Editorial Mill June 15, 1895.

*THE WORKER*

BRISBANE, JUNE 15, 1895.

The Editorial Mill.

Our Motto: “Socialism in our time.”

The Bootmakers' dispute is still unsettled, and the men are holding their own with great fortitude. Probably no strike in the boot trade, or in any other trade, opened with such unfavourable prospects, from a financial point of view. There was not a penny available in the union funds, and the men struck with only the hope that each man would stand by his fellow workman. That hope has been more than fulfilled. With the Bank of England at their backs the boot operatives could not have presented a more unflinching attitude to employers who waited for weeks thinking the men's stomachs would pinch them into giving in. The strike has now lasted for a month, and the men are firmer than ever. Messrs. Schoenheimer and Neighbour have returned from Sydney, where they found great difficulty in getting even five men to come to Brisbane, and those five have since joined the union. The employers' attempt to get non-union Labour has, therefore, ended in ignominious failure.

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The remarkable unity of the men on strike has inspired the public with an admiration which is finding expression in generous contributions. Had the men become disorganised and dissatisfied, the public would have withheld its support, and Unionism would have received another blow. Standing together, companions in misfortune, the unionist bootmakers have rendered a service to the workers of Queensland and the rest of Australia that will not soon be forgotten. Every failure to stand or fall by each other destroys organisation and invites defeat. The boot operatives are fighting the battles of workers of all grades and occupations, and it is incumbent on every person who works for wages to contribute something to furnish the sinews of war. If the boot operatives' wages are reduced, it may be anybody's turn next.

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The boot manufacturers' haven't a shred of reasonableness to stand upon in connection with the present dispute. They are protected against outside competition by a tariff of 2s. per pair. The Queensland market is secured to them. If at the present prices paid by retailers they cannot afford to pay decent wages to their workmen the manufacturer should raise the price to the retailer, and the retailer should pass it on to the public. For example, supposing the boot manufacturers are paying their workmen 1s. per pair for making boots. These boots are supplied to the retailer at 7s. per pair. The retailer as a rule charges the public 8s. 6d. Now, assuming the boot operative to be making five pairs per day at 1s. (which is about the average work to be had), he earns 30s. per week. What is easier than that the boot manufacturer shall pay his workman 1s. 3d. per pair, the workman to earn 7s. 6d. extra wages, the manufacturer to charge the retailer 7s. 6d. for each pair of boots, and the retailer to charge the public 8s. 9d. Instead of 8s. 6d. In short, pay the workmen more, and pass the extra charge on to the public. The public do not demand cheap boots through “the pinching of the men's bellies,” to use the refined expression of one of the employers. No white man who wears boots would object to pay an extra 3d. in order that the operative who made his boots should be able to feed, clothe, and educate a family in accordance with Nineteenth Century civilisation.

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But it is to much nonsense to say the price now paid by the public for boots will not admit of the payment of a living wage to the bootmaker. Anxiety to become raptly rich is, without doubt, at the bottom of the whole trouble. Some of the manufacturers have tasted riches, and are like tame tigers which have tasted human blood. They want more. Let us offer them a friendly word of advice; : Give in before the men require you to pay for the suffering you have caused them and their wives and children. Give in or you may have to submit to the treatment received by the greedy coal owners of England who started in to reduce their miners 10 per cent, but after strike was over were compelled to pay an increase of 25 per cent per man.”

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On some of the Queensland stations in the Barcoo electorate, when the carriers apply for loading, a requisition is placed before them inviting a squatters' nominee to stand for Parliament. The carriers are then informed that if they sign the requisition they must vote for the nominee, and that if they do not sign the requisition they will get no loading. Those carriers who sign are further informed that if they do not vote for the man whose requisition they sign, their failure to do so will be discovered. There is both an offence against the law and a false statement contained in the above case, and the attention of readers is directed to this clause in the Elections Act: “Every person who directly or indirectly, by himself or any other person on his behalf, makes use of or threatens to make use of any force, violence, or restraint, or inflicts or threatens to inflict, by himself or by any other person, any temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm, or loss upon or against, orders or threatens to do any detriment to, any person in order to induce or compel such person to vote or refrain from voting, or on account of such person having voted or refrained from voting at any election; and every person who by abduction, duress, or any fraudulent device or contrivance impedes or prevents the free exercise of the franchise of any elector, or thereby compels, induces, or prevails upon any elector either to give or refrain from giving his vote at an election, shall be deemed guilty of undue influence,”and on conviction shall be liable for a term of one year or to a fine of £200. In addition to this punishment, a person so convicted may be struck off the electoral roll for a period of three years.

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The statement that it can be discovered for whom a man votes is false, and is a flimsy device for intimidating electors from voting for Labour candidates. When an elector has satisfied the presiding officer that his name is on the electoral roll, the presiding officer shall deliver to him a ballot paper. Before delivering to the elector the ballot paper, the presiding officer shall mark on the back thereof with his initials in ink or pencil, and shall also write upon the back of the left hand upper corner of the ballot paper in ink or pencil the number set against the name of the elector in the electoral roll. The presiding officer shall then, and before delivery of the ballot paper, fold down the corner of the paper so as to entirely conceal the number so written, and shall securely fasten the fold with gum or otherwise in such a manner that the number cannot be discovered without unfastening the fold. The elector having received a ballot paper shall, in one of the compartments or ballot rooms provided for the purpose, strike out from his ballot paper the names of such candidates as he does not intend to vote for, and shall make no other mark or writing thereon, and shall forthwith fold up the paper in such a manner as will conceal the names of the candidates and show the initials of the presiding officer on the back thereof. The elector then shows the back of the ballot paper to the presiding officer, and immediately places it in the ballot box. It is also provided that while an elector is in a compartment preparing his ballot paper no other person shall be allowed in such compartment. It is therefore impossible for any person to know how a man votes if he is ordinarily careful in folding up his ballot paper. His number is gummed or pasted down on the back of the left hand corner of the ballot paper, and any man who unfastens the fold is liable to imprisonment for two years with hard labour. Further, every returning officer, presiding officer, poll clerk or scrutineer who attempts to ascertain or directly or indirectly aids in ascertaining or discovering the person for whom any vote is given is liable to imprisonment for two years with hard labour. This should satisfy any voter that if he keeps his tongue quiet no man need know how he votes. And if carriers fear the loss of loading through refusal to sign a requisition to any squatters' candidate and are not prepared to put up with the consequences, let them sign the requisition by all means and vote against him when the election takes place.

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While discussing election matters it should be pointed out that when a man wishes to have his name placed on the electoral roll he should never fill in his qualification to vote as “RESIDENCE for the last preceding six months” when he can legally fill it in as :HOUSEHOLDER for the last preceding six months.” A glance at the electoral rolls will show that very many residence votes are really householders, and should have been put on the roll as householders. Apart from the circumstance that the Queensland Political Ass. Is more likely to try to strike off the roll a residence voter than a householder, by the Act an elector whose qualification is residence may be asked when he comes up to vote “did you reside there for one month during the nine months preceding, “and if his reply is in the negative he loses his right to vote. This question is never asked a householder. Another question has to be answered when making a claim for residence “Are you on any other roll in respect of a residence qualification?” and the answer if “Yes” ensures one or other qualification being disallowed. Now, so long as the capitalist uses the plural vote, and the plural vote is the law of the land, if any of the friends of reform have it in their power they should secure a plural vote. A householder may claim to have his name put on the roll as a householder, and if he resides in another electorate for six months he may claim to have his name inserted on the roll for the latter electorate on account of his residence there. But many householders who are compelled to leave home in search of employment, and are on the roll with only a residence qualification, often find their names struck off altogether. The attention of electors is urgently directed to these important matters. Remember, the residence qualification is the lodger claim of the old country.