INDUSTRIAL STRIFE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7961, 18 November 1911, Page 14

INDUSTRIAL STRIFE

ITS CAUSE AND CURE THE POLICY OF THE FUTURE. (By AV. Maddison.) AVe are living in an epoch-making era. The Hood tide is upon us.. To the fool there are two courses of action—to attempt to dam hack the flood and perish in tlie attempt, or to swim with tho tide (o inevitable destruction. To the wise there is only one course open — viz., to look matters squarely in tho face, and to tako such immediate steps as will lead the nation as a whole into a haven of safety and peace. A nation’s policy is not always the policy of its desire, but of its necessity. As in a game of chess we do not always movo tho piece wc would wish to, but have to movo the’ rook where our desire had been to shift a pawn : the tactics of our adversary compel this whether wo will or not. Our good sense and a knowledge of the game- dictate such a course as being wise and prudent if we wish to como out on top. So it is in politics. A position arises, or is created, for which constitutional methods, as they exist, are quite incapable of meeting tiio case, and a now policy for tho future seems inevitable. At tho present time wo aro at tho parting of tho ways. To follow in the old rut any longer is to court disaster politically, commercially, and socially. Tho handwriting is on tho wall. Those who are wise will take heed to it. . Those _ who have followed the trend of the industrial warfare waging the world over will readily seo that the Bins of a century of commercialism aro seeking for justice,_ and justice they will have; and if it is j ustice long delayed it may seek something more than justice. In tho first place, what aro the grievances that require redress? Firstly, that the benefits and tho burdens of life shall be more equally shared: secondly, that all those conditions of life which tend to degenerate tho human, being shall bo so remodelled that humanity may bo restored to the image of .God in which it was made. DREAMS AND VISIONS.

.That these grievances have not received their due attention in the past Is duo largely to the fact that wc have seen visions and dreamed, as_ to what groat measure of relief prohibition, and arbitration would do for tho worker. Do these matters affect land speculation and its reaction on rent? Would either of them limit dividends or profits? It has been assorted, and tliero is truth in tho assertion, that arbitration, by increasing the worker’s wages, has opened up a larger field for pvofit-mongering, and the proof of this lies in the fact that the worker is not so much better off that ho was before—not because tho rise in wages was tho whole cause, but because prices were raised far in excess of' what the rise in wages would warranteven with a fair profit added. It may bo found, if over national prohibition is carried, that tho worker may still be exploited of the bulk of the expenditure in liquor; so that tho saving which the prohibitionists tell us we shall make it only prohibition is carried may bo money wo shall save for the benefit of some' other fellow, and wo shall fail to benefit at all. In any case these two questions aro but side issues and. play no important part in the real issues at stake, although there are plenty of superficially-minded people who will declare to tho contrary. * It is the duty of. tho State to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s; it is the duty of the individual units of tho State to do the same. At the same time it is tho duty of the State to that Caesar gets no more than his just duo, and this brings ns to the first step in “the policy of the future.” STATE AND INDIVIDUAL. It may bo stated ae a safe, sound axiom that if the State confers a. benefit upon tho individual it has a right to expect that individual to give an equivalent in return. If this axiom is admitted, and acted upon in all honesty ’and integrity,- then the major portion of our difficulties vanish and we have a plain .straight course before us. It has been tbo fashion in the past for the community at large, more particularly with the more prosperous portion of them, to look upon the State as a milch cow kept for their especial benefit; and the property owner, who looks upon himself os tho salt of the earth, has been tho -most importunate of, beggars in soliciting concessions from tho Government, at the same time taking every precaution to avoid being pI a ce<l under any obligation to return anything like an equivalent for tho benefits he has already received, apart altogether from the value of the concessions ho may seek. If the axiom above stated is admitted, then theso concessions .must cease; for every benefit the individual receives ho must bo prepared to give a quid pro quo. Tho State is, after all, only a huge business owned by all the people, and must be run in the interests and for the benefit of all the people. When that is done there will bo very little, if anv, cause for industrial warfare. It must not bo supposed that all that is necessary to be done can bo accomplished at one fell blow. . There must, however, bo a defined policy, and that policy must progress if slowly, yet surely, to combat tho evils with which wo aro ■ surrounded. That the benefits and burdens of the State are not equally .shared is borne out in the first place by the incidence of taxation. Tho Customs revenue, which all have to pay, equals about £2 15s per head of tho population, whilst tho whole of the land and the whole of tho wealth of tho Dominion pays to tho Sjrate less than 20s per head of the whole* population. Local rates amount to, roughly, 20s per head of tho population, but a very large amount of these rates are passed on to the user or consumer. Consequently tho tax on humanity is increased thereby, and that actually paid by the property owner diminishes in proportion, so that, roughly speaking, tho human being is taxed to. three times the amount that property is taxed, taking the property on a population basis. Now. this is undoubtedly wrong in principle. It is a source of grave complaint, and must be remedied. Remedied—how ? By a gradual yearly increase of l-16d in the pound until an oven balance is struck as between tho taxation of wealth and humanity. LAND speculation.

Another gross evil that is a source of complaint is land speculation. Hie State spends millions in improving and opening np the country, and every penny tho State so spends ultimately finds its way into the pockets of tho land speculator. The State has every right to impose a graduated tax on the unearned increment in order to recoup itself for the outlay which produced tho increase in values. This would prove a salutary check to the ever-increasing of rents, an item which seriously affects the worker throughout tho length and breadth of tho Dominion. In bringing in the Usurers Act the State has declared in favour of limiting tho earnings of capital.- But this does not go far enough. Only the bare principle is established, and the time has come when that principle must bo put into active evory-day_ use. Monopolies, particularly in banking and insurance, are extracting from the public at large such an amount of profits that they are enabled to declare dividends which are ouito unwarrantable as a return for tho use of money without brains. In order to create sach dividends the public are being exploited by means of exorbitant charges, which only a monopoly could command, and the bulk of these charges have to bo paid by tho public at large, plus manufacturers', merchants’, and xe-

tailors’ profits thereon. Judging from stock market prices of to-day it could not be characterised as unfair if dividends on first-class stock were limited to 8 per cent., including amounts carr'cd to reserve, second-class stock 10 per cent., third class 12j per cent., the classification to bo made according to the nature and stability of the particular business concerned. After making due allowance for ordinary risks, any surplus profits could be placed in a suspense account for twelve months, when, as soon as the next dividend was paid, the amount in the suspense account would bo paid into the consolidated funds. With duo safeguards against extravagance and watered stock, it would become impossible for any monopoly to charge the public more than a fair thing. It might ho urged that such a course followed in its entirety nom tho Start might lead to hardships. In order to avoid this it might be worked on a graduated annual basis, commencing with a limit of 14 per cent, in first-class stocks and reducing the dividend payable 'by one per cent, per annum until tho minimum was reached, which in this class would bo six years. UNEMPLOYMENT QUESTION.

The question of unemployment is one that demands immediate attention. The aggregation of masses of unemployed not only broods discontent, but it also has a demoralising effect on the individual workers concerned, besides involving ccnsidoi-ahio national waste. What stagnation is to tho human body so is unemployment to tho body politic. Not only does unemployment lead to the physical unfitness of the worker, due to tho fact that ho is not able to obtain regular and proper nourishment, but this unfituees leads inevitably to degeneracy if it lasts for any considerable time. If, say, 250 men become unemployed. their unemployment reacts on others by reason of the fact that, though their wants exist they cannot buy, the trader cannot sell, the manufacturer is not called upon to produce, and so .there may bo snob a shortening of hands all round that the 250 may soon become 500, or even more. It then becomes a very far-reaching question indeed, for it not merely affects the original unemployed, but through them affects the trader, the merchant, and the manufacturer, and through them reacts again on other workers. Now, clearly,, a charitable dole is of no benefit from a national point of view, as that would nob maintain tho trade of the retailer, the merchant, or the manufacturer; consequently it # would not obviate tho necessity of their shortening hands, when the amount required for the charitable dole would he doubled. If, on the other hand, tho original 250 unemployed were provided with work at a living wage, the trader, merchant, and manufacturer would not suffer in their trade; consequently they would not need to throw their hands out of ■work. The cost of providing work for 250 would' bo very little greater than the cost of a charitable dole for 500, and the State would have the value of tho work as an asset; thero would not be the demoralising ' effect of idleness, nor fear of the worker degenerating thtough want of proper nourishment. Prom a national point of view tho great gains of such a scheme would far exTo provide for such a scheme means tho building up of an. insurance fund. As the worker, the employer, the traders generally and tho State can all claim to benefit under such a scheme, it is only right that all should contribute to its cost, and if the worker contributed Id per week-for each complete pound earned in wages —a similar contribution being mado by tho employer, subsidised to an equal amount by the State—a fund would bo provided which would bo ample to provide, not a charitable dole, not the wages of idleness, but a living wage, given in return for an honest day’s work. GEAVB DANGEE AHEAD.

The workers generally see grave danger looming ahead for them in ninny of the monopolies which have grown np wHTI the country, and which threaten ere long to hold the country in their grip, and it is necessary that some steps should he taken by which the •Government may in course of time have some controlling interest. To this end the State should set aside annually the sum of -£50,000 to be , placed in the charge of a competent directorate for the purpose, as advantageous opportunities may offer, of buying np the shares of these monopolies in such a way that in, a few years the State would he entitled to a representative on the directorate, and so help frame the policy of the company in the interest of the community nt largo. • ■ ' , The amount of degenerate humanity in our midst is a grave inflection upon us as a nation, and we should lose no time in removing the stigma of reproach far from us. As this is a matter which comes properly within the range of the medical man to deal with, it- would be wise if the State endowed three or four doctors (in each of the four centres to start with) with such powers regarding the health of the individual that would ensure that for the future humanity should live under humanising conditions—conditions calculated to build up the physique, give stamina, and ensure physical fitness at least to the rising generation of workers. As a national proposition this course will he found to he based on sound wisdom, as the savings on hospital, and charitable aid, homes of correction, and prison npkeop, together with the moral, commercial, and national advantages will far outiveigh the cost, and it will be found, when once the advantages are recognised, that the Government will he only too ready to extend the system generally. Such, in brief, must ho the policy of the future if we are going to make the attempt to avoid industrial warfare in the future. Such a policy, once fairly initiated, would give such confidence to the hoik of the workers that the influence of the discontents would pass unheeded. ,

And there nothing revolutionary in it, no sudden upheaval, just a little pruning here and there, a gradual readjustment in order that justice may bo done. But that little means a great deal to the worker. He would see before him greater security , greater prosnerity, a greater purchasing power, a few more human necessities provided for, for him and his, and ho is far too discerning to allow the agitating discontented to step in and wreck conditions which, to him, would make life worth living. By this means the cause, •Tile reason of industrial warfare, would be removed and peace would, reign instead. • • '