FARMERS AND LABOURERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10115, 24 October 1917, Page 6

FARMERS AND LABOURERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir. —As a working man I write to protost against the slur ydur leader of this evening's "Standard” so insolently casts upon that much despised class, the labouring man; the rearer of families whb are, and always, will be, the? backbone of every country—tho person who is all tho vilo things imaginable, tho foremost of which lately has been tho go-slow policy. I wondor if your over-educated loader writer has over done a day's work under tho same conditions as the average worker and for his’magnificent wage; has, he ever taken a I rip to our West Coast, and seen firsthand for himself the conditions under which our coalminers work—that host of men who toil so that a few may lie back and smoke their fat cigars. Has ho over scon the unloading of Newcastle coal at the. Wellington wharves; how those old veterans of the shovel even have to take and pick it up with their hands. Watch these men for a while, ponder, and think, and if you still consider them overpaid, stroll a bit further and watch basic slag and superphosphates hoi rig unloaded; see the overpowering dust and heat in the holds. (Io along the wharves on a bleak, cold day and see these toilers hanging around, awaiting; the pleasure of some arrogant. foreman, on the chance of earning a few honest shillings, and your leaderwriter will get an insight into the daily life of the miners and wharf labourers. Penetrate the forecastle and see the magnificent dog-kennels the men have not only to sleep in, but dine in : watch them at their work- shrivelling coal, slicing and cleaning their fires ..stripped to the waist, often enough firing both ways. The only way y> get a bit away from the intense heat rs to stand to the side, and hero you come immediately under the ventilator’s cold blast, for things are not arranged for that despised man who has to sweat for his few bob. So if is with the .seamen: boatswains, officers and engineers ready to jump down their necks' if they stop to wipe their nose, or look around. They have to work, that’s all. Tho workers are pushed and pulled about, to suit the capitalistic class; those modern pirates who treat human beings like, cattle. They are not supposed to think, these ignorant workers, for when some of them do fake that liberty and they venture to express their conclusions they are grabbed and slung into gaol as criminals, because, they dare to express their thoughts. And thik in a British colony. ! think myself if some of the class which your paper sticks up for were to lower (spare the word) themselves to the level of the humble (honest as they can be) labouring class (the worker) they would be able to appreciate, the position it liule better, gnu would thereby be able to do a little more to improve the position of such as ■myself (workers). The man who sits in a swivel chair, presses a button, and is ini mediately Waited on, and is fold or given only that which pleases him, will never be in a position to hold judgment on the worker, unless he himself has personally come in contact with and had practical ex perie.nocof the conditions under which the average worker lives, bo he miner, lumper, or ■agricultural labourer. It is all very well to write a leader in praise of the farmer, at, the expense, of the. worker. We who read the papers, which often contradict themselves, knpw how far the farmers patriotism goW—never past his pocket. Start to, jingle his dollars and see how he veils. If lie is asked to grow wheat he wants his own price; give him a fair price for his produce he immediately yells for more. He tells you he has to pay enormous wages. When asked how much, ho tells you £2 a week! No, Mr Editor, your .farmer friends are out to suck tho last drop out of the workers, ami when through your columns you start to chuck mud at the. ■working class, it’s time you%vcrc told about it as you do not instance any particular section, but cast a reflection on tho whole working community. The greatest asset this country has got is tho worker; the man who is not ashamed to bring into this very unfair world a few children, thereby doing a great service to the Empire. Give him a hearing, appreciate his position a little .more, and you will give him a chance to live as a Human being should, in harmony with all men. Don’t hold up one at the expense of the other; give both sides to every question, and always remember it is only an accident of birth that separates the greatest from tho humblest. When you talk of the work a fanner has to do, you 1 irive one the impression that he never has u spare minute, mil is going like a machine all the time. I wonder ..who all those people are who come into town on Saturdays and Thursdays? The farmers do morel trying to wear out their motors than anything" else. It' you were to go round the' country more often you would find things were not quite so had for your farmer friends, and when all is said and done it is the agricultural liihourilr who does (he solid toil. Proof of that we get in the number of farmer employers appealing for exemption from military duty for skilled employees. Do not start-slinging off at ih,e holidays a worker gels, for the time is mostly spent cleaning up the garden and 1 planting the family potato—a very ueee.s----sill-v item in these strenuous times.—l am, , otc.', “HONEST" WORKER, i. Palmer,doit North. Odt. 22. | ( [Our correspondent evidently believes ■ that abuse should take, the place of ai'gu- 1 mem, tmd in clear and 'unmistakable terms < shows his hatred of men who, unlike him- . self. Have been able to; lift themselves out . of the nick. Tho genuine worker, we are sure, will not endorse the extreme I< views of our correspondent, who appears to j he thoroughly blinded hv class prejudice.— . Ed. M.E.S.r . j