THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 172, 15 April 1919, Page 8

THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY

Sir,—The spread of Bolshevism 111 Great Britain and the United States will cause many thinking people to ask_ the question, Is the future of civilisation to rest with democracy or not? F/lton Mayo, in "Democracy and Freedom," says ' democracy has failed in that it has made no attempt to base government upon the Bocial will. The political philosophy of nineteenth century democracy regarded sncietv as consisting of a, mere collection of individuals, and utterly neglected that complex structure of human relationship in work and life which constitutes Ihn efsenco of civilisation. Mere extension of the franchise— I the numerical 'estimate of opinion-has the inevitable effect of discounting high standards of devotion to the cause of social advancement and social skill. Not even democracy could afford to leave the formulation of popular opinion in the hands of demagogues. One of our modern writers in Ins plea for a new democracy pays: "Civilisations nro destroyed by great ideas, apprehended, but not lived up to." Thisiruth is yenM to-dav bv the state of Russian societv. and bears witness _to the decay which Tipened national iniquity inevitably brings. There can be 110 doubt that the ideas that inspired the Russian Revolution were great enough: but Russia has failed to live up to them and sho has gone down' amid universal horror a horror all the more boneless because of tho lofty ideals that had vanished like tl» morning mists. This is a time when our Labour leaders and politicians, if they are wise men.vill not call one another, hard names, but em deavour natientl.v to understand each otherVpoint, of view. Tta old-ijnlitipn* economy studied the laws that, did, as a fact, ooerate under the .competitive. s;stenr Tho spirit of the old school is slio.va in Adam Smith's statement in Uio "Wealth of Nations, that the great t !>• iect of die political economy of every country is to increase the riches and power of that community." The. newer political economv is seeking to change the system, sonic by revolutionary, others by evolutionary. methods, and_ thev nr<\ ictii - sen ted by materialistic Socialists, of vliieh the ablest exponent has so far been Karl Marx. In. my humble nmmon. the only satisfactory remedy that i ll ever bo found for the disorder of tho world is in th" of the Bible, professor R. T. Ely, 'the wlWtnown American political economist, asserts. .Jiafc Hp result of his investigations is tho belief that the only practicable reme'r for our multiplying social evils _ is (ho liutting into practice the teachings of Jesus Christ.-I an^etc.^ Sniithfield, Wanganui.