LAROUR.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15195, 16 April 1917, Page 7

LAROUR.

A LABOUR MAN'S APPEAL TO LABOUR. The Daily Express publishes the following article irom Mr Edward Tupper, the former strike leader: Thomas Carlyle once said "Justice must and shall prevail." How can it pie vail against barbarism, murder, and outrage? That is tl*e question every British subject should ask himself or herse!f, i.or to-morrow, but to-day. I especially appeal to organised labour, wtiicsi has done so much, to do a little more to make Carlyle's words an absolute certainty. To the workers, whether working down the mines, on the ships, in the d.-cks, at armament works, shipbuilding yaids, on munitions and. railways, 1 sav : Buckle up your belt another hole, and give your beet. Let us haw it! I know you, you know me—Tupper, the strike leader, agitator, call mo what you like in peace times, but let us alf answer to the proud name of Briton row. We have been in many a strike together, so let us have another one, thio time against the accursed Hun. Strike hard, let him feel the weight of your sledge-hammer. SLAVES OF THE HUN. P.eroember. boys, should the spoiler succeed, what would become of your trade unions? Would you get a fair day's wage for a fair day's work? No, You would get what the unfortunate workers of Servia and Belgium are gettiag —slavery. You workers can beat the Hun if you will, but do not listen to carping pacificists. They are out to destroy you. I hey would eacrifice you on the altar of cowardice and blood money. We ail want peace, we crave for it, bat a r,e:ite that agrees with the fundamental precipice of your trade unions. Yon arc pledged to help and protect the weak and oppressed. Carry out that pledge, and give no ear to those snakes who are permited to be at large in our garden. Af-k y-jurself, comrades, who and what arc these creatures that demand a peace that will wreck you? Have they fought with and for you to get better wages and conditions of labour? Very few, if any. They will try to poison your minds; they would like you to stop work; they even threaten strikes in your name, and they will foully accuse your leaders of being "got at" because they are loyally British. Quite recently in the House of Commons I was acci>6ed of sending a telegram to Cardiff calling for a strike oi transport workers. It was a lie, and was only said to injure me in the eyes of all true Britons. Come, lads, up and at the Hun; give him the half-Nelson; then get the strangle hold on him. with your savings, your extra earnings, and your splendid labour. Catch him on the point, and out him. You can if you are true to yourselves. You have no petty bickerings with your employers; tabulate your grievances if necessary, but keep quiet about them till victory has been won; then they can all be rectified. PLAY THE GAME. I feel confident that the just employer will make his unjust brother render an account of hie stewardship. If this fails, you can get justice. You . know your strength; but do not make trouble till victory is a-ssured, till humanity is secure against a repetition of this blood lust, of the Prussian assassin. Not till then must we think about our own little industrial hardships. We must have but one thought, one mind, one resolve —come what may—to back up our pals in the trenches, our chums on the seas.

They are looking to us to play the game as men. Let ue not be found wanting'. Do not hand them over to the enemy, which you will do if they are not fully provided with munitions, material, and food. . You who have children, think of the heritage you are handing down to them. Shall it be said of you that you failed in your duty at the supreme moment? If so, your name will never be mentioned except in execration; but if you do—as I feel sure you will—your children's children will proudly say, "My ancestor was one of the men who helped to rid the earth of its greatest curee."

Let posterity know it was through the effort** of organised labour, by its unselfish support, by its untiring efforts, by its loyalty to the Empire that the tocsin of liberty for the whole world rang out loud and clear.