Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1913. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10550, 15 January 1913, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1913. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE Press Association agent at Wanganui on Monday sent us a telegram expressing the opinion of a looal farmer that the companies are to blame for the trouble with the slaughtermen, and that these employees should be well paid, because "it is a rotten job." If there is any force in the latter statement then those who do more "rotten jobs," such as sanitary workers, for instance, should receive ten times the amount of slaughtermen's pay—in fact the most menial occupations should be the most highly paid. Of course, it is open to anyone to use the newspapers to ventilate a grievance, real or imaginary, against the companies, but one has only to look at their balance sheets to see that they are working on a narrow margin, and it must be remembered that although the markets are now favourable they may not remain profitable to those who buy stock and freeze and ship it to the London market. In this matter the companies have to take the risks of the speculator. Therefore the addition of a substantial amount to the wages bill is of very considerable interest to shareholders. Then again, the work of the slaughtermen is no harder than that of many other workers, and indeed much easier than that of many others, while it is stated that their earnings are £6 per week or over. On the face of the facts it seems that they have little or no cause for complaint, j and that the chief reason for- their I demands is the belief that they | should obtain a greater share of the ; profits when the mar* is temporari ily good, though they would probably strenuously object to a reduction of pay if the market prices fell, or if the companies were making no profit. This dispute and that of the fiiremen it; seems to us would be best settled by temporarily closing down the works and laying- up the steamers. Possibly then labour agitators would begin to understand that the employer and the capitalists have same rights, and are as much entitled to remuneration as aro the men they employ. [Since the foregoing was in type a telegraphic message states that two of the freezing companies have decided to close their works. ]

SOME comments on Socialism by President Taffc are to the point. From an article on "Socialism and its Menace 7 we make the following extracts :—' 'Socialism, seeks to equalise opportunity, and in so far as it does that ic is aood ; but Socialism also seeUs to equalise remuneration, I and in so far as >ifc does that it is bad. Socialism seeks to effect, if not

an absolutely uniform distribution of this world's goods, at least an approximately equaladistribution, and in that it is doomed to failure. Socialism would effect a just remuneration and unfailing employment for the wage-earner by having the Government assume charge and direction of „the greater instrumentalities of manufacture and enterprise,. and employ the wageearner. Just how Socialism would effect the {[transfer to the Government, whether by condemnation and I purchase or by seizure without compensation, the Socialist rarely states, although the Fabians favour the former process. Nor does he make clear how he would determine the wage to be paid to the army of Government employees he would create, except that he has suggested a committee or commission to determine what shall be a just rate of compensation. Socialism is a onesided philosophy. It takes heed only ot man's social needs and obligations and wholly ignores his individual aims and aspirations and achievements. £But"as man has both social and individual capacities, in a word, is a being with a dual nature, any philosophy which ignores r the one and over-develops the other is certain to prove inimical to his welfare and a bar to his progress, and ,is itself fundamentally unsound. If these conclusions be true, then that form of Socialism popularly known as 'State Socialism, '..which would transfer to the Government the conduct of great industrial enterprises, must be doomed to failure. The effort to procure through broader Federal employment even an approximate equalisation of wages would inevitably result in overpaying the inefficient and moderately efficient, and underpaying the highly efficient, and that means, as the President said in his letter of acceptance, "the appropriation of what belongs to one man to another.' If, as the President believes experience has proved, economical operation of industries by the Government is an impossibility, the Government, in attempting to conduct certain industries, would be compelled to insure to itself an absolute monopoly, because it could not compete with private enterprise. This, in turn, would mean either operation at a serious loss to the Government or a material enhancement of the prices of products. Either the consumer would bo compelled to defray the increased cost of production, increasing his cost of living, or the deficit would have to be made good from the public revenues, and they, in turn, replenished by increased taxation. In either case, it would mean "the appropriation of what belongs to one man to another.' "

THE Marton Borough Council has wisely decided to obtain a report from another engineer as to the best methods of effecting repairs. This is the question in which the ratepayers are now chiefly interested. The cause of the disaster comes more within the province of engineers Mr Laing-Meason maintains.that the principle of construction was sound, and in this he is generally supported by Mr Wilson, though both refer to some earth being used instead of clay. It is not impossible, of course, that the earthquake experienced shortly before the dam burst may have been a contributing cause. But speculative theories will not restore the dam, and the best thing to do is to repair it as speedily as possible.