AN APPEAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10927, 17 November 1913, Page 5

AN APPEAL.

I (By WALTER THOMAS MILLS.) ; Mr Massey intimated in his interview with the strikers' representatives that he did not have muoh power over I the Employers' Federation. ' This has been understood to be the case all the time. The complaint has never been that Massey had'too'much power over the exploiter. It has been, and still is, that the exploiters and the exploiters only have power ever Massey. If he has not always ser/od them well it has not been because no has not always tried to do by others as the ex- ] ploiters would have them done by. Still,'Massey is not withoat power \ against the exploiters, if he could use the powers given him by the consti : :a- I tion of the British nation. He could take possession of tho ships and the shipping of the Un.rm Steam Ship Company as a "war necessity." He could make just and rational terms with all the workers concerned. He could grant to all publio enir Joyces full political rights and he cou«d ute special constables and the warship to enforce this policy. He ooa ] d add to just and fair rates for labour the 6ame kind of rates for shipping charges. He could consolidate tho whole shipping industry into a single national .enterprise. He could take, over all the mines in the interest of industrial peace. Ho could not only give A SQUARE DEAL to the miners, but that ct.uld be extended to include even the buyeis tnd users of coal as well. As a war measure he could socialise the same power which, in private hands, is now being used to increase the cost of living, and use it to reduce the cost of iiviug instead. This would be to the economic advantage of all men, including U.e misled men now on horseback, bhi/vid he use the power which tho constitution gives him he could make himself as dearly loved by the country as he is now despised by it. WHY DOESN'T HE DO IT? There may be many reasons. _ But the one to emphasise just now is the one he himself voiced. He is the chosen, spokesman for the nation under the forms of law, but "he does not have much power over the exploiters." They are the power behind his throne. They benefit by the wrongs which he defends. He is, in fact, theh- hired man, sweated, overworked, and badly paid as are all the rest of those who serve them. If Mr Massey were to be an hour and twenty minutes late in doing what they tell him must be done the exploiters would AT ONCE TEAR UP THEIR AGREEMENTS with Massey too. They would break in pieces his Cabinet, they would take away his scant majority in the House, and put in his place a Government which might join in a complaint against the specials, but would promise "to protect free labour on the waterfront" by force of the regulars instead —only do it quicker than Massey did. j This battle may be lost or won. This ! war will be over only when the means 1 of transportation now used for the purpose of robbery, shall be socialised, to be used for the common good of all, not to the private advantage of any as against the rest. THE WORKERS' FREEHOLD TO HIS JOB. Mr Massey holds that every man ; should be his own landlord. When is he going to do something to enable tho watersiders to get a safe and sure freehold on their jobs? THE REAL EMPLOYERS. Who are the employers of the watersiders, anyway? Who pay their wages? Whom do they serve? To whom have they the right to appeal for fair play? The only possible answer is, the people of New Zealand are their employers. They above all are responsible for all this trouble. They own the railways which bring and carry both goods and passengers. They are the . passengers. They have overpaid for services the sums which have built all the ships. They are the masters of the law. The shipowners may not pay much attention to Massey, but they i can continue their arrogant treatment ' of Labour and their extortion in the ' shipping world only with the consent of the people. THEY ARE THE REAL MASTERS. The exploiters cannot much longer ; shout out their demands for obedience to their agents, clothed with authority corruptly obtained, while they trample on the moral law as if no such law exists. Whatever the outcome of this battle, the end of the war will mean the end of the exploiter and the socialisation of the ships. AS OTHERS SEE US. SYDNEY " BULLETINS " VIEW. Maoriland, under the influence of the | I.W.W. (Independent Workers of the | World), has_ an industrial trouble on i hand which involves more conversation ' than any other trouble with which it has been afflicted for nearly a generation. The I.WAV. is a sort of international organisation of industrial anarchists, and it sees red all tho time. Through seeing red too long its head has apparently taken fire, it is allied with all manner of downtrodden peoples in remote lands, and it uses their form of language, just as if Maoriland were bossed by a Czar or over-run by Macedonian brigands. _ Possibly it lacks a sense of proportion, or of time, or space, or something. In short, the I.W.W. represents the irreconcilables —the rebels in the hills. Its motto is: "To hell with agreements," and that makes negotiation with it difficult. The general view which it seems to hold is that no faith need be kept with employers, just as Alva held that no faith need bo kept with Protestants, and William lll.'s Parliament considered that the worst kind of treachery to Catholics was honourable and iustifij able. '..■:..* i The I.W.W. isn't a very great insti-

tution in Maorilan'd, .mc, like the handful of desperadoes who made the French Reign of Terror, it wields a' very considerable influence by reason. of its vigour, just as an infuriated bulldog may do when it attacks a procession. The big unions in Maoriland hav.o developed a tendency to withdraw from the Arbitration Court, so that they won't be bound by legal awards, . tyia may rush into battle at any moment. That is the I.W.W. attitude. The men who are running the big strike at Wellington are under an agreement not to strike, and the contract has fctiil a few weeks to run, but the paper bond doesn't seem to amount to much. The idea of entering into a new paper bond under the rules of the Arbitration Court which probably wouldn't amount to much more than the old one—was being flatly repudiated by the strikers at the timo of writing, and h. di~l"Tc-- is «»>- There *is much talk about tEe 'emetables cm one side, and of the upheaval of 10,000 or 15 000 armed toilers on the other, but so far people haven't been killed, or towns destroyed or trains wrecked. The Premier hasn't been slaughtered, as was President Madero of Mexico; nor has the leader of the insurrection fled for refuge to a foreign warship, Like General:; Felix Diaz, of the earn© worried country. As for bailing up foreign tourists. and putting their feet in the.fire to make them disclose the location of their valuables, nothing of the sort has yet been attempted. There has been much-froth on the row at Wellington, and comparatively little of what Mexicans and Macedonians and Mirdites and Mohammedans would call beer. Still the trade of Wellington has been held up, and the capital is beginning to find :its victuals expensive. And the trade of other ports seems likely to be held up. For a country which owes so much, money abroad, and which must keep jpn exporting wheat and wool and meat and cows' skins and bulls' innards and oxtail and rabbits and pigs' trotters in order to pay the interest bill, the partial stoppage of trade is serious. Amid all the clamour and the shouting it is rather difficult to understand what tiie row is about, but it is a nice row to contemplate from a distance.