners employed on the West'Coast of the South Island. To-day we have a Press Association message, from Hamilton detailing sworn evidence which was given before the Military Appeal Board, and which goes definitely to prove that a similar course is being adopted in Waikato mines, and generally to suggest that this policy has been adopted throughout the Dominion, the immediate purpose in view, however, not being clearly established. In Australia, where Labour organisations have for some years had virtual political control not only of the Federal Government, hut in a majority of the States also. ”ea’ canny” methods have come to he more and more in evidence as each year went by, being most noticeable in Government services and undertakings, of which there are a much larger number than with us in New Zealand. Quite recently the Chief Commissioner for Railways m New South Wales reported that, owing mairdy to these tactics, the falling-off in railway service efficiency since 190 S had been fully 15 per cent., and that he believed the same, or worse, could be said of the majority of the big industries. This report is made the subject of a lengthy contributed article in a Sydney exchange, in which the question is investigated from the point of view of the interests of the worker himself and of the class to which he belongs, and we may here attempt to give the more salient features that are exposed. If it be true, it is said, that the amount to be divided depends upon the amount to be produced by the community, then the section which propagates the idea that, in the interests of the workers, it is wise to go slow has a suicidal notion of economies. In the interest of all this idea should be exposed and exploded as it has been in other countries. It thrives upon ignorance, and the only way to cornbat it is to spread a knowledge of economic facts and principles. But in the Labour leagues and trade unions men are struggling in the toils of energetic propagandists of various erroneous theories whose acceptance can only react viciously upon those who adopt them and put them in practice. Although the I.W.W.—whose real origin is German, and which came to us through America with the undoubted intent of crippling our :n--dustries in the interests of Germany —is not responsible for the invention of the “ca’ canny” scheme, still it is one of the chief weapons in the I.WAV. armoury for the “direct action’’ which its members so strenuously’ advocate as the rnlv eTeitii means of enforcing demands, whether reasonable or nun ison ible and there can be no question i*- to their having secured m inv di-i ph s If it were not a proved f< < t i m u?l be unbelievable that anv man able to read and write and think consecutively’ for two minutes would deliberately set out to preach '•lowing down as a means or helping the workers. ‘‘We have all he ait says the Australian wutei, ‘of rhe man who says that the drunkard is the best friend of the State, moi ig that a vast revenue is derived from drink, and also of the one w h r sou s no injury done to the lommuuitv 1 x wasteful expenditure. But the economies of such is miles ahead ot that of the advocate of slowing down The worker who pract ces lowin'down in the interests of his class forgets that he e and his class a-.e often the most numerous puuhasCis of his products. If the amount produced is deliberately k ssened tl e. amount to be sold to the wotkeis is made scarcer and dearer. In reducing his output the »lo« »ork<-u is in reality sending his cost < f living up, which is tantamount to lowering his wages, and is in effect "making back to the era of waistcloths and cave-dwellings." The general .practical application of the theory must inevitably result in corresponding general advance in prices proportioned to the decrease in the resulting production. .With regard to those whose objective rs practically State Socialism, it is easy tc show that in lowering the efficiency of a State service, or the production ot a State industrial concern. State employees are “fighting their own political objective, destroying the prestige of their own ideal, and putting off the day of its realisation.” If they really w’ant State Socialism, obviously their best plan would be to put forth their best efforts to make State services apd industrial undertakings a financial success, and so show the soundness of the principles they propound. As was said at the outset, the arguments here adduced are entirely from the point of view of the interests of the workers themselves. There are. of course, many other aspects, both ethical and economic, that, might be urged with canal, if not greater, cogency, such, for *nstance. as the honesty of the procedure and its effect, upon our ability to cope successfully with outside competition.