Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9171, 15 June 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

IT is perhaps useless to expect socialistic theorists and ignorant politicians who are mere officeseekers, to pay any regard to the teachings of history. But some of the lessons of the past are useful aa showing that much of what is being tried in New Zealand and claimed to bej new has been tried in the past, and found to inflict injury’instead of produce beneficial results. Under the title of “Janus in Modern Life,” a series of articles by Dr. William Flinders Petrie has just been published, and his comparison of the methods of the Roman Empire with our laws and social conditions tells strongly in favour of Individualism as against Collectivism. From the following extracts it will be noticed that New Zealand has, for some time past, been travelling on dangerous lines, and the blind leaders who claimed that their policy was one of advancement do not deserve to he followed by sensible men. Dealing with Ancient Rome, Dr- Petrie says:—“The first great step, which bore centuries of hitter results, was the favouring of the townsman as against the countryman (just as is done in 'our legislation). When conquered provinces sent in their tributes, grain came X3ouring into Rome, and why should not this abundance benefit the citizen, by being sold at alow price? The countryman at his plough handle was forgotten; the small farmer suffered. Of course, the next thing was an endeavour to cheapen production. The small farmer gave up, and big estates were run by slave labour. This staved off the evil for a time. But the townsman demanded more and more, and at last free doles of corn were given to him, and agriculture became impossible in Italy. What tribute corn did to Italy, cheap transport has done to England. The townsman „is always favoured at the cost of the countryman, and the country is being depopulated. The growth of trade unionism and Socialism under the Roman Government, as traced by Dr. Petrie, seems curiously parallel to the growth of modern legislation, and the history of the past shouldserve to show what further developments may he expected by ns. About 380 A. D. all trades were compulsorily organised into corporations or trade unions of employers; on the other hand, the mere mechanic was usually a slave. Theu trades become monopolist unions on condition that the union was bound over to do a certain amount of work for the poor at a nominal rate. Thus the “wastrel” was favoured and protected, with his right to maintenance ; and profits were to be mad® from those who could afford to pay for it. This is an ideal (says the writer), toward which a great deal of social legislation is tending at present. Railway companies and trams are bound to carry workmen at nominal rates, while all their profits are to be earned from wealth. All tradesmen supplied the poor at a loss, in ratio of the capital invested in business. Presently, under these conditions, capital withdrew, and industry and commerce languished. Then the law stepped in and forcibly enrolled capitalists in the demanding their personal service, as well as the use their capital. Aurelian made unionism compulsory for life, and presently a man who married a master-baker’s daughter became compulsorily a member of the bakers’ union and subject to its by-laws, legal obligations, and usages. Dr. Petrie, declares that the system became so destructive of character and of wealth that it ruined the Empire. It was, not slavery, nor was it vice, that destroyed Rome. The one movement which grew steadily as Rome declined was the compulsion of labour and the maintenance of the wastrel as a burden on society, and that pulled down the great political organism. The free Goth was the welcome deliverer from social bondage. Diocletian took a hand in the downfall by his Socialistic decree, regulating all prices and wages throughout the Empire. A maximum value was fixed for every kind of food, also for clothing and skins. The wages of labourers, of artisans, and of professions wore all equally regulated, so that superior ability could never bo rewarded. And this Socialistic policy was the principal factor in bringing to naught the greatest, social organism

that had yet appeared in the world. "There is nothing new under the sun,’ 1 proclaimed a wise man of old, and the burning questions of to-day are but tuyin brothers of the questions which troubled the 'councils of Imperial-Rome, Can the history of the past, ages assist us to a better understanding and treatment of our social problems?