CAPITAL AND LABOR

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVIII, Issue LXXVIII, 13 June 1919, Page 5

CAPITAL AND LABOR

POST-WAR PROBLEMS. Now that peace has been practically consummated, said Mr Beauefutmp, ai, the Bank of Ne\\ r Zealand meeting this morning, the world has to face the big problems of reconstruction and liquidation of indebtedness. The problems of the war have been many and perplexing ; but the problems of peace are more numerous and bewildering. Th& world is confronted with a most serious and unprecedented position. Most of the nations have been living and fighting upon their capital. Some have exhausted their capital and have been living and fighting upon credit. The capital lost has to be restored, and the indebt-i edness incurred has to be paid off. It is to be feared that the process of retrieving the position will be long and painful. , . Unfortunately, just when the eoufl-1 try is faced with this vital need of an increase of production and a decrease of waste—waste of material and waste; of power—some extremists in the ranks of labor are exerting themselves to' check production. By their tactics they are cutting down production; they are1 reducing the quantity of goods fori general distribution; they are lessening the share per head of the population;! that is, they are increasing the cost of i living, for it is essential to fix the mindj on that cost in terms of goods for dis-j tribution rather than in terms ofj money, the ever-varying medium of exchange. "Produce leas and have more" is the cry of these thoughtless theorists. Their doctrine is a complete reductio ad absurdum. Their phrases and catch-cries' are* borrowed from older countries, where the conditions are immeasurably less favorable for the workers than those in New Zealand. Whatever may be said or written about, the temporary disadvantages caused by more than four years of I world-devastating war, it is undeniable that the standard of living has steadily improved in New Zealand during the' past quarter of a century. The facts; are plain for all to see. Any additional! improvement must come from construe-1 Uve thiniung and the, friendly coi-oper-i ation of all classes in giving effect to the constructive thinkers' rational proposals. Obstructive intimidating tac-! tics and '-go slow-ing" will simply an-i tagonise the community, which has to suffer as a consequence thereof, and throw, into a more remote future the rapprochement between capital and labor which is so earnestly to be desired Experience has proved that the per-1 sons Who, like the Russian Bolsheviks I wish to take a short cut to the millennium, are usually unwilling to listen to1 reason. They have a disposition to re-' gard any friendly proposal from the other side as either a sign of weakness or the beginning of surrender. The.! "short-cutters'' it appears, have de-1 clarea themselves against anything less than terms of their own dictation—the' domination by one class. In New Zealand this irreconcilable element in labor—though temporarily prominent—has not imposed its impetuous reckless will on the great body of Labor. An appeal to reason can be made with workers who know that a steady maintenance and increase of production are necessary to assure labor's welfare; men who know, too, that a cast-iron restriction of their individuality cannot make for personal contentment. These men have It in their power to assure for themselves an infinitely better future than the obstructive and destructive tactics of their rash leaders could bring. For many years, class suspicion has constituted a powerful hindrance to the i realisation of the right mutually-help-! tul relations between labor and capital It may be conceded without any reservation, that there have been faults on both sides. A better understanding I however, cannot be reached by a per-j sistencc in the policy of -suspicion and. cold aloofness which has been at the root of so much misunderstanding in the past. There must be, in future I more consultation —a more extensive and intensive discussion of views. Just as all classe? have worked together to save the State from a foreign aggressor, | m> they must now again work together harmoniously to save society from the' internal wrecker. Through much strife and turmoil the' Old Country seems to be feeding its-way towards a solution of the industrial problem. The latest proposal is to es-i tablish a permanent Industrial Council,1 or an Assembly of representatives of Labor and Capital—in other words a Parliament of Industry—by which all questions affecting Labor and Capital shall be decided. Probably along some such lines the solution of the problem' lies. It seems clear that the method hitherto pursued in this Dominion no longer meets the necessities of the case Our country is differing under a continued process of wage-raising, as a re-1 suit of appeals to the Industrial and Conciliation Courts by the various trades unions. Every increase awarded to workers automatically increases the price of the article produced, and, as a result, the increased cost of production is passed on to the consumer. Consequently wages and prices are pursuing each other in an unending circle; and' in the final results even the workers themselves, in whose interests the move-! ment was primarily made, derive little or no benefit, whilst" certain classes of the community (namely, the class consisting mostly of brain workers who belong to no trades unions, and the class composed of peoplei with fixed incomes, which Jo not move upward in sympathy with the upward movement ot prices) are largely in straitened cir-i cumstances o r suffering hardship I It would be folly to think that this1 state of things ca n continue. Th e time is past when any one trade can be allowed to settle fits working conditions remuneration, etc., irrespective of the effect which the proposed modification will have upon the community in geneial All such trade union appeals as I have indicated should be dealt .with by an Industrial Assembly in which workers and employers should have equal numerical representation. Such an Assembly should be presided over by men ot judicial mind and wide industrial experience, ranking in the social order on the same footing as Judges of the Supreme Court. Men of this calibre could guide the deliberations of the Industrial Assembly, so that the decisions arrived at might not prove abortive or operate unfairly to any section of the community. I have sufficient confider.ee in the sound common rense of the average worker, and in the sense of fairness and justice possessed by the average employer, to be assured that every mst and fair demand of labor would be met b^ s.uch <™ Assembly. I t would fall within its province to make such recommendations to the Government of the day m regard to control of prices of essential commodities as would ensure I that such prices should not be increased by dealers beyond the point necessary to yield them a reasonable return upon their invested capital. With this position attained strikes and lock-outs would, by common consent of workers ancT employers, be absolutely tabooed and made illegal by j legislation, all trades unions and Associ- , ations of Empoyers agreeing to be , bound by the decisions of the Industrial j Assembly, subject perhaps, i n certain j cases, to the right oT appeal to the Par-

. liament of the country, with whom final j decision migut rest. The Bolshevist and I.W.W. would thenceforth be operating upon barren soil, and in due course would cease to : disturb social conditions in aii lands , where employers and employees had come to iecognise that each has rights winch should be cheerfully conceded by the other, and that each"has duties to the other wuTch should be faithfully peiformed; whilst both, as members of the human family, must work together m. ,lllutv ior tue common good. T The best preventive of the spread in >>ew Zealand of tbe pernicious d<x.-trine and principles of the Bolshevist and the I.W.W. is the. people's inherent love of law and order. With a liberal education of the rising generation, the country has, I believe, nothing t o fear from the revolutionary propagandist I The secret of the progress which has marked tne last century and made it the most wonderful epoch of human history has, I believe, been this—that, during , its course, individualism has beer untrammelled and personality has had full and free play. The inaividual has felt that every field of labor—art, science, industry, commerce—has been open to him without restriction, and that h: proportion fothe capacity and ability brought to bear upon labor, whether physical or mental, and the I foresight, energy and industry devoted to it, would be the ultimate'personal reward. This has called forth the1 maximum of human effort, and the results are seen in the national and social i developments that have taken place among the industrial peoples of the worlo. during the century. . Henceforward, however, the dominating principles threaten to be collectivism and communism, and I have very grave apprehensions as lo the effect of these influences upon the future of human advancement. If the element of personal advantage be largely eliminated from individual industrial effort the mam incentive to industrial! pro! gress will have disappeared. Yet this is, to a great extent, the practical trend of present day Indus-1 tfiahsm To limit the output of indus^ I i *>, tliat a S°°d workman produces only the. same as a poor one; to iix the scale of wages so that the indifferent workman shall be remunerated on the same scale as the skilful one; to limit the hours of labor, so that there may employment for both efficient and inefficient, are all measures the effect of which is to reduce laboring man--5 neUali^ to a deaS W Industrial freedom is the raainsprin* ™ T >gi^rihe condition 5 w *T h lshß&} desree of acTvanoement. We shall need it in the dark days that aSeS- Wl? XV m^ courage to tace and confidence to overcome the worst than can beset us; but with! SSLter may be confusion a^ TO i? T? n x disti nct antagonism to those who look to the nationalisation of industries as the remedy for the existing labor unrest. I am confident that it would prove no remedy. The right remoter m£^onr ght ** "* L»« *