THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1913. A FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 8 December 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1913. A FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCE.

It is fortunate for New Zealand that at the time of the present industrial crisis we have on the Treasury benches a Government which refuses to yield to the clamour of the revoiiuionary element, and which declir.es to i ander to those who have . been spoilt by spoon-feed'ng over a period ctf twenty years., .What might have happened had a spineless Government been in power, can only be imagined. Had the Red Federation been in a position to carry its threats* into execution ; had' the'offers of the farmers to assist in i maintaining law and order not been accepted; had no protection been afforded those who were willing to work the wharves of the country, we should'to-day have either been at the mercy of a band of revolutionaries, or the whole of the industries of the Dominion would have been held up. It has only been by the firm attitude of the Government, backed up by a strong public sentiment, tiiat the greatest calamity in the history of the nation has been averted. Had the Federation of Labour succeeded in its endeavour to secure control of the transport services, it would not have been long before it coerced every labour organisation in the Dominion into submission to its tyrannous will. 'The Arbitration Court, preference to unionists, and every other protection that has been won for the workers would have been sacrificed. Militancy would have been substituted for law and order; strikes for arbitration ; and revolution for evolution. In their desperate effort to secure control of the means of production, the Federationists would have precipitated aj civil war, the consequences of which were too * -horrible for contemplation. By the, firmness of the Government and the magnificent patriotism of the country settler>?, this disaster has been avoided. And now that the battle has been fought "and won, and the crisis is almost at an

end, tlio workers of the Dominion will realises how perilously near they have been to destruction. They will recognise that, after all, the fight ha~s not been one of Capital versus Labour, but one of Law and Order versus Anarchy. WiTen the Conciliation and Arbitration Act is amended, to make strikes and lock-outs more difficult ; when it is made impossible for a caucus of workers to demand a cessation of work without the taking of a secret ballot; when these alterations are made im the law—as they will be during tho coming week—the position of the honest labourer will be immeasurably stronger than it was under Federation tyranny. Instead of organised labour being crushed out of existence, as the designing Federationists have prophesied, it will occupy a. place of security and independence that it lias never occupiedbefore. The elimination of the Federation of Labour from the political sphere will strengthen the United Labour Party immensely, and will go a long way towards securing the unification of Labour. And here let us say that nobody, not even the Employers 1 ' Federation, desires to see Labour without its fair representation in,the councils of State. Had it not been for the extreme attitude of the Webbs, Hickeys, Youngs and Mills's, the Labour Party might today have had fifteen or twenty representatives in Parliament. Instead of that, it has only two or three, of whom all but one are absolute mediocrities. The stupendous folly of the strike loaders will put back the labour movement for a period; but if the moderate workers repudiate the extremists and pursue a course of sweet reasonableness, they cannot fail to secure that recognition which their numbers and their cause deserve. Meanwhile, one cannot help thinking that out of the desperate conflict from which the friends of law and order have emerged triumphant, some permanent good will accrue to the Dominion. The temporary . losvs will be great. Poverty and unemployment will stalk the country. But the removal of an industrial menace in the .form of anarchists and social wreckers, and the placing of the* labour laws on a more satisfactory footing, will inspire confidence on the part of the people, and will be attended with permanently good results. The experience of centuries has sfiown that any attack made upon established institutions brings poverty in its train. We shall have to pay the penalty for the indiscretion of our Labour Bosses. k But the sec-; urity that has been given both Labour, and Capital as a result of the recent: struggle will eventually result in the stimulation of our industries, the employment of a greater number of people, and the better development of the resources of our magnificent country. >