ELECTION ETHICS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 771, 21 March 1910, Page 9

ELECTION ETHICS.

MODERN METHODS DISCUSSED. IF THERE WERE NO CANVASSING. "11l tho turmoil of a general election there is not much room for philosophy or oven for calm reflection,", says "The "Times." "Those of us who are neither candidates, nor committee-men, nor can'vassors, nor even camp-followers of tho vast electioneering army mobilised for tlib occasion, are for the most part so enveloped by and entangled in the psychological atmosphere of the moment, so preoccupied in. watching the phase 3 of tho conflict from day to day, and in interpreting them according to our several, prepossessions, political and personal, that wo can find no room and no use for detached reflection on tho ethics of modern electioneering methods, or even on their' practical efficiency.

"Tho late Bishop Creighton ■ wrote to a -friend in. 1572: 'I. am convinced that every time tho-moral and cultivated man exercises his right.-to vote. he;.seriously impairs his morality and his. culture. The wrath ono feels against opponents; the contempt for their intelligence, and tho doubt about their honesty—this bestroys that charity, which .is tho highest aim of morality; -while, on the other hand, the necessity of stating your views broadly, of making up your mind decidodly, of urging all hinds of arguments on others which you only half believe,- intellectually spoaking, yourself— this destroys true culture and rubs oil half icsbloom.' ,

Ethics.of Canvassing. ' ;"We suspect;" adds "THe Times," "that any and.every- candidate who has had a contested election to fight Aviil, if ho is honest with himself,, subscribe with littlo reserve to this devastating analysis of the ordeal to which he has just been subjected. .We should like to ask him, too, whether, in his heart of hearts, ho believes that.'there is any real use or advantage in the arts of tlio modern canvasser. Were they not" for.' the most part much better honoured in tho breach than in the observance? "Of course, the direct : appeal to the electors must be made, but there are. plenty of. legitimate ways of making it. As wo do. not live in republica Hatonia, it is possible that , there may-bo no way of making it which does not involve somo breach of perfect charity, somo rubbing off- of the delicate and sensitive bloom.-'of.. a> refined, .humane, and tolerant culture.- • "But.if we must mako these sacrifices for the sako of taking the nation's verdict Dn great issues,, surely wo might all of us do our .best to, reduce such sacrifices to si minimum. Is there any real justification,-. for example, for tho practice of personal and individual'canvassing of tho electors? Is there any practical use in it? No.doubt, if one candidate canvasses in this way, and the other does-not, the former will probably win in most cases.. But how if. both of them agree not : to do it? Thojresult at.tho poll.would probably bo the same as if each candidate had personally . asked each ' individual' elector for his vote, the only difference beins .that tho aggregate number of votes -polled .would probably' be 'appreciably smaller, while at the same time it would represent. at least an J equal volume of. genuine political, conviction 011 each. side. ■

John Stuart Mill v as Candidate.. 1. .."When Jolin''Stuart ilill stood .and was elected-.- for ■ Westminster in 1865 lie v declined altogether to ' conduct a' personal canvass of. the 'constituency. /Oh ; the other hand, ho spared no pains to inform the'electors oxactly what liis views were, and was ready .to .answer without subterfugo or evasion all - such questions—except questions concerning his religious opinions—as might bo put to him at tho lew public meetings wnich he attended. 'Nothing,' , , 110 : records "in his autobiography, 'appeared more unlikely than that-a.candidate, (if I could ho called) whoso, professions, and conduct set so at defiance all ordinary notious of. electioneering should nevertheless be .elected.' Yet elected ho was, in 6pite of.an outspoken directness in- the expression of his opinions that few candidates in, these. degenerate days would care, Or even dare, to imitate. "Ho had,, in : one of his pamphlets expressed the opinion, 'rather bluntly,' as he acknowledges, - 'that tho ' working classes, .-'though-v.differing.-, from" those - • of some other countries in being: ashamedof: lying, aro yet. generally.-liars.' ; < This passage -was printed as a placard by liis 1 opponents, and at a meeting chiefly composed of working men ho .was. asked if jig had written it. r lt at once answered "I did." Scarcely were the two words out of, my mouth when. ; vehement applause resounded, through the whole meeting. . It was evident that the, working people were so accustomed, to equivocation and evasion from those who sought their suffrages, that when they found, instead of that, a direct avowal: of what was likely to be disagreeable to them, instead of being affronted, thoy concluded at once that this was a person whom they could trust.' .

Lying Posters. ' "Wo could certainly wish' that incidents .such as this wo'ro more common en modern-political platforms, and' thai methods, such .as' Mill's were more .in vogue at modern elections. They would add to the dignity of elections, awl the* would certainly mot diminish the morai weight of their results, Perhaps if Mill were .alive now he' might be tempted to say in his haste not only that the basar sort of politicians aro -generally' liars,' but that thoy-ate not even ashamed of their lying. Certainly no ono can study tho fly-sheets issued, during the prcssnt el«.fcion or the posters, placarded on the walls without acknowledging that most of. theni, whether issued by one sido or-the other, only', represent the truth if the word truth be taken in the sease given to it by that school of modern philosophy >hioh goes by the jmm'e of 'Pragmatism.' According, to this philosophy, there is, ;broadly speaking, no such thing as truth in :tho.'abstract.- Jesting Pilato was only a pragmalist born out of due time when he.asked, 'What is truth?' "We would .'ask whether, .. after all, these tilings -produce'. anything like - the' effect attributed: to them on either side; Is'it not laTgely ail illusion to attribute any decisive effect to, them at all? Would not tho ..resul t of - a _ general • election' be very much, tho same, if both sides adopted the methods of Hill and neither resorted to' expedients which savour, .to suy tho least, of a hardened and. unconscionable pragmatism?"