THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1913. THE STRIKE BROKEN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 7 November 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1913. THE STRIKE BROKEN.

The registration of a Watersiders' Union under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act is emphatic proof that the strike is broken, and that it will only be a question of days when the shipping and other trades will be restored to normal. The Federation of Labour, which has set itself the task of wrecking a system that has taken years to develop, has suffered a crushing defeat. It will probably endeavour to covei- up its humiliation by applying the term "scab," and similar epithets to those workers who are prepared to keep the wheels of industry moving. But, when the position is analysed, it will be disocevered that tho genuine "scabs" are not those ■who respect tho law and go to work, but those who incite their fellows to revolution, and who strive to render the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, under which thousands of persons arc working in amity, an absolutely dead letter. For, be it remembered, the men who tlirusF aside.the measuure, arid repudiated agreements, were the men who cast a decisive blow at the very fundaments'of unionism. If any organisation may be termed ".scab," it is «urely not that which goes to work under the conditions laid down by tho Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The watersiders who are on strike have been afforded every op-

portunitv of registering and returning to work without peril of victimisation. If they refuse to do so, it is their own fault, if their places are filled by men who are willing to work. It would be intolerable if a small section of labourers could dominate the whole of the industrial system of the Dominion. The Federation of Labour thas declared itself in favour of strikes and revolution, and it has endeavoured to enlist the sympathy of the givtb body of trade unionists by_ making it appear that tlie whole forces of capital are being ranged against labour, with a view

to crushing "it out of existence. It need hardly be said that this clumsy appeal to hoiie./t workers is the sheerest humbug. The 'Federation of Labour has been lighting against the interests of the workers ever since it came into existence. Its leaders are veritable firebrands, who would forcibly seize the means of production, and destroy the fabric of society. Fortunately there arp in the country thousands of honest workers who believe that social reforms can only come by a process of evolution. This latter class aro represented by such men as Mr W. A. Veitch, Mr H. D. Bedford, and Mr D. McLaren. They despise the syndicalist and the striker, because they know that the revolutionary weapons are as cruel as they are ineffective. ~ They know that if reforms are to come, and the position of the toilers is to be improved, it must be by evolution, and not by revolution. Hence it is that, in spite of the declamation of the mob orators, there are men to be found who are willing to work on the waterfront, as they work in the shops and factories, under the equitable law of arbitration. The experience of the present strike will be a bitter one for the syndicalist. But, if it teaches him that the great majority of the labouring class are prepared to work out their salvation through the ballot-box instead of by stone-throw-ing, it will be the"better for all concerned. The Labour Party in this Dominion has been hopelessly divided through the domineering attitude of revolutionaries, and if Labour is ever to occupy a place in the councils of the Statt, it will only bo when these extremists are relegated to oblivion. The formation of a WaterSjiders' ynion under the Industrie Conciliation and Arbitration Aot is the first step in - the- direction of solidifying tlw labour forces, and if the trade unionists are wise, they will strive to induce other bodies that have cancelled their registration to come back to the' fold- Meanwhile, it will be a source of very great satisfaction to a large section of . the community to learn that is a reasonable prospect of the trade of the country being restored, and of the Federation of Labour and strikepromoters generally being taught a salutary lesson.