FARMERS AND SOCIALISM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 May 1908, Page 6

FARMERS AND SOCIALISM.

• The great significance of the, discussion upon Mu. Carman's motion at' the-Far-mers' Union Conference yesterday is heightened, by the notorious slowness and .reluctance of farmers to interest themselves .in what is conveniently called "abstract" politics.. When a farmer, or a gathering of farmers, shows concern for something that is not' a concrete question concerning tillage, something outside the routine iof husbandry, one may feel sure that the occasion for such concern is very real and very pressing. Ilis contact with tho simple and elemental earth has taugh.t the farmer more about the realities of Jlfo than he could learn from : a library of; philosophical ( \yritcrs. No'sensible man, therefore, will' refuse -his very serious consideratipn >to .the. fact that tho Conference has decided unanimously - that resistance must be offered to the growing force- of Socialism in this country. x Tho time has passed when it is necessary to split hairs about the meaning of Socialism. ; Everybody knows that the Premier and Dr. Findlay are' opposed to ''revolutionary Socialism," and nobody , expepts " revolutionary -Socialism " to como in olir. time, if it ever comes at all. - But tho Government makes no secret; of its love for tho " evolutionary " Socialism that is merely the' slowpr process of reaching the end for which the fanatical dreamer—the " fool with the impatience of the child " as Dr. Findlay calls him—has been fighting. The Farmers' Union has brushed aside all the fpg of the dialecticians, and has come very, st'raigh'tly to the point. It does not care , whether the recent legislation of the Government is .evolutionary or revolutionary: it knows only that it is hostile to the farming industry, and is thp beginning of a disastrous'blight uiiflpr which individual energy must wither. • ~ ' ... ?|)p advocates of " State Soeialisiji will not, >ye suppose, object t.o Mr. Asquith's definition of Socialism —some of thpfn have .qupted it with approval— anjl they Tyillj therefore, admit that under the pressure of tradefc unionisin and the seductive influence of Mr. Laurenson, a ypry seripus departure has bepji made from the old Liberalism that, as Mr. says, stood for the power, pf iiiitiative, the free play of intelligprjce and wills, the rjght, so Jpjig as they did not become ft danger to the cpmjnunity, to usp as one thought best the faculties of nature, the earnings of one's hafids or one's brains, the opportunities of one's life." jt was a recognition of the growing subrniss|pn of thp government to the party that advocates tho destruction of, this, power, the restriction of this free play, and the denial of this right, that inspired .thp decision of the Conference yesterday. The discussion showed cloarly that no question of party was at the bottom of the support accorded to Mr. Carman's motion. That motion was so framed as to justify its support by men on both sides in pqlit|es, and the Goyernmenj; will be very foolish if it treats it as anything but a friendly warning. It was not an enemy of true Liberalism. who placed his finger on the spot by declaring" that " the Socialist party was alvyays asking for something, a,nd it always got something, with the result that they were, steadily strengthening the|r position." The Ministerial Press will probably declare that it, was a gathering pf Tories that passed the motion denouncing tho Socialistic tendencies of the .Government and advocating the bestowal of agrarian support upon those, candidates who will pledge themselves to oppose all measures detrimental to the farming community. But this threadbare device will deceive nobody. The Union has done no more than would be done by any prudent man who, having largo interests, discerned a highly-organ-ised hostility moving to attack him. Tho issues that should govern the Union's support of any particular candidate are quite simple. We hope that, in selecting the candidates who. are to receive their support, tho various brunches of the

Union will' not make the mistake of selecting those spineless professors of good intentions who, like the members of Parliament who. broke their ."freehold pledges," will persuade themselves after election of the paramountcy of fidelity to the Government on every occasion.