Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, DEC. 9, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 9022, 9 December 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, DEC. 9, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES.

A WRITER in a contemporary, referring to tho manner in which Socialists'harp upon what they call a man's "God-given right to life, the means of life, and tho product of his labour," says: "I think we can leave the Deity'out of tho question, seeing that it is hardly fair to as sums "that He has conferredjnpon the Socialist any more right to existenco than He has to any other form of organic life, but it is certainly worth considering what is tho nature of this obligation which tho Socialist asserts with so much cocksureness society owes to the individual. Does tho accident of birth croate an indefeasible title to the right to live? Does it impose on society an obligation to exert influence to prevent the law of the survival of tho fittest from taking its ordinary course? If it does, it is equivalent to saying that the pauperised, the wastrels, and tho unfit generally may go on indefinitely propagating their kind, as they are doing at present, and the section of tho community which is doing the world's work 'is to be robbed of the product of its labour to tho extent that is necessary to ensure the moans of life to the unfit. Strictly speakiug, no one can have any inalienable right to life unless thoy can command tho means of life. Tho growth of the- humanitarian spirit has been responsible for a system under which the helpless become a charge on the rest of the community, but while relief given in this fashion may be a privilcgo, it is not a right. It may be a man's misfortune to be born into a portion of tho world where he is not wanted, and where there is no place for him, but tho blanio does not lie on society. The Socialists' contention that society should be reconstituted to enable all men to share alike of the good things of the earth, is based on this fundamental error that once a man is born, no matter under what circumstances, ho lias a right to life, instead of merely a right to compete along with others for the means of life. The right of a man to tho product of his own labour is incontestable, but that, is another matter altogether, and it only tends to coufusiou to mix it up with the theory that a man comes into the world equipped with tho right to demand that society shall make sacrifices on his behalf whothcr he is capablo of giving- anything-iu return or not."