JOHN BURNS AND WORKING MEN.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11701, 10 March 1902, Page 4

JOHN BURNS AND WORKING MEN.

Mr Jcftm Buhns, M.P., delivered a remarkable adaress to a large uuuience oi ■working men 011 January sm. "fcolomon, remarked Air Uurus at tue outset, said the curse pf the poor was their poverty. It needed something more tnun grumbling to get rid .o-f it. x hey looked around ana saw 1,000,000 people, roughly speaking, whose lot in life was a :uneral procession from, the cradle to the grave. It made all the difference to borne life whether a | little will, soap and love were brought into flay, or whetuer leisure hours were sP®nuin""spotting winners or catcning losers. Ihe pitiral sigfit was witnessed ot the tecpence-an-hour my.ii looking down on the sixpence-an-hour man. Wnai "Tiobs working peopie were! They were more snobbisn than lords, who had some reason for being so. London was being divided into parishes of the rich and districts of the poor. , That verr bad for the poor, but infinitely bad for "the rich, especially for those who were getting squint-eyed by playing pingpong all day. He was for an eight hours' day not only for the working man. but also for his missis. He wouldn't: be a woman for a thousand a week. Being a woman with a comfortable income was enormously difficult ; being a woman with a fluctuating pound a week was heroism. They all deserved the Victoria Cross. Money ■was like manure—useless in heaps, and only of value wh£n spread over the human field. Latterly the workers had become arrogant and fond of domination. They were mistaking bigness of territory for greatness of national life: they were mistaking violence for strength, conceit for capacity. The ■working classes were the bulk of the nation, and if the majority displayed these characteristics the end. was not far off. How ■was it they sent to the House of Commons enly ten labour members, and some hundreds of brewers, millionaires, and worse? Was slavery still in their blood? Had serfdom been snpplanted only bv snobbery ? If thev wished to justifv the hopes and predictions of the enemies of democracy. let them continue as thev were now cointr"You haven't had such *" dressing down for Years." said Mr .Tolir in a conversational parenthesis, as he concluded his speech.