The Star. FRIDAY, FEB. 24, 1893. The Safety of Capital.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4578, 24 February 1893, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, FEB. 24, 1893. The Safety of Capital.

It is said that the victor at Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington, declared that only one thing waß more disastrous than a victory, and that one thine* was a defeat. The lesson he taught in the epigram bas not yet had much effect on the history of the world. Armies are still recruited, and maintained at an enormous cost j wars are threatened, declared and waged, with terrible waste of life and money, and there seems no likelihood of a universal reign of peace. The folly and the wickedness of international strife are often insisted npon by moralists and social reformers in every country, but the rulers of nations continue to prepare for aggression or defence, and are deaf to the voice of reason and . humanity. ' We fear that the prospects of. a lasting peace between capital and labour are as slight as are those ■ of the abolition of martial strife. In the industrial world the lessons taught by experience are slowly learned. There is an incessant endeavour on the part of labour to win an increase of wages, and capital is equally determined not to yield except when absolutely driven to a surrender. All the efforts of social reformers seem powerless to change the attitude of the great majority of employers towards their workpeople. Employers will strive to amass wealth, and oan see no other way to do this than by exacting the greatest amount of labour for the lowest possible wages. Unfortunately for the working classes there is sb yet no complete solidarity amongst them. Isolated attempts to form combinations result in failure, and. eaoh failure not only discourages labour, .but also renders more difficult the success of future attempts. In labour combinations it is specially true that " the attempt { and not the deed confounds." . At the j ' came timo it is at least possible

hat the experience gained in failures nay eventually be turned to advantage, md that by the avoidance of the mistakes ■vhich have been discovered, victory may it length be achieved. In yeßteriay's papers appeared a portion of the f .peech delivered by the late President of ; g bhe Australian Miners' Association, whose words are very much. to the point. He admits that the, Broken Hill strike was a failure, and goes so far as to say all strikes are useless. But the apologists of capital have no reason to triumph oyer his admission, for he gives as the reason why strikes are useless, the fact that "mere justice pitted against vested interest and wealth' is ot no avail." It is a bitter cry that iB thus wrung from him, and who dare to deny that it is justified? The " Deniliquin farce," as he called it, will bealways remembered and be unfbrgiven until it has been avenged. The perpetrators of wrong, though the wrong may be committed under the sanction of the law, can never be secure against retribution. Each act of injustice done to the working classes is added to the sum already to be atoned for, and delay will make the atonement all the, more complete. It cannot be denied that the * Unions of Australia helped one another splendidly. The unlucky failure of their, combined effort will not prevent a continuance of combination. It will merely show the heed for more extended— for. universal— ! union. The labouring classes are awakened toa knowledge of the unfairness of their present position, and will never despair of bringing about a better Btate of things. It is in tbe existence of their hopefulness that lies the safety of capital. Should, unfortunately, the tyranny of capital produce despair, the masses would rise in their strength and sweep everything before them in a sanguinary revolution.