A LESSON FROM BRITAIN.
With the scope of a Government restricted to the narrow limits to which the members of the old British school of political thinkers would confine it, the people of the Old Ceuntry have been frequently left to be exploited by the boldly adventurous and unscrupulous. " The survival of the fittest," cries your
genuine old Tory, who smilingly consigns the innocent and unsophisticated to the merciless maw of the companypromoter and the dividend-raker. The "fittest" does not mean, as the word
taken literally might imply—the man with the dearest, best-endowed Intuit, th« healthiest, best-proportioned bodylie may be a deformed, mis-shapen dwarf full of the beastliest desires—but the most cunning, avaricious, ami unprincipled- 1/nless, figuratively, the "littest'' puts himself within range of the policeman, according to the old order of British scientists, he is to be free to range at will and prey upon society, and in the mu<t Christian of 10111111111". ties every moncy-wornhippur will applaud his of 10-callcd freedom millionaires and uiulti-niijlionaives have gone on iiureasI ing in America, and just recently, as the cable on -Saturday informs u>, m Knglaiid a widow has "just departed lor other spheres leaving behind her a for ' tune ot no less than £:!,4-48,000. .Nc doubt, the millionaire accumulates liiwealth within the law, and, therefore (jUitc legitimately, but it is uianiios that the aggregation of so much capita locked up in the hands of one perso must mean poverty for thousands u others. There can be little doubt ilia tile conditions which lead ty the prodiu tion of millionaires also raise tip social tsts and other impatient dreamers ivh would seek their abrogation bv the ud option of prompt and forcible measureIf every human being in Zealan were to contribute one pound sterlin: the sum would be iiisiillicient to ntak one millionaire; if t]ie contribution were limited to tho adult populatiu solely, then to make one inillionair each would have to give more than tw pounds; if every adult male gave fou pounds, still the aggregate would fail t build up one solitary millionaire j millionaire—as in the case of Audrcv Lurnogiti might seek to return to til people the vast wealth lie has aecuran lated, but he is powerless to give th people the comforts and the iiinoccn pleasures of which they have been de pnved during the many-for tliemwretched years in which wealth lias beei accumulating in his hands. This syt tern of freedom— sound no doubt it mabe m some aspects-uudoubtedlv make ior "the rich richer and the poor pooi er. In this young land tho peopl f M 6k t0 1)r0Ul b - V tI,U ences of 0 her nations. The colonic | declare that it js the buumlen dutv of Government to watch over and pr'omot the mterests of the people in every a, pec'; that whatever is best for the tun pie should be done; but in all their 1. gis ation there is one fundamental prii; eiple which Should ever be sedulous! borne „ mind, so fur as humanly ~0, slide, the equalisation of wealth Mi lionaircs (imported) are welcome in Ne ducticu!' " O,R ' ar ° Wantcd local I' r
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19080331.2.6
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 86, 31 March 1908, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
523A LESSON FROM BRITAIN. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 86, 31 March 1908, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.