The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1925. INDUSTRY AND THRIFT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19440, 28 October 1925, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1925. INDUSTRY AND THRIFT

In the course of his election campaign speech on Monday night Mr. Co nil, the popular Reform candidate for Wanganui, remarked that the only practical way to reduce the cost of living was by thetexercise of industry and thrift. That, we are afraid, is not the kind of statement that Jhe Labour leaders like to hear. They certainly talk a great deal tbout the cost of living, but not for the purpose of impressing upon the people the need of industry and thrift. Their idea is always to contend that those who work for wages should receive higher wages and that the State should make provision in various ways to meet the ordinary living expenses of the people. If those who profess to speak for Labour would really try to understand the cost of living problem they would soon find themselves in agreement with Mr. Coull. The eternal clamour fhr more wages is a dangerous thing—dangerous to the wage-earner and dangerous to the nation. Mr. T. Shailer Weston in his presidential address to the Employers’ Federation the other day argued' that beyond a certain point a rise in wages must be passed on by the employer to the consumer, and that the enhanced cost of living must thus eventually neutralise the increase in the wage-earner’s income. He suggested that the best that the workers could hope for in the next few years would be to maintain wages somewhere near the present level. The cost of production, Mr. Weston pointed out, is likely to fall considerably with improved methods of production and better facilities for transport, while prices must also tend downward on account of the restriction of credit and the contraction of the gold standard. The conditions which Mr. Weston so clearly foresees are just the conditions that will give point to Mr. Coull’s exhortation to industry and thrift. It rests with the workers to take action to meet the expected conditions. If they concentrate their energies on the task of rendering their labour more productive the total output of wealth will be increased. An increased supply of goods would bring down the cost of living, thus relieving the anxieties of the wage-earners. Moreover, if the labour of the wage-earners were more productive than it is to-day the employers would be able to pay higher wages. Mr. Coull lias been making a point in his speeches of saying that the “class war” preached by Labour is all wrong; that what is needed is co-operation between Labour and capital. The wage-earner who thinks that the employer is merely a source of wages, to be cajoled or bludgeoned into paying more, does not think. The ability of an industry to pay wages is measured by the productive power of those engaged in the industry. The employer is not possessed of an inexhaustible purse, but must keep on replenishing it out of the product of his industry. The greater the product the greater his ability to pay wages. The dislocation of industry by strikes and disputes hinders the production of wealth. Antagonism of any kind between employer and employee is a hindrance just as much to the worker as it Is to industry. Labour has a responsibility just as capital has, and the failure of either side to accept its share of responsibility affects the well-being of both. The employer as a rule has to be both industrious and thrifty. The employee can help himself by the adoption of similar methods.