SCIENCE OR QUACKERY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1038, 10 June 1924, Page 11

SCIENCE OR QUACKERY.

THE PROBLEM OP INDUSTRIAL TROUBLE, (Contributed by N.Z Welfare League.) The following appears in an American journal and as it is so opposite to what nns been taking place in New Zealand, \va quote it in full: "There is a close similarity between the human physical system and the industrial systems in complexity and the possibility of getting- out of order. If anything goes wrong with the regular workings of either, there are symptoms of disorder, called in the one case sickness and in the oiher an industrial crisis or depression. A great change has come over the practice of medicine in the last fifty or one hundred years dealing with sickness. The old practice was to "do something- violent" or desperate forthwith. The patient was bled, scarified, purged, physicked, drugged, drenched and doped with the most drastic remedies known, the apparent purpose being either to try everything that might happen to suit the case, or to stir up all the life forces with a view to exciting them to a supreme effort of resistance that would finally put the evil spirits to flight. If the patient did not die under the treatment, it was considered that persistence had been rewarded in at least finding- the proper remedy. In later years, however, medical science has demonstrated that Nature has her own restorative processes, and that the best treatment for the patient is one that gives rest and nourishment and depends upon Nature to work the cure." "In dealing with the ills of the industrial system, however, the same old political doctoring remain? in vogue. First the political doctors have a debate as to who is responsible for the patient's condition. Who has 'charmed' or bewitched him, and by what incantations can the» charms be loosened ? There is intense activity in all political circle 3 to "do something" forthwith, with little appreciation of the fact that unless the prescription is founded on knowledge it will make the patient worse. No remedy is too preposterous to be tried. All the quacks who feci that their own political future is involved have remedies to offer which they guess might accomplish something. There is no recognition of the principle that Nature's forces are the most potant agency of lecuperation, and that if not interfered with but given free play will work a certain and speedy cure. APPEAL TO REASON. Of course the settlement o£ industrial trouble cannot be left to Nature's forces unless we include there man's intelligence. What has to be avoided i 3 handing the patient over to the rough usage of passionate partisans and political quacks. Much talk, as applied to industdial disputes, mostly results in more trouble. The lesson given above is that the quiet thoughtful method is the best both for physical ailments 'and industrial disorders. In New Zealand we established our system of Conciliation and Arbitration as a method of appealing to reason. This plan of deciding on evidence quietly received and estimated, does not suit, either the political or industrial quack. There is nothing in it for him and it is himself ho is thinking of. Leaders of the Alliance of Labour, and others, advise the workers to get rid of the Arbitration Court. They want big numbers, R big fight and plenty of noise. This, no doubt, suits the men who live on the game, but the working mass have to pay for it al! the time. What does this "Alliance of Labour" aim at? Is it that each case of dispute be taken by itself and settled by judicial enquiry and reason? Its plan, if it can be called such, is rather the reverse. It aims at calling in all wage-earners of eveiy occupation, including the public service., to deal with industrial troubles on a elat-s basis. This spoils appeal to passive prejudice. and selfintere.t exclusively. The big battalion method won't work. There are too many remedies supplied. What is wanted in industrial trouble is an appeal always to reason and cool judgment.