A wheen Thochts.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 6, 12 May 1894, Page 3

A wheen Thochts.

(By Scotch Thistle.)

IVIr Seddon, surrounded by the unemployed, the Prohibitionists, the Conservative press m general and the Evening Post in particular, recalls to thy mind nothing so much as Daniel iW the lion’s den. That he will come out as sound as he went vn I have not the slightest shadow of a doubt Let jms hope that he, along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Ward, McKenzie and Reeves) will escape the fiery furnace of the future that the Conservative press would fain heave them into. Let the said press remember that it is difficult to evolve the -perfect ideal State out of the sinfulness of that estate wheremto things bad fallen through their own want of original righteousness. But hands all round—give them a show—fair play’s a jewel. In regard to the Government Labour Bureau there is no denying it has done much good, but I think it woul d fie a deal more effective if all private labour exchanges were prohibited, and the Government took the business into their own hands. The benefits derived from this would be that employers of labour in the country would send for what labourers they desired to one centre in the town or district, and men and women desiring work would know at once where to apply for it, and would be put to much less trouble and expense than at present. Tinder the existing system most employers of labour have got into the habit of sending to some particular labour agent for their hands. The consequence is that men and women hard up and requiring work, trot along from one agency to another (in large towns) paying the entrance fee, only to find when a job turns up that it is often given to the one who will give most for it; in fact it requires no wide stretch of imagination to grasp the corruptions that may and do spring from private labour bureaus. Their abolishment would be a step in the right direction, and one deserving attention. Liberty’s a glorious feast, i hat is one of the articles of the creed in wbich I was reared. Another of the articles was that it was sufficient for women to eat the crumbs that fell from the glorious feast, but that article along with the divine right of man to rule and boss woman as be pleased lias gone by the board. Ichabod! So let it be ; but how is is that the emancipators of women have not been U p and doing in the matter of women voting for and acting on school committees ? Seeing that women are allowed full scope in the teaching profession it is but right that the wives of all householders should have an equal right with their husbands'in seeing that the schools where their children are taught are properly conducted. I do not say that it would work altogether for harmony, but as the unconquerable Buxton or the immortal Paul would say “ Let justice fie done though the heavens should falL” Your correspondent “ Kodak, in one of his snap shots, remarks that the Salvation Army has more practical xeligion about it than any other denomination. In that remark of his I recognise at once a brother sinner. I do not say the Army is perfect; but amidst the ring of words there is also the ring of action. 1 will not say that the church of to-day is useless, I wall not say that the ministers of the Christ (who on earth had nowhere to lay His head) are to be known by the spots where their heads lie; but I will say that for all practical purposes the church has rendered itself next door to useless. Ihe Christian xelmion preaches peace and goodwill. To-day in America we have women bayonetted in the street whose desire at heart is only for food for their young. In Britain we have have men shot down whose main desire is a living wage to support their wives and weans, and the church as a body stands aloof, in no way connected with a movement that will either make or mar the present generation. Ah, well

might the engels who sang their song of peace and love long, long ago, veil their faces and weep. Let the church enter into sympathy with the spirit of the age, let it bow down and worship the spirit of progressive justice and truth that moveth on the face of the deep as part of the great Unknown.