Page:Labour in Madras.djvu/104

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78
LABOUR IN MADRAS


you have elected to speak for you. If they tell you to go to the Mills, go; if they tell you do not go to the Mills till you hear from them again, do not go to the Mills. Remember that you are like a huge army and while you are fighting, if every one tries to do exactly as he pleases without listening to the words of generals in the fight, success never comes to such an army. Remember that in this struggle it is not a question of grown-up men, of maistries, of jobbers, but it is the cause of every single one of you. For instance the small boys will play a great part in the fight that is now raging, and therefore the little boys in this struggle are as important as head jobbers and maistries. Therefore young and old, of all castes and creeds, as labourers, I say again, stand united. Remember that you are doing a great thing not for yourselves but for all the labourers in this city, in this presidency and in the whole country of India. We do not want to be unreasonable in any way. It is not to our pleasure that the Mills have been closed for the past so many days. We are thankful that after so many days the authorities of the two Mills have seen the unreasonableness of the step they took in declaring that the Mills will be closed until the culprits were found. We are sorry that one particular department has been selected for such punishment. Let us pray and hope that just as light has dawned on the brain and mind of the Mill authorities and they have seen that it is not fair to visit the sins of a few upon thousands of men, so also they may realise that it is no good trying to punish the whole department consisting of thousands of people for the sins of a few men. That is all I have to say to-day. Only one word more I would