THE LABOR CRISIS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 509, 20 September 1890, Page 2

THE LABOR CRISIS.

AFFAIRS IN NEW SOUTH WALES,

(FROM OUR OWN COWKSPONDKST.) Practically we areinlXtT Var It is true thereare comparativelv 1 bodily violence. But none tl '* f ® a w a< £ deadly purpose cherished . ““ i« a contending parties each of which ■ntentKin o destroymg the libertyTf the other. If there are no acts of overt vLi tße it is because it is felt that they wou d d ’feat the end in view by provoking the inter e lion of the State. Perhaps, ab hough such I crisis wou'd be sharp and severe au j attended by fatal disaster to individuals it would not be so bad as the present lingering paralysis. At present the Government hold! aloof, ready to interfere in case of riotous outbreak, but allowing the contending parties to work their will as regards the commerce of the country. As long as they respect one another’s skins this is left to them as a prey, and a nice mess they are making of i». Yet one wot’d imagine that public prosperity’, which involves the right of every mis to follow his own calling in his own way, was of infinitely more importance than the heads or hides of a few individuals. Of course I am aware that the Executive, in preserving this attitude of “ masterly inactivity." is following the highest precedent. It has always been accepted as an axiom that in cases of this kind the State must not interfere, no matter how its deepest interests are endangered, provided the conlending parties who m ke it their battleground show some skindeep and outward conformity to the laws made and provided against assault and battery. But just as all hoary and timehonored creeds are being put upon their trial, so this one will in time have to answer for itself. I think the result of the present struggle will be to show that the welfare and safety of whole classes is of even greater importance tlnn the bodily wholeness of a few individuals. Very properly the Slate is careful of the latter and bends the whole of its resources to secure it. Much more ought it to provide for that which is greater and secure to the several branches of industry the right to follow their avocations in peace. A life and death struggle between Labor and C«nftai works far m ire harm to the State than a rough-and-tumble in the streets. Yet the one is allowed to proceed without let or hindrance whilst the other would he stopped if it cost hundreds of thousands to do it.

But how can 'he State intervene without

unjustly giving the victory to one parly at the exnanse of the other? How bee it put an end to the reign of the strong hand ? By providing tribunals which may Administer some semh'ance r.f justice and then making it penal for the mon to take the law into their own hind«. The penalties would bs of no avail wi bout the tribunals, for men would •till fest that their lives depended on taking the lives of their enemies. Nei'het would tha tribunals be of any use without the penal ie«, tor th“ s*rong and powerful would still prefer tn enforce their own decisions rather than submit to those of the courts. But there are no courts which can decide the questions at issue between labor and capital, or compel any respect for the common peace and welfare. Yet those questions are quite as capable of some practical and approximate solution by clearheaded and honest judges or jurymen as

'hose which now ooms before the courts. For want of the requisite machinery the former are suffered to breed heartburr.ingfeude, and to threaten convulsions which approach dangerously near to revolu'ion. At present employers see no prospect of security except in the ntter extinction or subjugation of unionism—a movement which in itself is harmless, and if properly controlled, is capable of achieving excellent and desirable results. They exact from 'heir employees a pledge that they will not join Unions, or, if joined, that they wilt notaffll'ate with other Unions. If they are disobedient they discharge them. AU this seems to me an unjustifiable invasion of persona! liberty. Employers have a right to expsot loyal obedience and faithful servjce, but the private engagements of their officers they have not the least moral right to control,

They think it essential to 'heir own security that they should prevent thira from joining the unions. Under present oiroumsWnces it very likely is necessary, because unionism, unchecked by any legal restraints and officered by soma of the most ignorant, officious, and overbearing men in the colony, has shown itself capab'e of exercising tha most insolent extortion and dictation and the most intolerable tyranny. Witness the attempt to boycott all non-union wool, and to frroe al! workers to join the unions, whether they wish to do so or nut. No giosing of smooth words can disguise Ijhi true character of these demands. They Involve the subversion of individual liberty, and the usurpation of a power that only belongs to the State. Either the Government must destroy and trample out these assumptions nr they will destroy the Government. But if a tribunal were called into existence to reject all unwarranted claims from both sides, and armed with power to visit with condign punishment all offenders against its edicts, employers would no longer have the dread of unionism which they now very justly feel. Unionism on the other hand, instead of arousing hostility, and awakening the jealous susceptibilities of every lover of lawful liberty, would bs set free to exercise its immense and legitimate moral influence, which wit! yet conduct it to vic’ory, unless indeed, in the meantime, the wild vagaries and insanq pretensions of its unskilled steersmen should hopdessly wreck it on tha reefs of public reprobation. In short, if the individual liberty of employers and employees alike were provided for and protected by lawful authority, there would ba neither pretext nor opportunity for such disgraceful and humiliating conflicts as are now paralysing trade and embittering social life. Whet we now see is a determined attempt to decide by, sheer brute force an issue which should be determined, and can only bs permanently settled, on grounds of justice and equity. Let adequate machinery for providing the Igtter be organised and set in motion, and the task of tha State in preserving peace between rival organisations will become at least as easy as its present task of preserving outward pease between private indlvidnale. Whilst I am writing tha air is ringing with tiio news of a riotous outbreak at Newcastle. Of course the sooner this kind of brutality is resorted to the sooner do*s the intervention of the Government b'oime abso'utely necessary, and the sooner wjll the sympathies of all lovers of law and order ba enlist 'd against the maloonteptg. There js no r ason to suppose that the Council of Trades and Labor have any connection with the outbroke. They have no desire to resort to outward vlo'ence. but their hands have no doubt been forced by some of their Impulsive fol’owers who cannot distinguish between terrorism directed against a man's means of obtaining a live'ihood andterrorisni against his person. The Newoutle strikers have cist off the sheep's clothing rather prematurely, that's all. The inactivity and apathy displayed in Parliament is in strong contrast to the turmoil nutside. Except Mr Wa'kers childlike and bland proposition that the State should subsidise insurrection and usurpation bylendingths public money to the Unions, there is hardly a word said to show that the colleotive wisdom cf tha colony is cognizant of tba ori«i| through which it is passing. Perhaps tl|lg restraint is necessary, for soma of the legislators wh > have assumed the responsibility of controlling their fellow colonists have shown in tha past that they arc not able to Oontrol themselves.