The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1923. THE STRIKE BALLOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18294, 10 January 1923, Page 6

The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1923. THE STRIKE BALLOT.

The taking of a national strike ballot by the New Zealand Alliance of Labour* has a sinister significance. Whichever way it goes, and whether, should a majority vote in favour of a strike, the verdict is or is not carried into effect, that significance remains.- The ballot presupposes the contemplation of measures to harass industry at a time when nothing is [ so 'much needed, by the country as a whole,, as unhampered /and harmoniI ous and that intent is disloyal in the extreme. It is not a question of loyalty to the flag, or the throne, or even constitutional principles, but of loyalty to the common Weal. It is not to be supposed that a majority of well-informed, soberminded workers throughout the country desires to take such disloyal action. : The Alliance' has? in ' ■ affiliation only a section of New- Zealand's manual toilers "> and a majority vote among them, would not be an expression; of opinion from workers generally; But even among the affiliated organisations there are thousands unconvinced >'= of ''■.■■: the • wisdom :. or morality of a: strike> on the pretext put forward by the Alliance executive. Many of the transport workers and others affiliated to the Alliance will hot 7 give these" considera-' tions a thought, but will vote with no other motive than a blind clasps prejudice and a vague wish to/do as their leaders suggest. The responsibility belongs chiefly, though , not solely, to those leaders. They, and not the rank and .file of Labour, have chosen the time and the purport of the ballots It is they who seek to use the strike as a. bludgeon with which to enforce higher wages I than now obtain. A calm consideration of this objective reveals its unreasonableness: It is based on the assumption that there is a bottomless pursje from which, ;' they may extract anything 'they • demand, i- if only they demand it roughly : ; : enough. There is a purse, .of course; but it is not in the keeping of the Government of the day. ■ It is controlled by economic conditions, and Governments, even Labour Governments, cannot ; make it disgorge more than, it contains. Some of them have tried it; none have succeeded. By a little financial , sleight-of-hand, , under cover of an expanded paper currency, a Government here and there has appeared to increase the store of the national purser but time has exposed the trick, arid; seen its dupes lamenting. To think that the purse can be made to produce more by ceasing to put anything into it—the" theory of strikes—or by lessening the amounts put in-—the theory; of • restricted output known popularly as "go slow"—is tragically unintelligent. -y

It is in no spirit of opposition to Labour that these considerations are urged. It is true that, in the distributionfof the contents of the general purse, there has been in years past some unfairness. | Labour, until it got its legal right to combine and to present its case to tribunals of which our Conciliation ■. conferences and Arbitration Court are a type, was at a grave disadvantage in the | matter. But it has become a victim of the vaulting ambition that o'ei'leaps itself. The momentum'.of its demands.has carried r it beyond the point of sober justice. Grumbling has become a habit. The bottom-dog in the fight of the other day whines still, although now well able to take care of himself. What are' the facts? Leaving out the purely unfortunate ones—they ' are found among other classes too—the manual workers of to-day-are much better fed and better dressed than they were a generation or. so ago. They spend money freely on luxuries and amusements. They are better off than "the black-coated poor," the class that is just across the border line where the income tax lies in wait. The standard of life for the manual worker has risen considerably— had need to, and no one begrudges the gain. But,,, when harder times come and luxuries' are more difficult to get, Labour should give quiet thought to its familybudget at home, instead of running amuck in the community and seeking everywhere excuse to strike. As a whole, it must be emphasised, Labour has not been viciously set on this anti-social attack. Its leaders, to whom agitation is the breath of life and whose occupation would be gone were ;there no grievances, real or imaginary, to foment, have fostered this .policy of, rw.

There are wiser voices in the world among Labour, however, than those customarily raised here. They are the voices .; of men of clear -vision, men. whose communism is a grace of spirit rather than an unfraternal war-cry. Some of these have been raised in Britain in the midst of the unemployment problems that are exercising the Government and such bodies of true citizens as: those in the West of England now pressing upon the Government a scheme of Empire settlement. These Labour men acknowledge that ■under-produc-tion, over-payment, doles, relief works and export credits, and all such palliatives, do not really meet the unemployment difficulty. Such, is Mr. W. A. Appleton, the secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions. He has dared to say some plain things to politicians, even Labour politicians. "Not what was right, but what was expedient has become the object of the politician. Ultimate results have been sacrificed to immediate advertisement. No man occupying or usurping the seat of a statesman has dared to say to the people that unless they work they must starve. .;..'. . Neither government nor parliaments .can over-ride economic law, and the attempt to do so has brought revoluj tion very near to us. ; Get back, or perhaps forward, to sane conceptions." He has poured scorn upon credit systems and a levy on capital and unemployment doles and subsidised work as solutions of the present difficulties, and has pointed the way to better times thus: "Work accomplished breeds the possibility of more work to undertake. Employment tends to create employment by developing purchasing power. We. must either decrease our numbers and our standards of living, or ; increase our capacity for profitable exchange in overseas markets." When Labour sees that its own unreasonableness has been a cardinal cause of unemployment, and gets to work. again with a will alongside ;an equally sane and considerate Capital, the road to prosperity will be surely taken. The other way, the way of strife and strikes, chaos and poverty lie.