GRAFT-CORRUPTION.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18346, 4 June 1931, Page 6

GRAFT-CORRUPTION.

CONDITIONS IN AMERICA. SLAVISH WORKING CONDITIONS. INTERESTING LABOUR ADDRESS. In continuation of its programme of addresses on subjects of interest to its members, the Hamilton branch of the New Zealand Labour Party was fortunate in securing as the speaker at this week’s meeting, Mr H. Beebe, a local member, who recently returned from a tour of America. Mr Beebe took as his subject “Labour Conditions in America.” The speaker said he had experienced working conditions in Canada and the United States and he was greatly impressed by the building methods, the great use of machinery and the amount of foreign labour employed in those countries.

As a prelude, Mr Beebe gave an interesting, and at times, amusing summary of American business methods, work, “go-getting," racketeering and graft. In comparing Canada and the United States of America with New Zealand he emphasised the vast difference in the countries, peoples and governments of the three countries. He was engaged in building and allied industries in British Columbia, where the conditions were almost identical with those over the border in the United States of America, any comparison favouring Canada.

One feature was the lack of distinction between the professional and working classes. For instance, dentists worked in an open front shop, fitting teeth, etc., in view of the public, and employed showmen’s methods to attract business. Workers travelled home in street cars without changing their clothes, mechanics in their greasy overalls, plasterers in their lime-splashed garments, in the same compartments with well-dressed men and women. Cosmopolitan Population. That workers are well paid on most jobs was true, but the work was most intense. Every dollar was earned and on account of unemployment and |he suspension of work due to climatic conditions, the annual income was not large, though ten dollars a day could be earned on the job. There was a cosmopolitanism evident and on some jobs where all foreigners were employed, one did not hear English spoken. On one British Columbian job the foreman was a Russian, the shift foremen were respectively a Swede, an American and an Italian. One Canadian factory, which blazoned the sign “Buy Canadian Goods” was wholly owned and staffed by Jews. Every mid-European race was represented and one could walk for miles in British Columbia meeting Swedes, Slavs, Italians and Russians and hear no English spoken. In the Vancouver timber yards 95 per cent, of the workers were Hindus. They had a virtual monopoly of the firewood business, and in the intense Canadian winters wood was most essential. Similarly the Japanese held a monopoly of gardening. They worked, for .40 cents or less per hour, whilst the. usual rate was 50 cents an hour. No definite statement covering all trades could be made as conditions and workers varied considerably. America, said Mr Beebe, was a country of Immense proportions. There were large fertile areas, cold lands and barren lands. The 'average American thought and talked big and planned and built big. The buildings, trains, cars, and even the “twisters" were big. Mr Beebe explained that a “twister” was a cyclone ■which cut a path through everything in its way, levelling forests and houses alike.

Touching on politics, lie explained that many employees, both in State and city owed their jobs lo their political colour, and when a change of pai'ty occurred, a change of job holders followed. “Spoils to the victor” was accepted as the logical sequence. The Mayor of a city was 'the chief magistrate, In fact as well as in title, Had Hamilton been run on American lines it would have, followed, with the change of 'Mayors, that nearly all thepresent borough employees would now be. out of a job and would have been replaced by the new Mayor’s partisans. 'At the last British Columbia State elections many Liberals lost their positions when the Tories went hack. Even a Supreme Court judge was removed to be replaced by a Government supporter.

“ Racketeering Rife.” The’ speaker gave amusing instances of high power salesmanship which showed the Yankee to he “a sure gogetter.” Misrepresentation by a saleman was no ground for a Court action. The onus was on the buyer lo verify the salesman’s spoken and written words. Racketeers, lie explained, were persons who formed a “racket" or gang, and levied toll on businesses. They selected a certain business or firm and levied a certain sum to be paid monthly. If the levy was not paid, the proprietor was driven out of business or shot. Any rival racketeers were also promptly shot. Racketeering was rife In the liquor and other trades, both legal and illegal. What appeared Incomprehensible to him was the easy way in which a person could walk into a store or bank, hold up everybody and walk away with the booty; hut lie learned later that this was possible because no one knew how many accomplices might be in the crowd. The safest and easiest way was, therefore, to put up ones hands when ordered to do so, as an accomplice in the crowd might start “pumping lead.” Graft was recognised and freely practised. For Instance, If a motorist broke a city by-law and was handed an offence summons he would not appear before the Court if he had sufficient "pull" with the Mayor. He would visit l;ho chief magistrate and probably buy off the action. Speaking of working conditions, Mr Beebe said it was a true saying there that a “man was too old at 40." If a man aged 38 lost his job he was heading for the industrial scrap heap. Machines set tin; pace and where there was no machinery other speeding up methods were employed. Conditions were hard, the work constant and there was no let-up during the whole working hours, it was a common sight lo see hundreds of burly Swedes and •other foreigners waiting outside a building construction Job to lake the place of a man who let-up perhaps only to cat an apple. In America last voa'r 7 per cent fewer workers with ■modern machinery increased production by 4 3 per cent. Mr Beebe’s next address will lie devoted to flic problems brought about, by ihn mechanisation or Industries and including that of the surplus displaced worker.