CAPITAL AND LABOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13644, 11 July 1908, Page 7

CAPITAL AND LABOUR.

To the Editor of the •' Timaru Herald." '. sir^—ln the Rev. Mr Guthrie's sermon on Sunday, as reported, he says What is the prevailing spirit in which the working man works lor the capitalist? Is there any sort of personal interest in it? He gives'to his employer not himself, but onlv the mechanics of his hand or head, and as little of mau as possible." 1 would like Mr Gu>hrie to say in what trades it. is po>sib e to.'-give anything but the mechanics of one's hands or head. In the days when I wa«3 young, craftsmen could make a complete boot, a complete suit of clothes, a complete suite of furniture' from the rough plank to the polished. artSttle; the clothmaker couirt make, his own blend of wool, at the iactorv,- and have it carded and siuooed, and could spin it and weave it at home, and on a pincli could take iti back -->< ine factory and pull it and finish it himself. Also moat craftsmen could make their own tools. Then men could, and did, give themselves to the work. But then they wer*s not often working for a capiu-wisu who took two shillings out of each ythree they earned. . Compare, that day with this. l'erhaps a dozen people, some of tLirm young ones who, ought to be at school, are engaged. on one boot-, and ail the work which might rouse their interest is done by a machine. What chance of personality there? When one considers that) that is ' pretty well the rule in all trades,- it seems impossible lor a man or woman to give ins or her peisonality to the work. Whatbut the ' mechanics "'of "his hatfd, can""the coal ' lumper "give to his employer when tilling baskets with coal down in the; ship's hold? I know scarcely a trade where the craftsman can give himself as x he could formerly. In Jaeiy interesting work for the craftsman is almost extinct, and men are becoming -mere.- . machines with nothing in their work to. stimulate the better sides of their natures. It is pitiful to watch, say, the bolt lorger, the bolt screwer, the nut .tapper, the .spring forger, the chain maker, and- a hundred other kinds '.of workers of both sexes, doing the same kinds pf work hour after hour, day after day, and week by week, work the monotony of which. is almost, enough ,to drive a man ' of active brain mad, I" should think. But they don't want men with' brains, only human machines for many jobs to-day. Again, fancy a man giving himself at-. scamping work by the order of his employer,-,'or at-' tending, a machine specially invented to make# an • inferior fabric appear to be a superior one; and there are many machines made to produce. imitation goods. Again, Mr Gut-brie says :—" Labour kills itself economically and financially by giving only what it cannot ' help giving." Then, by the'same reasoning, it follows, or rather ought to follow, that .capital kills itself 'economically ancl financially' by giving to labour only what it cannot help giving. But it is by that vfery- thing that 'capital expects ' to im-' -prove, instead . of kill,' itself, i Is the labourer to give 'the utmost possible of himself and not'be - too particular about -tie- time of knocking off; and tha- for barely a subsistence wage, when he knows that capital will, nob -lengthen his wage by a single farthing no the week end? It- appears : so-from the story of the hodman. But*Mr Guthrie's hodman does not represent the majority of workers by a lbiig chalk, . I'll give him another illustration, an actual one, not a manufactured one with no probability of ..ut-h' in it>. 1 know a man. who by his brain, and outside his ordinary hand labour, saved his employer quite ,as much. as. he paid the mon for hie labour, but the employer paid him not a cent- for it, . but went on paying " only .what he could nothelp paying"; .and in 60 years wortv I've lound Chat the rule rather than the exception. . Again—"' The more the -lab.ourer -loafs, the dearer-be makes the joint'products of capital and labour, and so the : moie he increases his own cost of. living when he comes to buy," Then of course :the more he does while at/work the cheaper lie can live, -v ' j.en men, after- hearing Mr Guthrie's sermon, decide they, tkjJl put themselves .in,o their work on the following morning and. do' at leaot a tenth more tt'Prk far. [heir employer, who-is a producer of bread;:. At the" end of the week the, employerJis sur- . prised to And be has 1Q per cent', more bread to sell ftt the eame cost in labour; - he 6ays: " well done my good and faith-., ful men, ye have become so' diligent and ■ industrious that I shall be able to let ■you have' your bread a farthing per loaf I«£6 than formerly seeing; that now, be-'.-■cause of your put-ting yourselves into Ytinp work, as all good men ought, I can dispense-' pne of save '• his wages." " " :. Mf .Cfuthrje says: »A employer will realise thftf " the, human elements in industiy are quite as important as the 'material elements", and the improvements of hAman relations as , valuable as im;'provements in machinery." But surely t)iat is saying there are no wise employers, far Jiumanity is scarcely ever considered by PftpftsJis (? at all except,' for" the profit' ths-t pan be nwde hut pf it; or we not have the starring millions ter understanding of each ptjief." But he says: " The ong tbipg ppedful in the relations of labour and capita} iras..a better wndPerstanding of each other,' But

i, while capital is in the hands of the. few j. the two are irreconcilable either 'by arbitration or labour laws. It is only by the -State, that is all .the .people, owning .the capital and the land, and the State management of both production and distribution that we can have (industrial peace, and plenty for all ; and tiiab is the new political economy ' that is coming. All that: Mr Guthrie said on Sunday has been said hundreds of' times for the! last 30 years, at least, and: we have been exhorted to. he Claries for 1900, years;' and ..we are farther off that ideal than ever, and for ever will be while we have production for profit instead of for use. Mr Guthrie says—'And the matter is much worse when labour demands that capital should treat ib 'mechanically, and as far as possible, pay all workmen alike, good or bad, a, uniform dead, level wage." it. seems to me that Mr Guthrie omv reads -the capitalist side of the - or he would not make so misleading k; statement. 'iheir demand is for a minimum ■wage, a subsistence w;age; . The capitalist can pay as .much above that as- he like* to men ol' merit, bub he doesn't like; it is he that makea the bare subsistence the dead level wage. - 'Mi- .Uutiirie - says'/They will have: no piece work.'' vt'nv? Because piece work means scamped work, and they are anxious tor the opportunity lo .do laiLhful work, to, put iiiemselves into-the little left them to oo that. TJiey know that piece work tends to:;demdralise both, body and soul; the body by driving it beyond ; its -strength; the soul by driving it- to scamp its : work. Contract work, is the rule to-day. A building is wanted, it may be a small house or a large store. Tenders are called for and the lowest as a rule gets it. From a long experience I know that feware' finished truly to specifications; unless there is a sharp clerk of works on the job, and I've known him have his eyes closed by money. And no trade that. I know of is free from i it. I'm afraid Mr Guthrie, doesn't know, enough of labour conditions to be a reliable adviser.—-I am, etc., 1 ; SOCIALIST:.