IS DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE?

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 499, 23 January 1920, Page 4

IS DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE?

One Way Only [By E.E.W.] At a time like the present, when the civilised world is undergoing a series of changes and the working classes are striving for a readjustment of social positions and a betterment of the conditions under which they have been living, it is imperative that all loyal citizens should give some consideration as to what may be the eventual result of the I difference between labour and capital, unless some basis can be found on which to build up a system that will be acceptable to both classes. Several millions of peoples in the old world are to day trying to learn how to live together under laws framed and administered by themselves. Whether they will be able to succeed or not is doubtful, and the result will be awaited with interest by the r«»st of the world, who are anxiously looking for the development of a democracy that will be safe and acceptable for them to adopt. *' Democracy," to quote from George McCready Price, an American author, "To be a successful and stable form of Government, presupposes a high morality and intelligence among the citizens of the state. A people who wotlid do without kings and princes must be kingly and princely in thought and life. Without morality and intelligence, where would be the safety of public affairs, the control of property, and the power of life and death if left to the vote of the majority ? Thus, if the success of a democratic form of government depends upon the morality and Christlike living of the greater majority of citizens of its state, then it were

well that those countries who have or are endeavouring to introduce the democratic form of government, should look for and establish a system ot education that will eventually bring forth a population with high ideals, and imbued with a deep sense of morality. "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it "is advice that was never more pertinent than it is to-day. It cannot be said that the present system of State education, in New Zealand at any rate, is calculated to bring iorth the best results as regards morality and Christian principles. There have been endeavours made to induce the scholars to spend at least a few minuteß once or twice a week, in the study of the great principles laid down in the Bible, but these, in most cases have been proved a failure. The churches, in many cases, have been wasting precious time, in the reiteration of rituals, and the discussion of creeds and dogmas when manv of their own supporters have been living far from the standard that is necessary to establish a sound democracy. There is no doubt that a successful self-governing democracy of the highest type can only be secured through a wide dissemination of Christian principles, and a strict adherence and intelligent understanding of the law given by Jehovah to Moses on Mount Sinai. The base of British law has been the " Ten Commandments." We have" embodied their morality into our Statutes, but we have omitted to inculcate their wide and far-reaching influence into the minds of our growing nation. We have twisted and perverted their meaning to suit the exigencies of circumstances. We huve evaded and misappropriated every one ol the ten fundamental planks in the platform of democracy. We have not realized that things h-ve gone wrong because nations and peoples have departed from the laws of God, and that democracy can not exist nor can there be a stable form of Government until the nations and peoples of the earth are embued with the teachings of Divine law, the seeds of which cannot be better sown than through the medium of our education system. Mr William T. Ellis, anothei American writer and thinker, aumi up an article on the Ten Command' ments in the following concise man ner. A universal acceptance of the Ten Commandments, together wit! the summary of the law given bj Jesus would straightway over night relax the tension of the times, settl< revolutions, and bring in the bettei day toward which the world is blindlj and violently groping. Theobjecti of democratic government are th< administration of justice to all by thi will of tho majority ; every individua to have equal rights and privileges by ballot. It will there fore bp necessary that the majority shall be guided by s -me expositioi of justice.. Tho lan Commandment coupled with the teaching of Chris on the mount are the expositions o Universal Justice, and it would b< well if a]l teachers, preachers an< educators' of the public were to laj di ect emphasis upon them as i stabilizing influence in a troublou time. " "They provide the las barriers to Bolshevism." They ar , the surest remedy for caste and clas it justices; they are in fact, the onl; w y out, and the only sure road t ' a successful and lasting demo ! (racy." Let us, therefore, al ! seriously consider how far, whil , advocating democratic reform, w have gone in the carrying out of th spiiit of the Ten Commandments ' We realize that individual stealinj 1 is illegal, but do we realize that it i just as much against the spirit o ' the Holy Law to steal through th medium of excess profits or couipan promotion ? We do not murde ; with the knife but we kill slowly b i sweating and unjust treatment c I the weak and afflicted, and ou crifices to Mammon. Covetousnes i has led the nations of the worl i into war and revolution. In fat wo have broken the spirit of all c the Commandments, and while con I tinning to do so delaying the day am possibility of democratic emancipa i tion. For with a moral revoluti" . bused on the Ten Commandments o ! God to Moses, the sword of die sention would be sheathed, and clas hatred cease to exist.