THE UNEMPLOYED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14579, 19 July 1909, Page 6

THE UNEMPLOYED.

Sir,—From those living in the country the cry of the unemployed receives very JifctJ® sympathy. Why do" these able-bodied young men remain in the thickly populated centres and say tluit work is unobtainable! Lot them take swag and billy and try the country (or work. There are always those who will give them an cccaaotwl meal anil a sha&edown gratis, but, if not, those can be obtained for a small ajnount of energy expended on the wood heap, or pig-feeding, or on soma other congenial occupation. WJietiiOT they hue the energy, and sufficient, ability, to do oidinary farming jobi it. is for themselves to show; but, to judpe from the profs reports, they certainly lack ambition. The football grounds, theatre-, and "thrup-pe-uny" bais have evidently more attractions than ati> honest living in the backblocks. Most of us acknowledge that we sl.ould prefer to live nearer civilisation, but then the earning- of the needful penny necessitates our being excluded horn such a luxury. In ths country men will occasionally be thrown out ot work: but only for a. few days—tboir adaptabSily to various occupation's saves the position. They pass from ''winching" to harvesting, fencing, ditching, rabbiting, and an endless number of other jobs. Tliey certainly show Uial Work in the country is obtainable, as it is a very rare thing for a man to lose moro than a few day* in going- from ens job to another. It is a disgrace for young moil to remain in the towns and complain that there is 110 work. .My advice to tlitss is to _" go west" anil don't forget the rabbiting;. Many a gocd man ha.? had to "w-ieM the rabbit knits" to earn his daily fcioatl'. and at prec-ait this is a lucrative following. Ten to IS ebUlines n day can be ma'lo easily by anyone who goes into tie work thoroughly. If in our over-legisluted country tliae was a law making it compulsory for young unemployed men to leave tiie towns for country districts, possibly a solution of the dillioulty would 1)0 found. In other words, make it illegal to be unemployed in any of ths larger towns in New Zealand. By our . present methods of Jissistance • wo are not eliminating the trouble, but inducing it. The country affords e-ndieSi examples oE men who are earning at- a rural occupation sufficient to keep their ■ wife and family in the town. These are the men we require—proud of the fact that they can make a way for thems?lvcs and not calling 011 the public for assistance in order that they might get work in or near the towns.—l am, etc., Biversdale, July 15. JUDICO. Sir,—l think there would be no difficulty in giving work to a large body of men if the laws of our land were enforced. The particular law to which I refer is the Noxious Weeds Act. Where are all your inspectors, and what 'are they doing? Or 1111 I labouring under a mistake? Have the hills from the Kaikorai to Burnside been specially planted with gorse, broom, etc? leather 1 fancy it is the usual immunity of the mighty. Why, in the country the poor fanner- is nearly worried to death if a piece of gorso appears as big as your hand—l speal; with knowledge,— and I think it is a crying shame that this sort of thing is overlooked in such a barefaced manner in town because of tho excrcke of inliucnce. Now is the time to enforce the act, and cause these landowners who do not in any way use the land make it a help and a blessing to those in need. I hope some abler pen than mine will take this matter up.—l am, etc., Justice. UNEMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION. Sir.,—The thanks of t"ne community are due to you for your thoughtful sub-leader in the Times of duly 15, especially where von ipoint out bow Mr Jevon's conditions are theoretical. There is nothing more than that to be said, however, for, so far from absene; of efficiency on the part of tho workmen as a cause of unemployment being overlooked, it is perhaps the red herring most in use. ■ It seems so simple an explanation, so obvious a conclusion, and yet the important connection between education and a man's capacity as a workma.n and his ability to secure work is b;side the question. Of course, greats ability will secure to the individual workman a greater ehaiieo of work, but that in 110 way lightens the question when the whole mass of labour is taken into consideration. If the whole mars of workers were to have their otiiciency increase;!, whette by technical education, increased sobriety, or improved physique, is it r.ot obvious that cither they are ablo lo pio- , tluco more gcotis or the same quantity of gccxjtf of higher quality or greater dura- | biliiy. In either oisa, the result will be the same: greater so-called "over-produc-tion " and olniously the curse of unemployment is increased, not diminished. Clause (1) then, is not an explanation. Clause (2), giving th-e influence of trades unions in forcing up wages as a cause of unemployment, when examined, a'3o falls to the ground, for these higher wages always go, to a portion of the community who never yet have had a sufficiency of tho necessities of life—considered, «f course, in the modern s:;:se that food, clothing, fuel, how.ing alone do not touch tho requirements of the mind. Consequently, till that is paid them intimVately go:s again into circulation, causing n;o:o employment, net less, whereas if it tad gone in increased dividend, it would more probably have lain unused cr perhaps even become that timid Capital that is always leaving all countries. Clause (3) is even more misleading and even unfair. To blame the education system for the fact that the submerge:! are uiide-rsiz.-d, inefficient, unemployed— to blame them lieeauie. the children of suoh altend schools in a semi-starved ami lnUclothed state—would scorn 10 indicate that -this particular writer, instead of endeavouring to teach, should endeavour to learn. Clause (4) is somewhat better, for while part of the first sentence is wrong, two very real causes of unemployment are touched on in this clause. Strangely enough, you do i:ot even refer to this valuable contribution to the subject. In regard to the "comparative methods of pro- 1 cue tion in competing countries" the foremeat thinkers 011 this subject realise thatj the problem must b: volved in each j country, for it is existent in all, eoiKsiitu- j tional or monarchic:!.!, under Fro.'lrado or: under Protection. When llv Jovctr, mentions l-a-i'.d projtrccs ,in organisation " i then one fee's inc'ii.cd to chcec l'.im on, I for he is, indeed, coming, very to the ! ©abject cf his sftreh. and when he realises i that it is partly duo (0 the " meagre ! eupplv of highly-brained av.d enterprising 1

.young me«i available for directing the business of the country " ono wishes that ono of the many thousands now already in t.lia ficcrct had been by lo lift altogether tho blinkers from the eyes of imch an industrious searcher. . Sir Christopher Fumese says that the qualities required for a "captain of industry " are imagination, initiative, foresigh:, administrative powor, and abilitv to employ and direct capital. Now for' the absence of the two former, it may Be fair to blame tlio education system for, bo far fvom putting them first, its do:s 'Sir Christopher, these qualities are often despised anil always placed behind oiulitjr.s that depend on memory, and yo-t, owing to apparent • dullness or intractability, these pupils who escape early from the inlluemce of '.ho system do frequently climb to the executive positions. Xow, (loos not the evidence of these two men show, ir.sk-ad of everlastingly carping about tlio \i!)lit, uncliiployaSiles, "weary Willies," etc., that the searchlight should be on the unfit anions the employes lor, if one half of the employers of anjr of the great countries or of their politicians had tho qualities mentioned aoove, tho great social unrest that now everywhere prevails would possibly have been staved off .fur a hundred years. Men possessing the qualities mentioned above will always be needed in greater numbers, no matter what, social stale obtains. Mon work well and willingly witii such ,a man. But unfortunately Mich mon as Sir Christopher Furnoss are seldom in command of capital, and, equally unfortunately, fools often are; and tlvesa are the oucniies :iot only of !.lu nicin, hut of vho efficient employer and of themselves, for they Into their men and the liat-e is returned, and how can such b? Jiaupy? It is bad that such men are permitted to fritter away the time of .good, workmen. To conclude, .not in any one of tho al.'ovc conSKleratioTi.; has tli3 core of th' 3 eau.se of unemployment 'bean toitchcd ,oji, as Mr Drige has it, "of all the imbecile arrangements of Qnr pro,wit. 'system' tire colocation of overwork tind iMemn'oynWiirf, is the most objectionable to reason." "Poverty is ll'.o greatest. ene,:ny Kneland has to fea.r, and these who will not join in the attack upon it, are traitors to England, when They aic not cowards, and ki'avcs, when they are not fools."—I am, etc., Aimiun M'Cahtiiy.