The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1919. POLITICAL ETHICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3339, 18 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1919. POLITICAL ETHICS.

With which its incorporatefi “The Taihape Posh and Waimarino News.”

Viewing the general election cam« paign so far as it has gone, it becomes apparent that. modern follyiis not the monopoly of »Labour. Alleged political writers, although early in the fight, have already touched bottom in political filth and calumny, and -are even busily engaged churning and raking over the contents of that last. and ’most -terrible region of Qthe» infernal would which the im.morta'l Dante :_.so faithfully seemed to pourtray. In a publication published in 1914, entitled, “Under Which Flag,” a very large proportion of the electors thought they had discovered the limits in political deception and seandalmongering, but mild is the correct term in ‘comparing “Under ‘Which Flag” with that which is being writtenvto day. It certainly does appear as if some writers _ had been entrusted with a ‘mission to so vilify what are termed the two great paltt_ies”_ so that the electors may, in disgust, cast their votes inzfavour of the third and lesser p'arty—Labour. Candidates themselves are over-step-ping the understood bounds of common {decency -one to the other, but for that cancerous verbi-age which is calculated to disgust even those who have rubbed up against Billingsgate one has to turn to the stnained efi:‘—ol-ts in vilification, vituperation, and deception of the political camp hlangel's—on. A lying charge may hurt the reputation of him against whom it is made, but it doubly damns the party who made it. The main issue is the effect this degrading foolishness is going to have upon the elections; surely it cannot be the hope of party leaders and organisers that it will help their respective factions to earn the respect and the vote of any elector. People Lire already stating that if men are such shameless ‘liars outside the walls of Parliament they are not to be trusted with anything inside Parliament. One Ki-lkenny cat has flown at the throat" of the other, and while they hang fighting over the political line the third party and the people are viewing the spectacle with loathing and distrust. It is well understood that. when evil-minded men find themselves minus argument, reason, andglogic they will wallow in the most shiameful personalities. If leaders have decided that winning the forthcoming election depends upon the employment of such means, then they need not be surprised if the people have a different view. There is little. ‘doubt about the boomerang of filth hitting hardest he who throws it. Two parties are virtually pledged to the constituencies to save the country from Bolshevismc but no one can yet point to such low tactics in Labour election methods as are so freely being used by others. In fact, the nature of election rliterature leaves one in doubt as to who are Bolsheviks and who are not. Some politic-23.1 camp followers are not leaving it to the people to discover what seoundrecls men are who have hitherto been regarded as the very pith of honour and uprighteness It is not the Bolsheviks that are the greatest enemy of the State, not at all, the greatest menace to the health and vigour of the country rests with ‘public men who have given virtually their whole lives towards securing social and political betterment; and while all] this senseless, vilification is going on, the third party is proving itself superior *0 'o*"h€l'S Who profess a wish to deS'¢Fo}’ it. It is time a reef was taken in the campaign of calumny; that the Vitl"fiolir.'- stupidity of camp-fo-ll’owers was checked, and that an honest effort to secure a stable Government was Substituted ‘for the recklessness that is now all too obvious. It is truly amazing‘ that there are many politiciails WllO iiatter themselves with the. belief that amongst {be pggplg of this little .0011I1t1‘.yt = all is happiness and Po3°9- It-. is remarkable that there"

should be so many wholiy ignorant of the social state. 'll‘hoy lie fast asleep amidst their downy luxury, and only now and then wake up when startled by -some social upheaval; they wonder what is the cause of trouble; they trust to the_GoVernme»nt they have assisted to pl-ace in power to quell the disturbance, and they go to sleep again.’ Is the campaign of calumny launched ‘against old and tried and trusted representatives who have for years been elected by the people '6O, Parliament merely an attempt to stifle the volcanic fires which two parties know are tsnrnuldering amongst the masses? If so, are they not risking an outburst that Will] break down all sense of law, all veneration for right and all regard for country? Then ‘is it not time ‘there was a stock-taking of the situation“! We cannot believe that any political party can achieve’ any success amongst an enlightened people, who impute, aclts to others which, if true, should be punishabule by a term of imprisonment. Reading current issues of some newspapers, 'a stranger would suppose the people of New Zealand took the utm.ost trouble to seek out the most outrageousiscoundrels and criminals in the community with which to make a Parliament. Is it surprising that men like Mr Meldrum and Mr Lethbridge ‘shrink from ‘the oijdeal that has to be faded? It is not thepolicy or the political performance of a. would-be Member of Parliament that is the criterion of his worth and fitness to become the representative in the legislature of his fellows. it is rather how far he can escape the volume of vilest imputations that political camp followers seek ‘to fasten upon him. It is not misleading to state that intelligent people are surfeited with the methods adopted by camp-followers who are inordinately eager to please their political masters, and few people nowadays are lacking the mental equipment that fits ‘them to attach thalt ‘degree of contempt to them they are so fully earning. The situation is, if the political revil-c_-rs are justified in stating what is being printed in gonienewspapers then there is not an atom. of principle in rth-e country and this Dominion-is peopled with a race of scoundrels of the deep est -dye. Has any political party real.ised that they cannot succeed at the elections by virtue of their policy and performances, and that they mus-t rely upon deception anld. cunning, combined Witl£2‘tlletper*sisten~ce in a scheme of personalities; blackening the character, and contorting the acts of their opponents, if they are to get‘in'to»Parpihiment at all?'.We.know_.tllis is not the case, but 9. mob of perverted camp-hangers-on are cert'ainly~ broadcasting that impression amongst the people.‘ While the two parties-who lay special claim to sanity and honesty are in the 't'hro*es of a character-'damning expedition, what they term ‘the insane party are drawing in grist to their political mill. Such sanity may be considered expedient, but it leads to revolution, nevertheless.