The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1918. INDUSTRIAL UNREST

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13896, 23 October 1918, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1918. INDUSTRIAL UNREST

Amidst the clash of arms, which has of late- been more than ever insistent, we have to some extent lost sight of a problem which, however, can never be long neglected. We refer to the relations between Capital and Labour, which are always more or less strained, and which manifest their unstable character by constant troubles. The whole question is one on which it would be well for us all to endeavour to obtain some clear view. We may say at once that many of the so-called disputes that come before the Conciliation Court and Arbitration Court are very far from being matters for regret. On the contrary, they are the natural and legitimate method of bringing forward the claims of the employes for higher pay and improved conditions. Whether the demands can be granted or not is a question to be decided by the Court in each case; but it should be recognised that the demand on the part of the men is as legitimate as the effort of the master to increase his profits. But while we have nothing but sym-

pathy with those demands, there is another class of labour trouble which cannot be regarded as other than mischievous. We refer to those demands which are put forward with a threat, and at intervals with an attempt to hold up the business of the country, unless the demands are complied with. We have had an experience of this kind in New-Zealand, so that the nature of the procedure is not strange to us, but our experience has been slight compared with that of most countries, Croat Britain, America, France and Australia have all suffered from manifestations of this evil spirit, and it is worth while to try and obtain some idea of the motives which are at work in prompting such a procedure. In the majority perhaps of those who take part in these

attacks on society the motives may be nothing more than the natural discontent of those whose lot in life through misfortune or by their own fault is hard at present, and holds on! li!'!'' ho; o for the future. Amongst the leaders, however, there are ideas, not perhaps* clearly defined or often consciously held, which go far beyond a vague discontent. The whole movement is in sympathy with that of the Continental Socialist, who is a very different being from the Socialist as he is known in Great Britain. The Continental variety of Socialist bases himself on the teachings of Karl Marx. He believes that under the industrial system the rich inevitably grow richer and the poor grow poorer; that capital automatically passes into the possession and control of an ever-diminishing group of capitalists; that the position of labour becomes increasingly worse because it is confronted with a concentration of power in the hands of capitalists, and

that, the economic question is the one and only question in which the workman is interested, and his one remedy for a fate which must overtake him in a world organised industrially as it is to-day is to rebel, to overthrow governments, to abolish employers, and to seize all wealth and all means of producing wealth. This may read as the account of a madman's delusions, but those who may scout the notion that there are men who hold such beliefs should reflect on the fact that it is these ideas which inspire the Bolsheviks, who have never ceased to hope that these people in Germany and Austria who think likewise will take similar action against their own Governments. It would not ibe difficult, though it might take long to show, that there is not a single item in the Socialistic creed which can be supported by facts. On the contrary, the statistics of every country point decisively to an opposite conclusion, with, perhaps, the exception in Germany of the concentration of capital in the hands of a limited number. The upholders of the theory, however, are not to be debarred by any such trivial matters as facts or statistics, and their ideas have gained a certain amount of following in all the civilised countries of the world. There

were in fact some social students who believed that such a war as we have passed through was impossible because the workers would not fight for nationality, for freedom, or for law, or indeed for any question other than that of their personal interest in a world altered to meet their views. Experience has shown that those who thought such things of the workers did them a grave injustice. Nevertheless, it is useless to disguise the fact that there are many who hold such ideas, and society will be well advised to realise the fact and take steps to meet the evil. Unfortunately, some of those who should he prepared to help are only too prone to do mischief, owing to exaggerated

sympathies and insufficient knowledge. Men who see the sad condition of numbers of those who follow unskilled occupations under depressing conditions denounce the industrial system, speak of business conducted for prosit as debasing, am! look In production for use as a cure for all the maladies of the State. It is a curious phenomenon that the men who hold such views should often be preachers of tho gospel. It would almost seem as if they had of late lost faith in preaching, in teaching, in persuasion, or in conscience, for they are increasingly anxious to create a new Heaven and a new earth by legislation and State manipulation. The ease of the industrial system is one that we hope to refer to on another

occasion, but our point is that it is not the system which is answerable for the diseases of the State, Ijijit the fault of those who work it; the fault that is of both employers and employed; and that these faults being natural to man in an imperfect world will not be cured by handing over production to the control of committees. Envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness have sometimes been found in assemblies that had nothing to do with earning

dividends, dreed and self-seeking arc not confined to the scramble for wealth. The real remedy for the dangers involved in the existence of a section of the population which believes that its best hope of improving its condition lies in injuring all others is to be found in education, in gradual improvement of conditions, in the provision of machinery wherever possible to ease manual labour; in tlie spread of agencies to teach the youth a trade. Such remedies are not heroic, hut. then they are effectual. They are admittedly slow, and those who favour reform by legislation are still in the stage of thinking that deep-seated complaints can he cured by some State panacea. It is time we realised that the State is powerless to heal many of our grievances, and that it rests with public opinion working in the individual to bring about a better state of tilings. It is a process in which we are one and alt called upon to take our part, and to quit ourselves as men.