Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1909. SOCIALIST EXCITEMENT.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4478, 21 October 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1909. SOCIALIST EXCITEMENT.

This above all —to thine own self be true , i nd it mutt follow as the night the day Thou const not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

The execution by the Spanish authorities of Senor Francisco Ferrer, a rich man who had used his wealth for the spread of Socialist doctrines and the help and relief of Socialists generally, has caused most intense excitement amongst both Socialists and Anarchists. The authorities do not appear to have sheeted home to him personal participation in the Barcelona riots recently, but in September he was arrested, tried by Court Martial, sentenced to death and executed. The people were aroused and excited by his arrest. They appealed to the Spanish Cabinet to pardon and release him, but the Government saw no reason to stay the execution of the law. Now, not only in Spain, but in all countries Socialists and Anarchists are combining to protest against and, in some cases, to avenge his death. In a time of lawless excitement, especially when sections of the people resort to acts of violence, a Government is apt to do hasty and ill-advised things under martial law which it would not do in quiet times under civil law. This execution of Ferrer is a historical lesson wa shall all dp well to cote. The political value of history is seen in the warnings it gives to statesmen and to the body of electors on whom they rely. In the present state of Socialist, and especially of Anarchist feeling, a very few unfortunate incidents like Ferrer’s execution might plunge the world into a reign of terror such as existed in France at the end of the Eighteenth Century and the middle of the 19th. Even in England, where Socialists get fair play and greater freedom thanm any other part of the world, some Socialistic members of Parliament are indulging in the very wildest talk. Monster meetings have been held in London, and Mr Grayson advocated a life for a life, and blamed JKing Edward for not trying to induce the Spanish Government to spare Ferrer’s life/ yalued Ferrer’s life at a higher price than that of all the crowned heads in Europe, 'fhs Spanish Government has been threatened, its Embassy in London hooted, the Spanish King burnt in e&gy, mobs have hooted before Catholic Churches and tried to set fire to the Cathedral at Pisa in Italy { they wrecked the Church at Santa Crosse, broke the windows of Monasteries and convents in Belgium, and fifty thousand persons made threatening demonstrations in Paris. Thus we see how widespread is the excitement and how violent in plflUW, because bombs have been thrown tefi persons killed. The lessons to be learned by fchoao daring and lawless proceedings are numerous, serious, and very important/ People allow these incidents to pass without much notice, but they are indications of signs of the times; they show the current of feeling and prove the unwisdom and impolicy of merely trying to dam up strong feeling instead of trying to direct it, If‘ we go down to the vary roots of these questions and investigate the causes of Socialism and Anarchism, we find them baaed in the inequalities of life and the needle** as well as inevitable sufferings of large sections of the people. When a man’s body is breaking out into sores, it is useless to only apply healing ointment to the surface. The great thing is to drive out of the system the causes of the sores. It is just so with the body politic. But before men can properly cope with the disease they must diagnose it, understand it, and make sure that they properly know it, or they will find that the remedy is worse than the disease, a* Spain is now finding in the case of Ferrer.

Now, there is nothing in which so much mischievous error prevails in regard to the cause and cure of poverty and misery from which Socialism and Anarchism spring. It is not realized by superficial observers that poverty, misery, and sorrow result from numberless .causes both natural and nonnatural. one particular class whether rich or poor is wholly responsible for them. No simple human scheme ever devised is an ad&quate remedy or cure all. The mere rectification of man’s earthly environment will not adequately aiuad matters, because the seat of evil .andinjustice is in the human heart, and unless ithat be changed as well as environment or social and political surroundings, socialism * would be of no avail. What is inquired,is the Golden Rule written on the heart, and practised m the life. When men’s fives and actions are dictated by principles of pity, f and brotherhood, they will not resort to bomb-shells to cure hardness of heart and oppression- Men then will be pitiful, merciful, just and brotherly, and the duty and interest of every man is to hasted the good time coming when a spirit of brotherhood eh«U girdle the earth.