{3 
OUR INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS. 
By “Mutual Aid” (T. H. BATH, ¢/o Wes atun Farmers, Ltd., Wellington.street, 
AWARDED THIRD PRIZE OF £5. 
Tt is often urged that discontent with 
things as they are is the motive force of 
civilisation. No half-truth is more. dan. 
gerous. It may be, and often is, destruc 
tive of progress, in that it inspires no ims 
provement in individual character, but 
rather furnishes ready instruments to be 
used by the agents of mere hatred and 
disorder, If discontent—more clearly ine 
terpreted as emulation—creates a desire 
for better personal moral and mental de- 
velopment, with the will for self-help act- 
ing in harmony with mutual co-operation 
for the common welfare, there can be no 
doubt that it becomes a powertul eivilising 
influence. 
The present century is young, but it has 
witnessed great triumphs in many fields 
of human activity. In scientific research, 
processes of primary industry, and the ap- 
plication of mechanical skill, marvel has 
followed on the heels of marvel so rapidly 
as to become the commonplaces of life. 1% 
is all the more surprising then, that the 
applied ingenuity which has accomplished 
so much, should register its disheartening 
failures in the fields of human relation- 
ship, bitterly experienced in exhansing war 
between nations, as io the waste and loss 
of industrial strife. 
We see the contrast of employers and 
workers combining their efforts to create 
the material machinery of industry, des 
vised with such intricate skill, oiled by 
the lubricants devised by the chemist, as 
to reduce friction within its parts to a 
minimum, only to find those efforts nulli- 
Hed by the hostility enzendered in their 
economic contact. 
® 15 it possible by minal effort and men- 
tal application to the problem for em- 
ployers and employed to eliminate friction 
in mdustry, at least to the extent of pre- 
venting the losses sustained by atrikes and 
roncerted hindrances to production? The 
welfare of the conntry depends upon the 
answer to this question.” 
The irritants chicily responsible for 
cansing trouble are on the one hand that 
type of employer (uniortuunately still too 
prevalent) who clings to the idea that he 
should be the sole arbiter of the wazes 
and conditions of the men he employs, 
and is always on the look-out for the 
happy combination of cirenmstances which 
will enable Lim to teach them a lesson, 
and on the other side. those left-wing ad- 
herents of the trades union movement who 
advocate direct action to disrupt induse 
try, sabotage, dishonesty, poor workmane 
ship, and like means, to render it difi- 
cult for production to be continued, so 
paving the way for their own objective 
that ‘“the bourgeoisie may be exterminated 
and the proletariat enthroned.” 
It may be pointed out here that these 
two types of propagandists of trouble play 
into each others’ hands. Numerous: ine 
stances may be quoted where employers 
have given direct encouragement to the 
offorts of advocates of direct action, by 
conceding at the point of the gun what 
they have refused when first approached 
in_a conciliatory spirit. . 
Between these extremes, however, there 
is a big body of opinion anxious to be ine 
duenced in the right way. The difficulty 
is not so much lack of reasons as lack 
of eourage. What is needed is that the 
Saner Elements in Industry 
should give a lead. Unfortunately, leader 
ship is paralysed by the party political 
methods of Australia. It is a characterise 
tic of all parties, both State and Fede- 
ral. Its worst manifestation is seen in the 
lack of intellectual initiative on re pard 
of political leaders, and the mof¢ injurie 
ous suppression of personal view under 
the pressure of the party machine. 
If industrial peace is to he assured, the 
saner leaders on both sides must act with 
greater initiative and decision. On the 
workers’ side, reforming influences can 
only be set to work by trade union leaders 
realising that they are endeavouring | to 
blend antagonistic policies within their 
own movement. They are sponsors of the 
scheme of compulsory arbitration and State 
regulative action in industrial matters, and 
do vot hesitate to apply legal pressure to 
employers who commit a breach of these 
provisions, at the same time that they de- 
mand freedom for trades unionists to use 
the old methods of the strike and pickets 
ing when these appear to suit their pure 
pose. In this respect. trades union prace 
tice is hopelessly out of date in rigidly ade 
hering to the war cries of 50 years ago. 
Developments in industry have certainly 
changed conditions during that period, and 
one particular economic growtli-—co-operas 
tion—has proved to be the outstanding in- 
dustrial success of the century. In any 
event, trades unionists cannot hope to ig- 
nore evolutionary processes and expect 
that section of the community which holds 
she balance of power, to support or pas 
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