MINERS’ LEADERS ATTACKED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16501, 31 July 1919, Page 5

MINERS’ LEADERS ATTACKED.

VIEWS OF THE DUKE OP NORTHUMBERLAND. [ MR. SMILLIB AND THE j BOLSHEVISTS. I " Speaking at the Junior Constitutional C'luDj London, the Duke oi Northernhcrland said that the only schemes of nationalization at present before the country meant revolution and the overthrow of all existing forms of government. Hies programme put foiwaiu by the Miners'’ Federation in January * of this-year tv as accompanied by threats

of a most violent nature against i© Government and the community. 'i'no Miners’ Federation was not really representative oi tlio Illinois o tho country. It did not purpoi Q represent more than 650,000 out of 1,i00,000 miners, and in practice it am not represent this number, because i hardly ever happened that any I *' ,no was placed faiTly and squarely be oio the workers in all its hearings. result was that labour organisation was falling moro and more into the haul s o tho extremist or Bolshevist sec™ ll , which was exploiting the workers to ■ own ends. The ballot for or agams > strike was often a more travesty, ■ _ he had boon told by min;. ■ themselits that they were, ordered by trade mi u officials to vote three times over ti i the hist strike ballot was taken. It was an entire delusion to suppose that the great majority of minors lieie in favour of the unpatriotic policy o forcing the >4overnnicnt to conccc o their demands by the threat of a- general strike of great crisis. The adoption of this openly unpatriotic and antinational policy by the Executive ot t m .Miners’ Federation was in no way surprising in view of its past records. A WAR RECORD. ‘'Among other activities for which Mr. Smillic was responsible .during tue war,” proceeded tho Duke oi Northumberland “was the foundation or a labour organsiation to oppose coinpa - ,-orv service. lie associated lumped with what is known as tho Ruffian Revolution movement, lie announced on May 6, 1917, at the Maiidiester and .Salford Labour Parly meeting, tliat Mo believed the time was not tar distant win'll revolutions of a similar kina would take place in every country in Europe.’ He supported tiie formation of Workers’ and soldiers' Councils, and as lute as November, 1918, was advocating open revolution, as witness tuo following message irom him which v.as read at the lie-union of Rebels' Dinner, held at the Bell Inn, Jiolborn;—T am speaking to the men at Blackburn on Saturday for the purpose of urging them utterly to refuse to recognise the Coalition Government and at onec Joira the Soviet Workers’ Government, as the lime is now arriving for to control their own destiny. ’ . Tjieao facts regarding Air. Sinuhe s antecedents wore of prime importance, added tho Duke, and formed the real key to I lie present policy of the Miners Federation. . . , Alluding to tho Coal Commission, the Duke, said that its composition and methods were worthy ol the trial sceno in “Alice in Wonderland.” Half ol tho members were in sympathy with the eoalowners, while the other halt was in svmpathv with the point of view ol the. Minors’ ‘Federation, it was pcricctly obvious that under no circumstances could a body of men constituted in such a manner arrive at. an impartial judgment, and the only good thing about the Commission was that its verdict, when given, would not be worth the paper on which it was written. Commenting upon Air. Sidney AN ebb and the Fabian Society, the speaker said that according to them theory, the love of the minors for politicians and political control would inspire them with precisely the same devotion as induced soldiers and sailors to lay down their lives for tho country during the war. Ridiculous as this was, there was a sinister element in it. it was pure Fnissianism, the worship of the Statepushed to its farthest limit, the most hideous form of materialism which man in his worst dreams had yet convened. In reality there was no love lost between tho syndicalists of tho I ctloration and the doctrinaire Socialists of the Fabian Society. The. extremist would event ualiv climb to power over the prostrate"bodies of the moderates, and if there should over bo a revolution, the first sheep to go to the slaughter would undoubtedly bo Mr. Sidney AVcbb and bis friends. Dealing with the scheme of nationalization propounded by the Miners’ Federation, tho Duke of Northumberland .said that its first groat advantage was the complete .subservience of the Government and Parliament - to the Federation, and the next advantage was tuo multiplication of jobs which would become, available for tho executive of tho Miners' Federation and their friends. What, with the district councils and pit councils, all dependent on tho favour of tho Alining Council, the number of jobs going for tho Bolshevist .would be enormous. Imagine the. carnival of corruption, jobbery, and tyranny which would exist under tbo regime of the Alining Council, supported by tbo expropriated wealth of those whoso brains and enterprise l had built up ono of tho greatest and tbo most successful industries in existence. The scheme would enable the Mining Council to seize something which did not belong to it' without paying for it. If property in minerals was unjustifiable, every other sort of property was equally so, and if tbo State had the right to confiscate minerals, it bad an equal right to confiscate all property, real and personal.

THE INVOCATION OF .RELIGION

“Such is the combination of jobbery, robbery, tyranny, and chicanery,” continued the Duke, “placed before the country under threat of the paralysis of all industry if it is not granted without delay." The country has to suffer vho humiliating effect of seeing a scheme which is not only -in outrage on every elementary principle of morality, hut also of common sense, seriously discussed as if it wore a proposal put forward by a body of responsible citizens bound by the ordinary obligations of law, morality, and religion. Every one of these obligations is thrown to the winds, and whut renders the whole business more revolting Is the attempt made by its exponents to throw over it the sanction of Christianity. Mr. Smillic says that tho economic conditions of to-day cannot be squared with Christianity, and accordingly lie sets out to square them by tho simple method of omitting the word ‘not’ from tho sixth commandment.” It never appeared to strike tho Miners’ Federation that they might show their enthusiasm for their own theories by nationalizing their own organization first. That would ensure that tiro organization was imeorrupt and democratic, which it was not at present. It was pure Prussianism, without even its efficiency or its absence from corruption. This was the form of tyranny to which tho Government was truckling, for there was undoubted evidence that tho Government had been in collusion with those who were striking at tho very root of British liberty and independence. There had never been a time when Capital had been more ready to meet tho demands of Labour, but the Bolshevists woro determined to frustrate these efforts by rendering private enterprise impossible, encouraging unemployment and State doles, and by prcachhig limitation of production, which* was tho falsest of all economic theories.

“Mr. Smillie tells ns that he does not want revolution, if it can bo helped.” said the Duke. “Lot ns reassure him. It can bo helped, and tho way to do it is to stand up to Mr. Smillie, who is only the usual type of agitator who has run away before —

notably from Mr. Havelock Wilson—and mill undoubtedly run away again if the country snows it is determined not to be bullied.” THE ATTITUDE OF THE HANK AND FILE. It was only a matter of time before Labour would realise bow its cause Had been mismanaged by Air. Smillio and bis friends. TJio sympathy of the public had been completely alienated by the most absurd exaggerations and appeals to false sentiment. The vulgar abuse showered on the witnesses and the obvious attempt to obscure the true issues had outraged the average Englishman’s sense of fair play. ‘Tt is often remarked,” the Duke of Northumberland concluded, ‘‘that one of the most serious features of the present clay is tho disregard of Labour for their own self-appointed leaders. I am not sure whether, considering who those leaders sometimes arc, it should not rather bo said that tho loyalty of Labour is ono of tho most pathetic and astonishing features in the industrial situation. Tho time cannot ho far distant when tho workers will realise how they have been deceived and exploited, and will look to other leaders and other methods of improving their lot. In tho meantime, tho issue is not between nationalization and private enterprise, the choice is government or anarchy, liberty or tyranny, progress or reaction. It is the old issue which we have just fought out with Germany.”