UTOPIA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 280, 7 August 1909, Page 3

UTOPIA.

HOW TO GET THERE. DR. FINDLAY'S SAILING-DIRECTIONS. (From Our Special Reporter.) i Felldlng, August 6. 'The New A.ims of Modern Democracy" was the chief subject with which Dr. Findlay dealt in his speech . here to-night : n .continuation, apparently, of his recent discourse in Dunedin upon "The Aims of Government." , Tbe most important to=t of progress was (he remarked) not monoy, but men—not the total wealth and annual income, but the level of social life, the standards of comfort, morality, and intelligence disclosed bv the people as a whole. To be. of any use" as -i guide it must be known: (1) AYhat effec'i, tho production of wealth had upon the general well-being of the people; (2) how it was distributed; and (3) how it was con sumed. A nation's wealth might he, produced under conditions which demoralised and degraded its people. Or again the wealth of a nation produced might go to a few men only, while tho great mass were left in. pinching poverty. .Finally a temperate individual consumption was'more important than the- amount of a nation's income The Attorney-General then reaffirmed his contention that what should be aimed at was • waste-reduction rather- than wealth-produc-' tion. This.doctrine, he explained, subordinated the interests of the' individual to the' paramount interests of the State. It justified the intervention of the State to prevent industrially aad '■■ socially a waste of human life or human happiness. '. ' '

After summarising . the various ap- [ plications of this doctrine, 'which ho said represented "tho spirit of the times'," he declared, that he who sought-to check it by re-' actionary effort was like' Mrs. Partington, who, with broom and in mob cap' and apron; sought ;to,,sweep, back 'the Atlantic.. . This, spirit was strengthened .-by woman's vote; a woman's .hands -and heart wore quickerunto good than a man's. .Nearly evory voluntary association, iii the-Dominion aiming at the reduction of human waste and want was kept,alive by_ the effort or-the interest of the women giving a stimulus to the new ideals of, tho.State wliicli reflected itself at the. polls., To,prevent the demoralisation of v P 6o^ 6 through -vice, tea had.' advocated; that-affirmative means as well as. mere- pro- ; hibition, might bo''employed. ■ And yet Mr. Massey had thought-fit to distort it into some .wild proposal to spend large sums of public money in theatres and art, while the country, was confronted. by the unemployed. Ho (Dr. Findlay) had been ..told that it,was like' "Nero fiddling' while Rome was burning." Did Mr.,Massey really, think that, that kind of criticism-was worthy of the' Leader of, the Opposition ? It- seemed to him to- reflect, woefully■■either upon his intelligence or his candour. Mr. Massey was an intelligent, man.'

"These are the new ideals of modern democracy," added Dr.-Findlay, "but they cannot be achieved in a day or a decade. .They cannot bo achieved by legislation alone. They : are :at !■ any rate the beacon lights ," by the guidance of which the State, mith the s cooperation of tho individual, will reach the land of a'higher, truer civilisation than this earth has yet, seen. State help that is not mot at least half way by a true spirit of: selfhelp"is worse than'useless—it is pernicious. It. breeds the social parasite, who, leaning more and more 1 on State assistance, comes at last'to. have no energy of his own in anything • except his appetite. . Such assistance, if it removes the proper spra to individual enterprise; if it relaxes the moral fibre of the mail by reducing effort,. thrift, and forethought, is fatal to social progress. It is the chief, concern -of the _ State to - protect itself against'the able-bodied sponger.. This is better effected..by hardship' than by indulr gence. Let us get rid of can't in this/matter, and: admit that tho appropriate treatment;, of .some olaimants upon State aid is' not. so much a helping hand as a. vigorous kick from behind.", •