SIR JULIUS VOGEL AND THE TRADES AND LABOR COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3539, 1 February 1886, Page 3

SIR JULIUS VOGEL AND THE TRADES AND LABOR COUNCIL.

(By Telegrami.) ArCKLAND, Jnll. 30. Tho following 13 a copy of the letter from Sir Julius Yogel which wns rend at the session of tho Trades nnd Labor Council this morning : — " Seerc-tary New Zealand Labor Congress. "Dear Sir,— l hive to Ihunk you for jour letter asking mo to attend llu- meeting of the Trades and I nbor Congres', and addre33 you on Hie labor ([iipslion, and it * position as a factor ia tin; Sfcite. I regret tluit on so short a notice, m my present i:iv;ilid state, I am unable to accept your invitntion, tliough I should greatly have liked to do so, for the subject has always possessed much interest to me. The- limit!" "of n letter not unreasonably .extended, forbid me Riving you my own opinion at a lenyth which would sufficiently do mo justice ; still, I will endeavour to sketch m a condensed form my views as to tho conditions which labor should enjoy. In a new country the welfare and" happiness of a community depend, m my opinion, upon its members being occupied and employed. A comuunity of which a large proportion lias no work to do, must be an unhappy one, but it will bo no less unhappy if those who perform Lhe work are not well paid for their labor. Tinproposition, then, stands thus— tho community is happy whoac members are well occupied ami well paid for their labor. A community of this kind attains one condition of happiness m a general distribution of wealth. All -ho communist divisions of wealth ore, to my mind, hopeless. One condition under which wealth becomes generally distributed, i* that of well-paid labor, which enjoys a surplus over and above the expenses of living. The way ia thus open to the employed of to-day becoming the employer of to-morrow. Labor cannot flourish unless there ia capital to support it. iho ways and means of a community which is without capital are so small, that tho demand for labor is attenuated. Labor to be well paid require?, then, tho aid of capital, and wo aro thus brought to tho question of, Wbnt shall bo the relations between labor and capital? Although thero is eueh au intimate union m labor nnd capital, there is yet a great denl of antagonistic feeling between them. lhe union nnd antagonism are easily shown by a familiar example. A f.ictory, wo w 11 ' suppose, is ejtnblished j its owners by the use of capital and the omployment of labor make a fortune. They would not have douo so without the use of their capital nor without tho labor they require being available. The questions then arise, has labor profited as much as it should have done:' Has it received a fair share of the fortune, made ? The cry of tho unemployed m England is that they do not receive a fair portion ; or, m other words, Unit the profits have been sutlieiently large lo hare enabled the employers to pay more for labor and retain less on account of the capital supplied. If labor is subjected to the universal competition of nil climates and countries, it is clear that capital must bo dominant and that the condition of well-paid libor, which I have contended, ns one of tho necessary features of a happy community, must bo wholly wanting. But an exact, balance of power i 3 evidently impossible of long continuance, and we have loface the question of -whether it is better for theh-.ppinessof tho community that capital or labor should have the greater political power 'i If capital is dominant, ia it utter nonsense to assert that, more or less, it will not look after wlmt suits it best? It may stop short of positive cruelty ; it may exhibit a great deal of individual kindness and good-heartedness, but all tho same, however, tho power of the general tendency will bo to seek for capital, excessive advantages m Uie shape of cheap labor, and monopolising wealth m a few hands. But if labor is dominant, it may be said it will bo ns unreasonable, and be as hard on capitalists as m the other case tho capitalists will be on the laborers. Thero is no reason to expect more moderation from the ono than from the oLi.er; but self-interest forces moderation on the lab >ring classes. Capital can better afford to wait than labor, and therein lies tho whole secret. If capital is m the ascendant, it flies the rate of wages, and moro or less compels their acceptance ; if labor is m the ascendant and demands persistently higher rates of wages than capitalists can afford to pay, it drives away ; kills the goose that lays the golden eggs. * I may bo asked what I mean by capital or labor being m the ascendant or dominant. These- are examples— The inllno cc of capital can roduco tho rate of import duties and throw thousands of men out of employment j to compete with ordinary laborer.*, again, it may stop public worts, and by doing so increase 'tho number of porsons who will be coi pelled to accept any wages they can obtain j again, it may confine itself lo the pursuit of industries which requtro littlo aid from human labor ; and, lastly, it may take tho most mischievous shape of driving out small capitalists who, depending on the locul market, are confronted with an impoverished people unable to buy. To small farmers, for example, this must be ruin, if they have to depend on a market 13.C00 miles distaut. Their support and safeguard is a prosperous artisan claßa of local consumers. On the other hand, labor m the ascendant may impose ii:iuy restrictions upon capitalists, but it may use its power no further than to sco that tho conditions aro maintained that will leavo that capital profitable employment, but forbid unfair exaction on tlie laboring classes. Tho tendency to excessively use this power 13 equally likely to follow the dominance of either class, but as I have pointed out, self-interest most powerfully restrains licenso on tlie pirt of the laboring classes, because if they aro unfair to capital, they drive it away, and prevent its introduction from abroad. I know that lam liable to bo told that this is not a sufficiently restraining influence ; all I have to Bay m reply is that it must prove so unless the world is to bocome yery uuhappy. Tho balance of political power is more or less rapidly everywhoro passing into tho hands of the laboring classes and small oapitulj-its. Simultaneously these classes are becsming more thoughtful and better educated. Radicalism ia being divided into schools— the Conservative and the unbridled. In my opinion, conservative Radicalism will carry the day, and the employors of labor will find that a "sufficiently powerful sootion of tho employed will prevent undue ndvantago being taken of tho larger political power that bbor will enjoy. In short, capital restrained froni being too exuding, should find its best ally m the moderate views of the thoughtful portion of tbe laboring classes. " I am, dear Sir, very faithfully yours, "Jours Vooei. "Wain-era, Jan. 27th, 1886." Tlie Congress accorded Sir Julius Yogel a vote of thanks for his letter, and resolved to ask him to use his influence to pas 3 the measures m Parliament that tho Congress j hud adopted m session, '