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THE UNEMPLOYED
?DEMONSTRATION LAST NIGHT
121 MEN IN PROCESSION
iii the demonstration oF the unen
ployed last night 227 men marched i
procession from the Trades Hall alon
Blende-stréet to Bromide-street, them
into Argent-street and down to Oxid«
street, and then back to the City Ai
eade, where they doubled back to t'i
meeting place at thc Don Comer. M
I1. O'Dea. chairman of the uneniploye
; committee, headed the procession wit
Mr. E. Hennessey carrying a red iiaj
Three banners were "also carried, th
first of these bearing the words
"Capitalist Justice; r\Ve were Force
Out of Work and Now They Tell u
. to Beg." The second one had a draw
ing of a man, wife, and child on tb
right who were apparently in need
while on the left títere was a mai
With a big cigar in his mouth seato
before, a full table, the inscription be
ing: "We Starve While the Boss Bask
in the Wealth that We Produce." Th
last banner bore the words: "Worker
Produce the Nation's Wealth : the Go
vernment Forces Them to Starve.'
The procession included one woman, sim
at intervals along the route groups o
. those marching sang "The Bed Flag,'
"Solidarity for Ever," "We'll Han«
Old Bavin to a Sour Apple Tree," am
ou arrival at the meeting place tl«
. same songs were sung before the speak
ers took the platform. As a result o
the meeting, which was held under tin
auspices of the Industrial Council, th<
' -'following resolutions, which were ear
ried at the meeting on Friday week
' were reaffirmed :
"That this mass meeting of citizen;
of Broken Hill send.a telegram to tbt
' members for the district urging the
i.,."--»' Government to immediately grant re-
lief works to the unemployed of Broker
Hill, and Suggests the ballasting of the
, Menihdie railway line and road work
around Broken Hill.5'
. - "That this mass meeting of citizens
.'."' of. Broken Hill urges on the Federal
Government the necessity of lavin?
underground telephone wires in this
district immediately."
>t -- Chairman's Address, -r
' Mr. E. P. O'Neill, who acted as
chairman, said that for the last six
, months there had been from MOO to
. 1600 men out of.work and things were
?( jrettiniT worse daily. Boots were begin
ninc to wear out and clothes were
getting," threadbare. The coupon had
. "been cut off from the siugle men, but
lie-liad been told-that night that cou-
pons would be issued to single men
' subject to the closest inquiry. The
single men. had the same rights as, the
married, men.
? ""voices: Certainly they ha.ve.
Mr. O'Neill, continuing, -said that
¡the Government had told the single
men to get out of it. The position was
that men would be driven to scab and
' thieve. But who was td'blame but the
? worker? Whatever -the sta,te of the
. Treasury a Labor' Government could
alwayR find a few bob for the men out
of work. There were no professional
unemployed there that hight. They
were "dinkum", workers willing to
work if they could get it.
» -i "No Professional Unemployed.": -
Mr. P. O'Dea, chairman of .the un
emploved, said he had been told by
Superintendent Dimond that day that
the single unemployed men. would be
requested to call back at the Towu
Hail. When he asked the snperin-.
tendent whether that meant that tho
dole was t0 be restored be was told
that the superintendent did not know
but those were, his instructions. If the
single men were reouested to attend on
any day; next week they should roll
no and let the police run the rule-over
. them again. He had been asked- to
! produce the nnemploved, and on the
,,*. spur ef-the moment they had arranged
. ' to hold the procession that nightv
They were all dinkum workers and had
! no professional unemployed amongst
i them. Ile moved,-"That the resolu-
tions carried the previous Friday night
be confirmed.'' It was a disgrace to
have work sta rina them iii the face and
not being able to get to it.
- Mr, Wetherell's Address. -
Mr. E. "Wetherell in seconding the
motion, said if the workers said what
they thought they would be nearer
getting something, for the unemployed.
The unemployed were merely asking
for the right t0 live. They wanted
food, clothing and shelter, or the
means of buying those needs. Work
or relief was their modérate claim.
The workers were unémployed because
the store houses had been lilied by
their labor power. Workers were losing
respect for capitalists and all that they
stood for, and felt that they had tho
right to demand the right to live from
those who could give it.- Some of the
unemployed were beginning to think
that they should enforce that right,
lu Broken Hill unemployment was
rampant and yet the Minister for La-
bor and 'Industry said it was more
rampant elsewhere. No Government
could abolish unemployment;, but it
could alleviate the position. All they
were askincr for was that the Govern-
ment should d0 thati They asked
that the wort tn be done should be
done, or at least some grant be made
to provide food and shelter.
- f'Govt. Shirking its Duty." -j
Mr. W. E. Eriksen said'men must
have the materials for existence.
They were told by the Under-secre-
tary for Public Works when he was
here that the Government recognised
it was the duty r>f a Government to
provide for the unemployed, but the
Government was to-day shirking the
responsibility which four mouths ago
they admitted to be theirs. If people
were insufficiently nourished there was
a_ danger ol' an epidemic breaking out.
Yet the Government was prepared to
risk that anil spend money on bring-
ing more people ont to the country.
The workers-had offered to share thé
work available and had struck levies
but all they were duiner was to lift
some of the responsibility off the Go-
vernment. . If an enideinip did break
out and they saw their friends being
carted to the Cemetery they would be
told by the Government that it was
their own fault-they had been insani-
tary or something else. Messrs. Hor
siugton and Davidson had done and
were doing" all they could for the men:
The position might be worse in the
near ' future. Even' if they' accepted
the'lower wages and conditions sugges-
ted by tlie -mining companies there was
no guarantee that the* numbers of un-
employed would be reduced. He urged
the unemployed to keen pegging away.
- Mr. . J. T. Cates Speaks. -
Mr. J. T. Cates considered it a great
pity that they had to come out and
talk about unemployment in a young
country ¿1', 6,000,000 people- ' The
dilatory worker was being awakened
/to the position. Mr. Bavin ¡was suoling
them on to light amongst. themselves
and get 40 men" fighting for one job.
Nothing woidd be done for the work-
ers if they sat down and did nothing.
They should give their. members am-
munition to take before Mr. Bavin so
that they could say: "Here you are.
Do something or they Will db some-
thing for themselves." If. the nien
were forced to extremes they would
go to them; They would take consti-
tutional methods first, but if other
-methods were forced upon them they
would take. them.
- < "Warehouses- - áré - Full.'.' -
Mi\ G. Dale said that if politicians
and would-be politicians could feed
them they would all be pretty full that
night. (Laughter). Instead.*of mak-
ing a large sum available' to carry
them along-fdr months the Lang Gov-
ernment ouly made, sufficient available
to carry them over election day., Whe-
ther it was-Lang or Bavin . who was in
power,the only.alleviation"they would
get, was ttíat whicU they gained by
their solidarity^ Thé- siugle men to
day "were the bone of contention, but
what was it 10 years ago when the girls
were cuddling them and the boss
fondling them. It was the con-
ditions they, had to-day that produced
war. Tile only way the surplus could
bo absorbed was for it to be forced
on some other weaker country. The
procession of unemployed showed that
they had some kick and wore capable
of making a demonstration. He had
told them on Sunday that the ware-
houses were full, and 'they should not
therefore let their families want. He
did not claim credit for that, but it
was significant that the Chamber of
Commerce had sent a telegram saying
that they could not predict the future
.if no food was available. When they
went to work let them produce A little
less and do a little more thinking
when' at home.. The only thing they
could do was kick up a row. demand
tucker, and if they did not get it,
take it.
- Other Speakers. -
Mr. J. Harris protested against the
callous action of the Government.
He complimented them on the proces-
sion. They could not wait for the
overthrow of the system 2fl years hence
?-they wanted sustenance now. They
should show the Government that they
had to get something, and if they
could not gefc it they should take it.
The people had to be fed, and if it
did not come from the Government it
had to come from somewhere.
Mr. C./Pietza suggested that the
unemployed of the Commonwealth de-
mand work or the living wage, and
that all in receipt of over £500 a year
be taxed 60 per cent.
Mr. O'Neill in closing the meeting
thanked the Mayor for granting per-
mission for the procession that night.
He put the resolution, which was car-
ried. 'He* announced that another
procession would be held on Friday
night, and that the women and child-
ren were invited to march.
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