CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 289, 26 April 1911, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP. To the Editor. Sir,—Mr. Brecn at the Trades and Labor Council at Cliristclmrcli moved a very moderate resolution in favor of "gradual public ownership" of the means of production. lam much taken with that word "gradual." Step by step is the way of progress, and in some matters the steps are very short. The world was not made in a day; Rom'c nor the British Constitution built in a day; yet we know that Rome was built bit by bit and that the British Constitution developed a little at a time. I am not an advocate of "do nothing," but rather "do everything''; only we are learning that patience as well as perseverance i.s needed. We have before us an ideal state when there shall be a suffi-i ciency of all good things for all, there 1 shall be happy, healthy "children playing in our streets, graceful and athletic 'lads I and lasses working with pleasure in our fields, wise and prudent seniors studying and planning still further improvements and learning by careful observation more and more of Nature's secrets, rapid and peaceful intercourse with all the world, creating a healthy emulation, and as Burns savs:

"That man to man. the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that." Now, Mr. Breen's motion points in this direction; only the "gradual" tone was not at first accepted by his colleagues in council, but then at last adopted without division. lam very glad to see this—it speaks well for flic progress of the Labor Party. My advice is: Look around for the greatest obstacle within -sight to the consummation of our ideal; remove that, and then the next. The trouble is that wc do not all see alike as to which is the greatest obstacle. If, however, reasonable men of the varieties of opinions and with various plans in their minds would meet and confer—not looking on their own interests only, but also to the interests of others—then the difficulties between employers and employees, rich and poor, landholder and landless, and even between British and derman, would vanish. Only they must take it gradually.—l am, etc.. GRADUAL.