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OUR INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS, 
{By .“Hesper.") 
What ave the problems of. industry In 
Australin? | 
A ‘moment's thought” raises a bewilder 
ing series. © Whatever form industry ‘takes 
—be" it -ship-owning: transport; pasturage, 
sheep raising, manufacturing; gold mining 
-—each ‘has its" own special set of “ pros 
bletus, and “its: set «of inter-related pro- 
blemis that are not confined to Australia 
alore: © The mdustrial problems of -Aug- 
tralia ate the industrial” problems of the 
world, and’ an independent solution is 
impossible. So complex, sor internationally 
involved is the whole question of coni- 
merce and industry that any suggested 
solution that deals with one industry only 
or one country ouly is foredoomed to fail. 
ure. The question, then, is seen to be enor. 
mous in its scope—so enormous as almost 
to defy solution. 
The one possibility is to get down. abe 
solutely to bedrock, if there be such a 
ching: to see it there be one great funda 
nental difliculty runderlaging all the minor 
difficulties and tackle that. Something is 
wroug with the very foundations of the 
whole” House Industry: But foundations 
are difficult to see and the task of repair 
dangerous, It is easier to keep on patehe 
mg the wobbling super-structure. Kasier, 
but futile. let us try to examine the 
foundations. 
No thenghtful person will deny that the 
whole industrial fabric is in a 
Most Parfous Position 
to-day. Its problems are erying out for 
solution and are being brought home in 
no uncertain fashion to men’s business and 
bosoms. The great strike weapon never 
rusts in disuse. On both sides there is a 
sense of injustice: and. justifiably. 
Employees are everywhere demanding 
more and more, and giving less and less 
of honest service; business losses are enor 
mous. So save Canital. 
The wealth of the world is “cotiling ‘more 
nd wore mder the control of individuals, 
So says Labour. 
On both sides there 15 suspicion, mis- 
trust, hatred, the desire for revenge, Capi- 
tal'and. Labour are two armed camps, peril 
ously ready tor active, war, The ground 
of suspicion is -a-tevtile one for the seeds 
of. the. anarebist, the social. vandal. gi 
England—soher, steidy old -Engiand-— 
was perilously. near revolution and perhaps 
a total collapse of the “whole social sys- 
tem in the great strike of 19927, Australia 
has been on the very verge of it more 
than onee-“-nearer than the average man 
Helieves: 
These recurrent shipping strikes have 
more serious possibilities than mere butter 
and sugar shortages. The whole situation 
in industry. to-day is indeed fraught. with 
peril. France and Russia have witnessed 
revolutions and suffered the agonies of re. 
organisation on uwew lines. It is not im- 
possible that other countries, including 
Australia may have to undergo the same 
terrible experience. That slte should is the 
am and object of the propoganda of many 
men in Australia to-day: that she should 
be saved from it. is the object of all who 
see its futility aud ave: seeking another 
solution. Whatever the solution found, it 
will not be an. casy one. But failure to find 
one will be followed ‘inevitably by conse- 
fuences horrible to contemplate. - 
Armed Camps, 
Let us study our indnstrial problem with 
he seviousness it demands, 
The two armed campe ave there, then, 
at best in a state of truce. Both are bits 
ter with the memories of ancient and of 
recent wrongs. Both are suspicions, both 
hostile, yet each needs the other's ger- 
7ices, znd must have them to exist, Thus, 
‘he fundamental. problem ~of industry in 
Australis is not. 1 tnke it. the supply of 
Brighten Your Home with “The Western Mail.”