The Dominion TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 9, 1919. THE PARTY THAT TURNED BACK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 64, 9 December 1919, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 9, 1919. THE PARTY THAT TURNED BACK

The election which will rank as tho moßt important ever held in this country is now only a little over a week away, and it is to be hoped that most people have by this timo formed fairly definite opinions about the issues set before them in their capacity as electors. It is all tho easier to form such opinions since the issue which overtops all others has never for a moment been in doubt, though interested efforts have been made to obscure it. Tho only question that really matters is whether Parliament is to bo reconHtructed in such a shape as will afford free scope to a policy of progress or is to be given over to faction fighting would entail tho neglect of national interests and tho hampering of useful activities. Thanks to the lines on which tho Wardists have conducted their campaign, this issuo is sharply and clearly defined. Tho tide of talk with which they have flooded tho country sinco Parliament rose all resolves itself into a wedk attempt to explain away or distract attention from the false move made by Sir Joseph Ward and his colleagues in AugUßt last when they withdrew from tho National Cabinet. Like tho Mariner in Coleridge's famous poem, the Liberal Party is weighted down with a' load of remorse. It has no means of banishing the gu'ilty memory that at a moment when the country had all possible _ need of loyal service, it turned aside from the plain path of duty and meekly followed a leader whose solo idea was to flourish an electioneering manifesto which for wild-cafc extravagance has never been equalled in tho history of tho Dominion. Any direct defence of this coldblooded subordination of national wolfaro to party and self interest was, of course , , unthinkable, and it follows naturally that the whole effort of the Wardists in their campaign has been to turn away attention from tho ono vital issue of the election'and raise side-issues. Alike in vilifying their opponents and in wordy appeals to their party past, Liberal candidates have pursued this aim energetically, but with little skill. They have been led into the strangest absurdities and contradictions, asserting in one breath that tho Reform Party has stolen the Liberal policy and ideals, and in tho next that it is tho determined onemy of all progress. The outstanding feature of tho Wardist campaign is quite obviously an attempt to evade or cover up facts they dare not frankly face. The question they must finally answer at the bar of public opinion is why they are attempting to split the forces of progress in the Dominion at a time when it is supremely necessary that theso forces should be united. Any elector who has kept his eyes open knows tho true answer to that question. Every such elector is aware that at tho beginning of last session this country was faced by a, magnificent opportunity —• an opportunity of cleansing and revivifying its politics and entering upon such a career of progress as it has never known. Almost everything favoured a bold advance on these lines. The war was over and it had taueht many lessons. The great bulk or the people, eager for social betterment, had'turned away with impatient contempt from the hackneyed futilities of political party strife, and were more than ready to accept unitedly an enlightened load.-It,was felt all but universally and With ample- justification that there wae no neod to bo content with tho snail's pace that had sufficed in the past, and_ that an era had dawned in which it would be possible 'to set new standards in national enterprise and in improving tho lot of the wholo population. For the extent to which the hopes thus raised are now dimmed Sir Joseph Ward and those who follow him are wholly and solely responsible. The first thing essential in order that the Dominion might realise its best possibilities was political unity. Everything called for a loyal union of effort on the part of those who were prepared to work honestly in tho interests of the Dominion and all sections of its population. The Reform Party had offered in set forms to sink pre-war differences and work unitedly with its former opponents for the common good. Instead of responding Sir Joseph Ward_ elected deliberately to rckindlo tho flames of party strife. A party With such a record which claims to bo progressive and publicspirited is presenting all necessary proof that it has either entered its dotage or rests its hopes on imposture. The people, with the facts before them, know that in its hour of choice the Wardist Party preferred ite own self-seeking aims to public service and turned back on the road of progress. The essential issue of the election is all the plainer since the evil results of the Wardisb action are already manifest. The state of affairs they wrecked was one in which all hut an insignificant minority of the representatives of the people would have been able to work harmoniously togothcr in forwarding useful national activities. AVhat has been substituted? The country is committed to a strife of parties which hold.i dangerous possibilities. Jt is self-evident that the ono definite aim of the Leader of the Opposition is to got into office and that even if his most eanguino hopes wore realised ho could not do so without pandering to the Labour Party, which as matters stand is dominated by revolutionary extremists. This is the alternative ho has to offer tho country for the powerful union of progressive forces which might oasily have been accomplished in August. 'No one, looking at these alternatives, can doubt that the existing state of affairs has been preferred and brought about by tho Wardists only becauso they and their leader .set their own self-im-portance above all other considerations. Much as these self-seeking politicians have done to darken the fair prospects of national progress and betterment that wore riyscd a few months ago, it is still open to the electors to find_ an ndoouate remedy. If they wish to establish and safeguard national prosperity their aim evidently must be to iristal a Government capable of promotiiiGc a policy of progress and n{, the same time of maintaining its independence and repudiating support from any doubtful quarter. The fleform Party alone is able to meet and satisfy, these cojiditionEj,

and it is the course of sound prudence as well ns of genuine enterprise in this election to return the .Reform Party with such a majority ■as will enable it to continue and extend the good work it did lasl session. Personal and party prejudice should he subordinated to this end by all who realise the gravity of the problems which lie ahead oi us.