"THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 251, 13 March 1913, Page 7

"THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE."

NEW POLICY—A POLITICAL FORCE. ITS It ELATION TO NO-LICENSE. The principle of "the Democratic vote" was expounded to an audience of nearly r a humli't'd in tin; Good Templar Hall last night liy .Mr. 11. I), licdlonl, of Dunedin. L Tin; Uev. T. 11. Uosevoare presided, and , opened the meeting with a liynm and prayeff. The chairman briefly intro- • duced the speaker, whom, lie said, was . "jvist in the midst of the light." ■ He stood as the spokesman, Air. l!cd- : ford naid, of a great party, having as its object the amelioration of the social : condition-; of the people. Measured by every standard, this party was great, Croat though it was. it was not formidable, despite the fact that it had over a quarter of a million people in this country behind it. Last year 200,0110 people voted for prohibition, representing a majority of jU'im. and yet that did not avail to close a single bar. The strangeness ol this result so impressed those in the movement that from time to time the leaders had been exercising their minds, iirst to discover the cause and next the remedy. Last year's XoLicense Conference unanimously arrived at the conclusion that the continual flourishing state of the liquor trade was due to legislative enactment which gave the vide of the man who supported continuance of the trade one and a half times the value of the vote of the man who voted No-License. There wns practical! not much hope of further progross unless this obstacle was removed. He came to express the conviction of the party that there was ]lO hope for many years to come of National Prohibition till the. three-fifths majority was either removed or substantially reduced. (Applause.) Whatever the campaign cost, it had to go on to victory. They must withdraw their energy and money from direct attack of the Trade and FOCI'S IT OX PARLIAMENT i i till their grievance was redressed. Election after election the Trade had been •thoroughly beaten. It lay overwhelmed by a majority of tens of thousands of i people; yet it nourished as openly as ! ever. This was because of the existence | of a law which violated the fuiulamen- , tal principle underlying democratic govj eniment in every part of the world. I . . CHE VELVET CLOVE. : In the past they had gone to th-5 . Coverimiont in the role of public suitojs, | ''.beseeching fair play," but they had ! received fair words, and then practically been spurned by the conduct of every Government for the last ten or fifteen years, the attitude liter were now go- ' ing to take up in lespect to Parliament was one of command. They demanded • that the conditions should he equal, or | at any rate the inequality reduced. They were asking temperance sympathisers to give them the mandate to Parliament and claim this tiling. .Many did not fully appreciate the nature of the handicap under which they labored. It was simply political folly for any great social body to sit quiescent under the burden which Parliament put upon it. Fifty-four thousand was a long way from victory. To win the last election a majority of nearly 103,00!) would have had to be east. The No-License vote for the South Island last year was only a few thousands short of 1n.1,000, imt Parliament decreed that their vote should not count! It .practically meant the disfranchisement of the South half of. the electors -of the Dominion. Parliament seemed to say: "You believe in temperance for the Dominion and abolition of public houses, but, because you believe in that, .your vote does not count." Mr. MeCoombs, of Christehnrcli, had worked the matter out, instancing Kaiappi. which had always been on the •vorge of. carrying No-License. Dating the pas.t'toi) or fifteen years it bad beeii getting nearer and ncaro", t.o victory, but'if. it qnly ljiade. its present rate, qf progress it would, take it thirty years to get its victory. That was what the present; impediment niejint. Ass,liming the-trade . made, no progress and stood at 2000, nothing short of SHOO votes woulil give the Xo'Ucpnse, Party victory. , Since this campa.igu started,, the -Liquor vote had never, gomj, hack. ... ' ■ TOO Ml'Cll EMOTIONALISM. We bad been too much given up, to our emotions iji the past. V\ e wanted' practical level-headed business. In 18>)0 the lienor vote was 140,000;, last ye.ar,.. it was •2i!(1,01.f(V 'if tbe : No/License Party bad to make,-up the. deficiency, by mere. jncyeases, while Hie trade was also in-, creasing, then No-License was a' long „\yay oil'., The...Government , gave the trade a liuge start. ,'X'o ge,t 1.),000 steps nearer. tltc,Xo,-Licen«c. Puvty had. to got an Increase of 108.000. They were 10,000 behind now. To catch up,, an . increase greater tlmn the total voting' strength of {lie South.lsland. add,ed on to they got next time, would not give them pro-' bibition. 'The nearer they got to vie-, tory, the more difficult it was to convert votes. In Dunedin last election they held"meeting lifter meeting without securing converts. The' temperance education had been pursued so long tbilt there was''nothing left to teach the - , electors in order to wi/C In the big centres they had practically obtained all . the converts they woi'o likely to. got. There were two-fifths in every conv.nini: ~ ity that were never on the side o.f reform. lie bad searched history, but . could' find not. a single instance of ,a re: form haying been carried by a tlirrefifths majority! THE PAP,TV'S PLEDGE. . The No-License Party now wished its. ■supporters to take a firm stand, and to. this end liiey desired them all to sign the following .pledge before the next session, of Parliament:— "I hereby give my pledge that, re- • gardloss of party, 1 will not at the next election vote for any candidate of Parliament who will not undertake to do his utmost ;to remove, or at least substantially reduce, the present unfair handicap on both the issues of No-License and National Prohibition." ' "'Do not,", continued the speaker, '•nullify the effect Of .your vote by the 'vote ' that you pass with respect to the,candidates. Then, if you can't get a .candidate, refrain from voting." 'Mr. i'eilford went on to state that the ; No-License not "intend to become a political party. If he sitood again for Dunedin \Ye>t, and if he; had. tlie alTrontory to declare himself fis a No-Licence candidate, the party wfouhl at' oTJ'pt 4 ?tTiis;'" ''T : not intend to put up-a sinalp candidate. KEEP OCT OV'.TMRECT POLITICS. ~...They.HY&niod to- lcsp out' 61: i direct I 'polities,'. They..'did- not want' ;a.: NoLicense T'olijutif 'or the like. If SLhoy ha'fl wanted.,,"it, .VlVpy .would, have put up candidates bofdry, po.jy d'ynl-. of the candidates of/every' ejec.torate would '■oiler-, io carry put 1 the 'pledge. They did not care, (as. a. party) \ylif\t: party ventin, provided their demaiHls'/Vvere icon.cod«(l. Tliev merely wanted to constitute'themselves a political force. a . Every man who, voted for-"Mr. Malcolm's; I'ill was a marked man by tin; Trade. Voting for the Trade had not. 'h'owover. meant in the past the hiss of the NoLicense vote. T'ntil they assumed'the hostility of the Trade, they would never get Parliament to concede their wishes. The NoT.iecusc Tarty itself was to

blame for the fact Hint it bad not succeeded. When ir. came Id political action it was a negligible quantity. They had got lo make the support of the NoLicense Party worth more to members of Parliament than that of the Trade. It was time they stopped speech-making and (ieiii-..n.i;ranoiis. it that was all they were going to rely upon. Tlwy had got to learn strategic tactics. Stop a Utile emotionalism and get down to bedrock, concluded the speaker, amid applause. Oil the motion of the Rev. Mr. Males the following motion was unanimously carried: "That this meeting is in favor of tlie Democrati.: vote in terms of the pledge outlined." Mr. Tiedford was heartily thanked for Ins address.