Comments: Common and Caustic.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 27, 8 September 1911, Page 9

Comments: Common and Caustic.

By "CASSIUS CASIUS." Capitalism degrades Master more than Man. * * * Pat Hickey (on the stump) : *'In politics the worker must fight money with consistency and ability. To win he must shoot straight at the target of Industrial Unionism."

Business Man (in the crowd) : "Nonsense I He can square the marker."

Socialism will come when the evolution of society reaches that* point where Socialism becomes; an economic necessity. You caji help on that evolution by getting as many subscribers for "The Worker" as any one man can. Subscription books on application.

It is main, the worker, who alone makes anything, valuable. Land apart from population has no value whatever. When one realises that fact clearly he has solved for himself the land problem, and is in a fair way of sqiving many others.

Last century solved for all time the problem of wealth production. Socialists are out to see that this century, and that before .it is much older, the problem of wealth distribution shall be solved, likewise.

"Why do you Scotsmen use the term 'likewise , so often and especially in places where it isn t needed," asked a young London, lawyer (son of a famous K.C.), when pleading a case in which the opposing counsel was from north the' Tweed. "For instance, you »»? 'John Smith was a grocer, John Smith's son is a grocer likewise. . That 'likewise , is superfluous I' , "Ay, man," replied the Scot, "but we dinaia aye use it. For instance, your faither was a lawyer, famous for his wisdom. You, his son, are a lawyer, but ye're no , like-wise!"

At teaching the workers their weakness on the industrial field and their strength on the political field, the capitalists can give points to the Labor leaders.

Lord Rutland has been discoursing on theft and immorality. Ah, well, experience teaches,. and a lord has such opportunities, you know.

Says Major-Genoral Godley: "All those in the enjoyment of citizen rights ought, as a duty, to be prepared to preserve those rights by taking their share in the defence of their country."

It would seem from the above that Godley expeots the women of New Zealand to be trained as fighting machines, or is it that the Major-General does not realise, that he has left behind him that country which places its women on a level with co'iivicts, lunatics, and soldiers? It's about time ho waked up to a "sense of the situation."

Might one remind Commandant Gocfley that though every citizen is bound to preserve tho peace, they are not compelled all, to become policemen. That while all' citizens are in chtty bound to protect the health of the lieges, they 'are not compelled by law to study medical science or to become proficient in the art of the scavenger.

The poet Blake spoke truly : — Nought can deform the human race Like"'to the armourer's iron brace;

The soldier armed, with sword and gun, Palsied strikes the summer sun.

If your interests are identical with those of your boss, why accept wages from him for working for your own interests?. .

So servile have the ages made us that our highest notion of freedom is summed up in the phrase "The liberty of the subject." As if he who is "subject" can be free! The "subject" rattles his chains when he thus proclaims his freedom.

What is the inspector of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Society doing? Should he- not be looking up the people who in advertising their patent feeding bottle., advise mothers that "When the baby is done drinking

it must bo unscrewed and laid in a cool place under a tap." Imagine telling a mother to unscrew her baby and put it "under a tap/ . But worse follows: "If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk, it should be boiled! ,, * * «■ The following is taken from the Farming Notes of a Wellington paper: —''To keep cows from swishing their tails about when being milked, some milkers employ a flexible steel band to clip it to the cow's leg." Always thought the iron cow was the only cow that was milked by the manipulation of the "tail."

* * * The thirty-five bob a week clerk generally looks insulted when referred to as "a member of the working class. ,.

Says General Booth: "Society would not allow a sheep to go bleating about the Embankment, dying of starvation, covered with filth and vermin. How much better is man than a sheep?" Ay, General, and how much better than a sheep would man be if he were not suoh a doniiey.?

On his way to Westminster Abbey to view th© Coronation, Will Crooks was overtaken by a Duke who was gorgeously arrayed. "Mr. Crooks," said he, "you people think we never have anything to trouble us. Do you know I have lost the buckle off my shoe." "That ain't nothink," replied Crooks; "I've just broke my shoe lace myself!"

The spy and the traitor never share the honours of victory. Are you listening, Mike?

Sunday-school Teacher: "Wihat is our duty to our neighbours?" Johnny Smart: "Please, ma'am, to watch 'em." * * * »

Borne time ago a letter appeared in tho London "Daily News" on the- question of unemployment in which the following passage occurred: —"My wages are 25s 6d per week, and I have bix children. My next door neighbour is a bootmaker and repairer. He has been out of work for months. During that time, of course, my children's boots have needed repairing. I had not the money to pay for them being repaired, so had to do "what repairing I could myself. One day I found out that I was repairing boots on one side of the wall" and my neighbour on the other, an oiit-o'-work cobbler, was ancxious to do the •work in a workman-like way, that necessity compelled mc to do in an, at best, "amateurish fashion. 1 shall never forget the feeling that passed through my mind as 1 thought of the circumstance."

Therein lies tlie whole kernel of Socialism. Progress towards Socialism would be immensely accelerated could the workers realise that all round them there are neighbour craftsmen ready aaiid willittig to supply all their wants, and would naturally do so were it not for the interference of an individual called wn employer, who will not allow one worker to supply the- needs of* another worker unless he, the capitalist, can make a profit oxit of the transaction. «- « » Yet we are all neig abours, but th-e expression' of the true neighbourly feeling has been repressed and trampled in the mire of a fold commercialism. Socialism will remove this barrier to neighbouTly intercourse and allow the natural desire of actual usefulness free play in neighbourly cooperation.

Walt Whitman spoke for every true man and woman when he sounded the Wo,rd of . Democracy : —"As if it were, jipt essential to my own privileges that all should possess them equally and on like terms."

"Physical culture, ma," is perfectly fine. To develop the arms, I grasp this rod by one end and move it slowly from right to left." "Well, well," exclaimed her mother, "what won't science discover? And if you'll take this rod which has some broomcorn on the other ,end of it, and move it slowly from right to left or from left to right, as the case may be, why you'll be sweeping."