had forgotten that if everyone made a
move business would shift along at a faster pace. But they had done
nothing but talk; so trade slackened generally and lack of business made
many other vacant places besides those vacated by the men who went to
the Front.
Australia wanted a commercial Kitchener, to get together business
managers and labor leaders, and talk them into a better business
output.
Instead of uniting together for the one common end to speedily end the
war with credit to the Empire, politicians still kept up their bitter
contentious legislation.
Instead of concentrating the whole of Australia's political machinery on
the defence of the Empire and heartening the men with the knowledge of
whole-souled support and sympathy, Australian Labor Governments devoted
most of their attention to paltry party politics.
Instead of inviting workers to put in a little extra vim in time of
stress; in fact, to be a bit more generous in their output, the labor
leaders urged the workers to be more militant, to grip bad times as a
fitting occasion to demand more wages and less hours. So the employers
sat entrenched behind their desks, watching the political moves of the
workers, as the Allies peered at the Germans across the trench edges of
the Aisne--sat there till the soldiers came home and found no work to
do.
There were cheers for them when they went out and they got some more
when they came back, but they did not get much else. And they kept on
coming back. A foolish politician blurted out: "Those unemployed
soldiers are becoming a public nuisance."
The Federal Prime Minister, by whose Ministry the military forces were
controlled, was in a quandary.
On one side, the manufacturers were telling him how to solve the
problem.
"Put on thumping big taxes and help our factories to get busy, then we
can take on the unemployed soldiers."
On the other side, the importers were advising the Prime Minister to
drop the customs tariff and allow imports free. That, they explained,
would cheapen the cost of living, and those out of work would have a
better chance to live.
Then the "Syndicate," which had now grown to a great size, which, in
fact, was controlling Government work in all the States, had a long
consultation with the Prime Minister.
"Never mind the manufacturer," it said. "Remember, there are three
stages in this country's development--Pastoral, Agricultural, and
Manufacturing. The latter should be th
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