The Editorial Mill July 20, 1895.

*THE WORKER*

BRISBANE, JULY 20, 1895.

The Editorial Mill.

Our Motto: “Socialism in our time.”

The Shops Early Closing Bill, the second reading of which was carried on the voices in the Queensland Assembly last week, may be regarded as the first attempt at anything approaching progressive social legislation made by the present Government. It is admittedly not a very brilliant attempt, nor yet is it a very satisfactory one. It is as much, if not more, than might have been expected from the representatives of Boodlewraith. Still, unsatisfactory as it is in many important particulars, it is exceedingly valuable in so far as it illustrates the encouraging results of persistent and and systematic organisation initiated and carried on by the Shop Assistants' Early Closing Associations. It is valuable, too, as showing to the despondently inclined individuals in the Labour movement that through the medium of industrial unionism it is possible to carry on effective political education, and to force Labour reforms to the front in spite of the most powerful opposition from the Tories of this Tory-ridden colony.

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The Government's Speech read at the opening of the present session, in addition to this measure, also promised a Factories and Workshops Bill and a Lien on Wages Bill, which indicate that the Boodlewraith are yielding some to the storm of public opinion and to the increasing intelligence of the community on matters affecting their well-being. In commenting thus upon the proposal now before Parliament there is no intention on the part of the WORKER to depreciate the value or to lessen the practical importance of the action of the Government because we happen to believe they are influenced by other than absolutely sincere motives. As this is the last session prior to an appeal to the country it is quite reasonable to infer that the fear of the general elections has been the lever which has moved it in a progressive direction. It is well if this is so, because it is only by a process of educating the public mind that the people can ever expect to compel the Conservative element to move onward.

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Another pleasing feature arising out of the introduction of the Bill is the conversion of so many of the leading retail business men in Brisbane to a belief in the necessity of the compulsory method of early closing as against that of moral suasion. These gentlemen were most pronounced in their expressions at Monday night's public meeting in favour of compelling, by legal enactment, all shops to close at 6 o’clock. Moral suasion, it was explicitly pointed out, had been tried for the last fifteen years and had proved a signal failure. The opinions of J. R. Dickson and Kingsbury to the country, notwithstanding.

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Regarding the bill itself, it is defective in some most important respects, but after the pronouncements made at Monday's meeting, by both employers and employed, the Government can scarcely refuse to remedy them. One of the most serious evils in connection with late shopping is that it tends to destroy the health and vigour of our young people. Medical testimony goes to show that working in close, stuffy, ill-ventilated workshops under the glare of numerous gas-jets has this effect on both men and women. The bill in its present form, permits a continuance of this serious evil by leaving it optional with shopkeepers to keep their houses open until 10 o'clock on Saturday nights so long as they give their hands one half holiday during the week. In addition to the evil results of this practice, the provision will lead to much confusion and jealousy amongst the retailers themselves, and in all probability will prove the bill to be ultimately inoperative. What is now asked for by the shop assistants and agreed to by a large proportion of their employers is that the establishments should be compelled to close at 6 p.m. Every night in the week. The point should be conceded if the legislation is to have a fair trial.

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The WORKER congratulates the Early Closing Associations on the small measure of success which has attended their long - continued efforts, and if they pursue the advocacy of their claims with the same amount of energy in the future as they have done in the past then a greater measure of success must be the result.

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As in other lands, there is in Queensland to-day a class which has it in its power to say to the toiling masses; “You shall not work excepting at our dictation,” - a dominant class, purse-proud and arrogant, and which is the product of a system of industry wherein there is no place for friendly concord. The people pride themselves on their freedom, their liberty of speech and action, but beneath the surface there is discernible the same old contest which has been going on elsewhere for ages. Green, the historian, describing the troubles which agitated our forefathers seven hundred years ago, said: “It is this struggle, to use the technical terms of the time, of the 'greater folk' against the 'lesser folk,' or of the 'commune,' the general mass of the inhabitants, against the 'prudhommes,' or 'wiser' few, which brought about, as it passed from the regulation of trade to the general government of the town, the great civic revolution of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. On the continent, and especially along the Rhine, the struggle was as fierce as the supremacy of the older burghers had been reduced to almost serfage, and the merchant of Brussels might box at his will the ears of 'the man without heart or honour who lives by his toil.'”

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The above is not an exaggerated picture of the state of affairs in the industrial world to-day, and yet people, full of class prejudice, wonder at the industrial strife which is but the inevitable result of the continuation of a system of production without regulation or sympathy. It is silly to say that industrial strife is manufactured by agitators. If the conditions which engender the strife did not exist, neither would the agitator, and if strikes are to be abolished so also must the unemployed. While the unemployed are with us, the dominant employing class will take advantage of their presence to force unfair conditions, and good workmen into seeking wild justice by means of strikes.

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Let us take an example. At present there is a master baker in South Brisbane who, because there are a large number of men looking for work, insists that the carters whom he employs shall sign an agreement containing the following clauses: “ . . . . . . In the event of the said – absenting himself without leave (except through personal sickness or through severe illness of one of the members of his own family, when he is to forthwith advise the said - ), or being found under the influence of liquor whilst on duty, or wilfully neglecting or refusing to carry out the directions of the said -----, he shall be liable to dismissal without notice and to forfeit all wages then due.” “ The said ------ further covenants and agrees that he will not, during the term of his services and for a period of one year from the termination of the said agreement, either directly or indirectly disclose or divulge the secrets of or relating to the bakery or business of the said ------ or the names of his customers, or solicit or endeavour to obtain either on behalf of himself or any other person or persons, company, or corporation, the custom of or serve or cause to be served with bread any of the persons within a radius of five miles from the bakehouse of the said ------- , or ask or induce or directly or indirectly any of the said persons to withdraw their custom from the said -------.” For each and every breach of any one of the conditions of the last preceding paragraph hereof the said ------- covenant and agrees to pay the said -------- the sum of ten (10) pounds sterling, to be recovered as and by way of liquidated damages and not as a penalty.”

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In this agreement the employer insists that he alone shall be the judge; that he shall keep back the workman's wages; and that from his decision there is no appeal. Not only this, but after the workman is discharged from his services the employer claims the right for twelve months to dictate to him how he shall obtain his living. This is what is understood by the dominant class to mean “freedom of contract.” The master gets all the freedom, the man gets all the contract. Could slavery go much further than this? Or can any reasonable person say that the conditions which beget industrial turmoil are not contained in such an atrocious document?

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Later on, perhaps, when the unfortunate men, who now through sheer necessity are compelled to sign this insolent agreement, combine against its one-sided terms and endeavour by means of strikes to free themselves from its bondage, the sacred rights of property and the Red Spectre will be trotted out for service by the dominant class, and few persons, if any, will think of placing the blame of the trouble on the proper shoulders, or attempting to trace back the real cause of the industrial turmoil. Men versed in the law may say that the agreement referred to would not hold good in court, but most persons know that for wage-earners engaged in an industrial dispute it is almost impossible to obtain justice there. The longest purse generally carries the day. The law is for the wealthy and not the moneyless man.