STRIKES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160796, 2 November 1920, Page 4

STRIKES.

It is a risky thing to condemn another’s action, for one never knows when he mqy do the same thing himself. 'The farmers of Kansas, U.S.A.,imust be saying so to-day, and perhaps, who knows, the farmers of’New Zealand may say so before they are much older. In Kansas' the farmers—a class that is prompt in denouncing workers’ strikes—have gone on strike, literally on strike, and are resorting to the orthodox strike methods, pickets, demonstrations, etc. Also they are worried with disloyalists, who will persist in taking produce to market, despite the low prices which have caused the strike. We have heard it hinted that the New Zealand farmers would also have gone on strike if not allowed to sell their butter at world’s parity. We wonder if they would have used the same methods and had the same worries; Also would they have continued to/ denounce the city worker for striking, or would they say he was wrong and they were right? Strikes produce curious frames of mind on both sides. Both sides claim the right to get all they can for what they have to sell, whether labour or produce, yet each denies the other’s right to this. The worker claims the right to higher wages, but refuses the farmer’s right to higher prices. The farmer argues vice versa. When workers ’strike for higher wages the other side laments the suffering Inflicted on women and children. (Sobs just here!) When the other side strikes for higher prices the workers denounce it for a disregard of the rights of the community’s mothers and families. (Tremolo stop pulled out!) Bach says he is right and.the other fellow wrong. Each extols his own virtues and advertises his own hardships, but says the other fellow has v no virtue and does not know the meaning of suffering. Bach one pleads poverty and paints a picture of the. other wallowing in the lap of luxury. It will be rather interesting to see what effect the Kansas farmers’ strike has on the relations between farmer and city worker. .Perhaps they will. each say the other was right all along, and fall on each other’s bosoms in reconciliation. Or perhaps it will end in a threecornered duel Instead of only a twosided one. It’s a mad world nowadays, and everyone is on the scramble. General Russell hit the right nail on the head when unveiling the Wanganui teachers’ memorial on Saturday last. The cause of to-day’s troubles, he said, is the selfish viewpoint and thd disinclination to adopt the general view. That is just about it. It Is a case of “I,” “me,” and “mine” all the time, and one side is as bad as the other.