Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-02

LABOR BITTER
OVER CoNSCR|PT
ASSOCIATED Press Correspondence.)


Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 3o-The cleavage
in the ranks of labor over the recent conscrip-
ton issue has become exceedingly Dit
ter. An interstate conference OF
political leaders of the labor party,
held here, has gone on record almost
unanimously In condemnation of the
Australian premier, William NJ Hughes, and
expelled him as leader of the labor party, be-
cause he failed to respond to the mandate OF
the state councils Of the party in opposition to
CONSUMPTION. Representatives from every state
except West Australia, which was one Of the
three states where Mr.. Hughes CONSUMPTION
proposal received favorable vote in the refer
endum last October, joined in the attack of Mr..
Hughes, and in the following resolution ex-
PEELED him and his followers from the Aus
tralian labor movement
1t was resolved, that as compulsory over
seas military service is opposed to the princi-
pies embodied In the Australian labor partys
platform, all federal members (that is, members
Of the Commonwealth Parliament) who have
supported compulsory overseas military service,
or who have left the parliamentary labor party
and formed another political party. are hereby
expelled from the Australian labor movement"
1t was decided to send q copy Of this reso-
luton to the leader of the labor party in Great
Britain.
Other resolutions which we're adopted were:
THAT any proposals for an imperial fedora
ton involving the slightest surrender of Aus
! tralias sef'governing powers in return for
voice in the Empires foreign policy would be
disastrous to Australian ideals and should not
therefore be entertained" And
That this conference emphaticaly protests
against the unscrupulous attempts made during
the recent conscription campaign by Mr.
w. NJ Hughes, and other conscription-
lists 70 associate the labor party with
methods and members of the Industrial
Workers of the World"
Mr.. Hughes was asked his opinion of the
actions Of the conference. He would say lit.
tie but remarked: by their acts the junta
have written their own cpiaph'
On the invitation Of Robert Harris Of sgd
ney who is called the Father Of the labor
party in Australia" inasmuch as IS years ago
he moved a historic resolution in favor of the
formation Of political labor leagues through
out the country. about a hundred men and
women decided at meeting in sydney last
month TO form an organization to Ne known as
the Australian National Democratic League"
Mr.. Harris said in interview prior to this
meeting that there is every indication that in
very little While a powerful effort
will be made to re-establish the labor
movement on a free and democratic
basis-to lead it back to the good old
lines which it has forsaken." The
league affirmed as its first principle sharing
In AL efforts on the part Of the com
/ monWealth government to carry out its
part in bringing the war to successful
termination"
The Political Labor League of New
South Wholesome Of the most powerful
politically organized laborite bodies in
Australia with headquarters in Sydney
has announced its refusal to ally itself
with the State Recruiting Committee
which is 4 part Of the scheme devised BY
the new Director-General of Recruiting,
Donald Mackinnon. to increase the Aus
tralian forces at the front by voluntary
ism. The executives of the League said
they viewed with grave concern the ac-
! ton VI the federal and state govern
ments and OF the employers associations
| in closing down public works ana pr
Nate tntcrynses-t44ua tnrowlng tnuus-
taneously with the launching Of the le-
trultnS campaign. AZ Was suspected,
lncy said, that a concerted movement
n4u btcn ST. on foot to force the people
into o position where enlistment would "
the only alternative to starvation.
All Unlawful Association Bill intro
duced ny Mr.. Hughes i'll Parliament mas
been enacted into law by that body.
During the debate on the measure in the
House OF Representatives Mr.. Hughes
admitted that it was mainly aimed at
the Industrial Workers Of the World
whose propaganda had made some pro
gress in Australia. The Prime Minister
said: Broadly speaking the position is
that this organization has declared war
upon the people Of Australia. 1t is not
too much to say that these men are not
Socialists but anarchists. | myself have
been a Socialist all my life but this is
not my method. 1t refuses to recognize
that the welfare Of the state is to be the
supreme law 1t does not believe in ma
tionality. A large number of those con
trolling the L. w. W. are foreigners-the
scourings of Europe and America. Some
have been driven out of America having
criminal record which prevented their
return to that country
Frank Tudor, the leader of the section
of the labor party opposed to the Hughes
section said that he was opposed 70
everything advocated by the Industrial
Workers of the World but at the same
time he regarded the Unlawful Associa-
lions bill as an attempt to trap the Ia
Dor party lie felt sure that the bill if it
became law would be used against
trades-unions as well as against the l.
W. w. and the bill was political pla-
card Another ntl-conscripdonlst
Representatives. follower of Mr.. Tudor
described the bill as "a bit Of political
flypaper."
Nevertheless the bill passed both
Houses. even the Senate where the anti
Hughes forces are slightly in prepon6er-
ence. with comparative ease.