Limits Of Ford's Gospel

NZ Truth, Issue 974, 26 July 1924, Page 5

Limits Of Ford's Gospel

Judge Frazer Hits Mark Sawmillers Are Not Saints, But No Ford Parallel Is Possible West Coast Timber Wages Before The Arbitration Court (From "Truth's" Greymouth Rep.) m Henry Ford constructs motor-cars m a country with a-popu-lation of over 100 millions (which population has no. tariff fence between it and Ford) and he sends his cars to low-tariff or no-tariff countries oversea (one of which; the United Kingdom, has over, 40 million people) and also to high jtariff countries, ' such as Australia and New Zealand. This enormous output - enables Ford to adopt mass production methods, • specialising workers so as to secure from them a high output. /The President of the Arbitration Court points out that there • is no parallel industrial opportunity m New Zealand, a country with a population of a million and a quarter, dependent mostly on foreign manufactures. . / • It is said that the devil is most successful m quoting Scripture. Certainly there is no school of thought that cannot quote something, with ; advantage to itself, from Ford's, boofi. Much the same can be said of the Koran and Confucius. But it cannot be said of Howard Elliott. . '

Meteoric his rise to fame, Frederick Lovell Turley is as well-known on the West Coast of the South Island : of New Zealand as Henry Ford is m the United States of America. Perhaps that is why Frederick has revealed himself as an ardent admirer of Henry. So far as versatility is concerned, there is little doubt that the West Coaster can put it all over the American. He first became known to Coasters as a live- wire, representative of sewing machines, and the name of Turley became as a household word among housewives. Forsaking the sewing

machines, Frederick devoted his attention to tea; selling it, more than drink- | ing it; ha became fed up on tea, however, and gravitated from position to position, his motto always "Excelsior," gradually climbing to giddy heights, (but finding time to have a little flutter on the turf), until, to-day he rules supreme- among the men of the West Coast mills and occupies the throne as secretary of the Westland Timber Workers' Union. PERSISTENCE GOES FAR. . Greater m his sphere is Frederick Lovell Turley than any "boss" who ever ruled Tammany. That the general public has Sailed to show proper appreciation of his genius is' not the fault of Frederick — he has done his best, and is the last man on earth to hide his light under a bushel. Any ! number of bushels — tons of them— could not prevent the voice of Turley being heard In the wilderness. Turned down time- after time by electors blind to theirx)wn interests, his patient I efforts to become a member of various local bodies callously frustrated, Frederick Lovell's courage and sublime confidence m himself did not falter, and to-day he occupies a ,§eat among the august governors of the Greymouth. Technical High School, where his words of wisdom fall, alas, upon unheeding ears m nine cases out of ten. Why worry? Is he not keeping himself <n the limelight of publicity, which to a Turley is as oxygen to a climber of Everest! A thorn m the aide of the timber barons of the Coast, Turley is a Terrible Turk when he sees an opportunity to make his marble good with the workers, and the approach of the annual meetings of the union inspires him to renewed activity m the cause, for does not his comfortable salary depend upon his retaining the goodwill of tho workers? As m other industries employing hundreds of men. sawmillinp- is unfortunately not by any means free from accidents, and this fact provides the great Turley with splendid ammunition. Every mishap, whether serious or otherwise, is made a peg on which to hang a dissertation against the employers, who aro made to appear deadly enemies of the employees, aiming to incapacitate as many men as possible by allegedly deficient gear, to work them to death by ' unreasonably long hours, and to compass the starvation of tbemselvos and their families by paying them a plttanco instead of a decent wage! Gee! How the workers do fall for tho Turley dope! CHfE BOTH SIDES A SHOW. If the employer is at fault, well and good — show him up I But If the employeo 'is to blame for an accident, as he sometimes is through carelessness or -inefficiency, why not show him up, also? But Frederick Lovell Turley is peculiarly one-eyed m this respect; nary a word passes his lips about the failings of the workers. Not on his life! To-day the workers from the mills will gather m their hundreds at Greymouth for the ; annual meeting and will again cast their votes for the filling of the official positions m th.c union. Comrade Turley .will.-. again . be a candidate for the secretaryship, and is a busy man those days, his high-pitched voice rallying the stalwarts of the bush. Such annual meetings have on previous occasions been the cause of dissension m the' ranks, and complaints have more than once been made by the opposition m the union regarding alleged irregularities m the issue and return of ballot-papers. Of course, tho representatives of the public are not allowed to attend, tho meetings being held behind closed doors. TURLEY'S DEVOTION TO FORD. Turley'a latest stunt m the limelight took place at the sitting of tho Arbitration Court at Greymouth last week, when tbo Timber Workers' Union discussed the matter of a new award. He

had enjoyed a preliminary canter before the Conciliation Council,' and the opinion Is held m some quarters that, but for Turley's persistence and desire for publicity, a complete settlement might have been reached. As it was, the wages clause- had to be referred to the Court. It was Turley's day out, and his opening address occupied a little matter of about two hours, which he insisted on reading from a typewritten document, despite the protests of the employers' representative, Mr. B. L. > Hammond, who described as waste of time Turley's elaboratelyprepared .■■'■ particulars regarding the financial position of various millers, as the employers did not intend to raise a plea of poverty m reply to the request for higher wages. The workers' champion alleged that the industry was m the grasp of a combine (mentioning the name, of Butler Bros.), but his Honor Mr. Justice Frazer informed him that the Court would not lose any sleep if John D. Rockefeller or' Henry -Ford. had control of the mills. • "I wish Ford had," said Turley. "We would get good wages- then." "But Ford does not stand for unions," remarked the employers' representative. "No, he won't have unions," said hla Honor. VKow would you get on, Mr. Turley?" "I would find useful and profitable employment under a different state of society," was the versatile Frederick's reply. .Then his Honor scored a bulls'eyo. "That might ■be beneficial to everybody concerned!" he sweetly remarked. "MY LIFE AND WORK." After reading "further chunks from his chief address, Frederick Lovell Turley returned to the subject of his friend Henry Ford, and produced a copy of that celebrity's book, "My I Life and .Work," 1 ; bristling with bookmarks, and intimated that he intended tp read passages from the book m support of his claims. | "I must object to this waste of time," said Mr. Hammond. "We. can all read this book, and I don't see what it has to do with' the case." Ford was no. stranger to his Honor, who had gone one better than Turley and made a bedmate of Henry. "I took Henry Ford to bed with me for a month," he said, "and I read him from cover, to cover about four times. I think 1 1 know him backwards now. Every week since I have had him quoted to me once a week. This is about the 400 th time!*' However, ho had no objection to Turley quoting Ford. Passages which had reference to the Ford policy of paying. high wages fell from the lips of Frederick until he was ' interrupted by Mr. W. Scott, employers' representative on tho Court, who wanted to know whether Ford did not say anything about works that were deficient m output. "He condemns mismanagement of works," said Turley. "We could all quote. Ford to suit ourselves," remarked Mr. Hammond. ■ "Well, I agree with him, anyway!" retorted Frederick. "Mr. Ford would be glad to know that!'' was Mr. Hammond's compliment. ■ HIGHLY SPECIALISED. After listening to the quotation of several more passages approved by Turley, his Honor, before adjourning thjfe Court for "smoko," said that so far as Ford's book was concerned it was only elementary business ecdnomics, though Mr. Ford had expressed tho subject a little more snappily than most writers. ; High wages, under certain circumstances, was a good economio policy, always providing that production, was assured. Mass production m New Zealand, 'however, was m - most cases impossible. It could be practised m rare instances, but the population would v not stand for the general adoption of the Ford principle. The unemployment question would still remain. It was true that Ford paid a man six dollars a day, but that man had to earn his six dollars. If he could not do it at one job he* was put on another, and if he failed at that he went out at the back door. iHo was no good to Ford, who had brought tho question to a scientific extreme. Four or, five men under his i system could do work that might ordinarily occupy sixteen, but tho work was highly specialised and the principle underlying it, mass production, waa not comparable to ordinary conditions m New Zealand. Quotations from Ford were soon af tor discontinued by Turley. Frederick Lovell a good deal about the practical side of Ford's work, as he has driven a couple of 'samples of ,it all over tho West Coast until thoy gave up the ghost and passed on to the Valhalla of the Lizzies; but Hr. Justice Frazer knows just as much about the system which is responsible for the production of Elizabeth. Some West Coasters, however, are marvelling at tho spectacle of the Big Stick of the Timber Workers' Union championing the ideas ot one of tho biggest Capitalists on the face of the earth, quoting pages from his life m support of tho claims of tho Workers! Frederick Lovell / Turley! How could you? •