Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 45 Years.] THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. SOME PLAIN TALK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 46, Issue 14145, 17 June 1920, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 45 Years.] THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. SOME PLAIN TALK.

Mr Lloyd George’s talk to the union deputation ane.nt the attitude of railway employees in Ireland towards the measures for the preservation of law and order deemed to be essential there was delightfully plain and straight. Irish members of the National Union of Railwaymcn have refused to handle munitions intended for use iu the suppression of the Sinn Fein revolt, and the executive, instead of immediately denouncing the action, has convened a conference at Bristol to consider the whole attitude of transport workers towards the trouble in Ireland. Incidentally the conference will also arrogate to itself the right to say whether Britain should continue to afford' aid, in the form of munitions, to the Poles. Meanwhile, Mr Lloyd George has been interviewed by representatives of the union, and his reply should be emphasised again and again, not only in Britain, but also in Australasia. He pointed out that “trades unionism now sought to influence political decisions not, by the ordinary machinery of the State, but by threats of disorganising the industries of the country. That was a serious issue, which lie took up at once. He would regard it as a complete abdication by the Government if it- were in the least to countenance the demand. . . The railwaymen refused to work trains

carrying troops. . • The Government could not possibly agree to the action of any section discriminating against Government traffic, or accept any decree issued to anybody, however powerful, denying to the Government the essential facilities tor carrying out its functions. ” And Mr J. 11. Thomas, the political secretary of the union, admits that for the union to support the strikers in Ireland would mean a declaration of war on the Government. However menacing the situation may be, there is in it at least the merit that its character and dimensions are clear and well recognised. Trades unionism, begun and for long maintained

as a beneficent force for the fairer and better regulation of the- conditions of industrial employment, is by way of being corrupted by some of the stronger and more militant organisations into an engine of political tyranny, destined to destroy the principleof constitutional and representative government, and to concentrate uatioual power in the hands of a small junta of union leaders. This is not the first occasion on which the suggestion has been made that the British transport workers —members of the notorious “triple alliance ”f — should strike as a means of dictating to the Government the course it should pursue with respect to important foreign or domestic questions. Last year there was strong talk about intervention of the kind to prevent any campaign against the Bolsheviks in Russia. As Mr Lloyd George observed, France has just gone through a notable experience of the actual application of great, trades union forces to influence national political decisions, with disastrous consequences to the unions. There is, if course, onlv one way to meet situations of that nature if thw principles and practices of constitutional government are not to be either vitiated or destroyed. The force of the strike must be resisted with all the avalable powers of the nation, and the fight maintained until the revolt — for revolt it is—is completely crushed. Mr Lloyd George took an early and effective opportunity to formulate for correct) public opinion as to the issues involved. For too long it has been the practice of the demagogues who have got hold of large sections of trades unionism throughout the world to cloak vicius political propaganda under a pretence of industrial action designed to ameliorate the conditions of the workers.