The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, JULY 12, 1921. LABOUR AND GOAL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10950, 12 July 1921, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, JULY 12, 1921. LABOUR AND GOAL

Lord Robert Cecil and, Air Adamson, have made the most of the case they have formulated against the British' Government for its handling of the coal strike. Both have made the mistake of “barking up the wrong tree.” Their error was egregious, for they attacked the Prime Minister for what they insist on regarding as his wholesale condemnation of Labour. Lord Robert, as a doctrinaire of narrow vision, was content with a charge too vaguo to get any support from anyone but an extremist of hide-bound conservatism. Mr Adamson, while supporting a case without foundation, avoided vagueness by making a chargeas definite as it is impossible of proof, and ungenerous enough to earn the applause of what is known as, extremist Labour, but which is not really Labour at all. It ii> the old charge thatj the object of the Labour policy of the Government is to throw the whole cost qf maintaining British trade and commerce—not merely coal production —on the shoulders of Labour. Mr Adamson’s conclusion, picturesque but worn out, is that tho Government policy condemns Labour to pull the chestnuts of jirofit for Capital out of tho fire of post-war disaster. It is a gratuitous which lends itself to the big drum of politics, which is the hollowest' thing in existence and the loudest. And, like the oracular vagueness of Lord Robert Cecil, it quite misses its mark. The simple fact stands out clear after the House of Commons discussion, that Air Lloyd George never, from the first moment of the coal strike’s arrogant declaration to tho last moment of its, ignominious collapse, littered a single word against Labour. That is the point of the speech in whioh Mr Lloyd George replied to these critics, sj«ho may be said to have summed up the who;.: of the case, such as it is, against the conduct throughout the crisis which very nearly brought the United Kingdom to ruin. Replying at a Coalition luncheon, he showed very clearly that he had aimed nothing at Labour in general, but had confined his aggressive defence to certain people who had obtained a, temporary hold of the miners and led them into a very undesirable position. His reply did not notice tho complaint of Mr Gould, of tho Association of Cardiff Shipowners, and very properly, for Mr Gould had not criticised anything, but only doubted whether the settlement effected would stand. It -was a mere difference of opinion about a future

possibility; Air Gould’s doubt was left to the future for settlement. Confining himself to the leaders who had got the miners into ijlicir awful troubles, and had aimed at ruining the nation under cover of an industrial dispute, the Prime Minister was as forcefgl as the striking victory he had won called upon him to be. He denounced the new party which had lately reared it® head, calling itself Labour, but in reality Socialistic menacing constitutional order with overthrow, and private property with destruction. He denounced this party as bent upon planting, in the forcing bed of revolution, “tho wild, poisonous seeds of Ivarl Marxism.” fjt was a tremendous stroke, for everyone who as not blinded by either over-dreami-ness or complete dishonesty knows how this wild poison has brought the greatest,,and most productive nation in tho world to the unproductive ruin of a barren desert,. from which every security for ,order and every guarantee of justice and every protection of decency have been banished by ruthlcssness .horrible beyond description. It was a. solemn warning to Independent Liberals not to traffic politically with men holding ideas of such proved consequences. It was an attack on the fi.mall minority which has put on the cloak of Labour to hide its intention to strike democracy to the dust at the feet of a 6mall coterie of bandits. But it was not an attack on Labour. Labour required no defence from him. Labour, attacked by the advocates of the wild poison of Alarxian revolution —backed quite unconsciously by Lord Robert Cecil and Mr Adamson—h as replied for itself with overwhelming and unmistakable- force.

The reply, of a vast section of Labour was given at the Conference i of the British Railwaymen. The action of the executive in calling off the big strike was heatedly discussed by the delegates; and a good deal of vituperation, we aro told, was hurled at the executive by the extremists. But when it eamo to the voting, the extremist section proved, as has so often been the case before, to be a very small one indeed. Tlie late Dr Henry Ward Beecher, the well-known American preacher, used often to tell of an incident that happened when he was out driving one winter away back in one of the prairie States. A great howling of wolves, was heard, and he felt somewhat nervous. But the -driver of the sleigh, said to him—“ How many wolves do you think there are in that pack? Just wait and see.” And when they came to • the cross-roads, there they saw one lone, wolf sitting on its haunches, howling with might and main, and making noise enough for quite a big pack. The Railway Conference ended much in the same way. It “overwhelmingly,” as the cable puts it, “endorsed the action of Air Thomas and the executive in calling off the strike.” After their howling at the executive, tho few extremists had to stand' to be counted. Labour, which had not been attacked by the Prime Alinister, disregarding both the vague sentimentality of Lord Robert Cecil and the impudent old “chestnut” of Air Adamson, came out of the ordeal true to the traditions of its race, v That fact should be carefully borne in mind- by all who—whether railwaymen or miners, or tlie general public—are not extremists. Other facts, too, that should not be forgotten are the great sufferings endured as the result of the strike, hot only by the miners, their wives and children, hut also by hundreds of thousands of otheb men and their wives and children—to say nothing of the huge losses to British trade and industry, and the very grave danger, particularly at the present time, that foreign markets once lost may never be regained. Add to this the fact that the extremists in control of the Miners’ Federation had not the gumption to take advantage, of tho opportunity of making a favourable settlement when that Opportunity presented itself, and it will he seen how absolutely extremism stands condemned.