CITIZENSHIP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 11, 1 June 1914, Page 8

CITIZENSHIP.

■its duties and phivileges. a stikrlnu address. : At the meeting 0 f the New Plymouth Brotherhood yesterday, Mr O. Hi Boole, who fas lately returned from travels in Great Britain and Amoricai, daliviered an address on "Ciltizcnsihip." H e was listened! to throughout with the greatest attention, and so foiviWy did he drive home the duties of rftizenahip and so clearly delineate its (privileges, that at the close mf his address tilno applause was deafening, and, contrary, to the express custom of tthe Brotherhood, a hearty vote of thanks, to him was carried unanimously. WORLD-WIDE BROTHERHOOD. At .the outsat Uh» speaker stated >tha.t lro had been commissioned by nuinierous Ikotheraicods in England and America to convey cardial wishes to any such New Zoakudi organisation, which he ■migliiit addres-i This wa.s in ijtself an evidence of the far-reaching, and world wide briothcTliood -f« the benefit of mankind, which ere Jong would have to Ira reckoned with in civic, political, social and economical affairs. The coun tnies of ijhfe -world had long discussed with portenteous gravity many affair? which wiorc infinitely less, important than the evolution of a better and higher type 1 of man, «ind lini this respecit New Zealand had nwt.ibeeu less at fault. Where was 'on tiliie statute books of this country legislation dealing with saicli ma.ttoia as tubeTrailOsis in cattle., fevei in swine, foul' brood in bee hives, and even noxious weeds on native lands. All the* were calculated to further enrich the producer and bring better mm tenia! to the consumer, tait too little (of our legislation was fi;nned towards the, emancipation 'of tfcte faculties of mankind. The prospect was, however, more reassuring than perhaps it -had ,ever been We were reaching (the terminal of tin most mercentiry age, and were standing on tiie threshold of a new era. Nation; the world over, w.ere recognising thai the best asset they could possess wa.< the high type of mimhooit, "an cxaltct (ideal of citizenship. The race culttur< specialists said that if half the monei wHi'ich tilv* cMintrie.s. spent in raising

hogs went towards breeding efficient men, ithe future generation would have a magnificent story to tell. A change was at hand, and althauglh certain sections of the Press' Ihtxd been closed to the demand for higher rideals,' and the lips of ctoquent men Jiiid been scaled in iAedifiiee Ito the Jaw of .expediency, organisations the world over were mceitinff in broUberhood to dircuss these matters of moment. What was wanted in New ZcaJanib was a wider interpretation of the Fatherhood of 'God and the Brother. h;;x)d of Man. The law of lS:b survival oif the fittest can never be. entirely eliminated, but it must give place (as indeed it was Joins) to the doctrine that the f'tronfi: should kiip t!bt> weak. No longer could any man bo allowed t" live the life of the individualist. He must pit into life more than lie took from it. Opinions ou these vital subject', wer» being exriliangedl the world over, and a world-wide brotherhood was bi-iing established. In some of the world's greatest CoS'lcges, one branch of the faculty spent its time in travel, garnering from the world's stores the ohciecst of flier wisdom, anil bringing it back injto the college to be banded on to youth. The fabric of a universal friendship and national efficiency were bejng daily woven, interlaced witih a thread of Ohristi&nity. TBilia fact was on.?, of the greatest hopco of future gcneraitions, audi no man should bo allowed in his seifiiili egotHn. to •S-lio.rt tireuit" th,e new current which was tirilling through the Uvea of mien. DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES. Citizenship, continued Mr Poole, wa-'i,

according to the dictionary, a state of being vested in the }>rivil>egeß and rights of the state, and tllteo rights and privilojjcs were .tha must «t»eutial audi important factors in (.he development of any country. The privileges of presentday citiMnshlqi were the result of geneiu'tions of straggle against vicious claw distinctions. Men who hud been.inspired to reorganise society Biad Iwn born under conditions which they had) been tb'O proud to bear, and! from gencratiion to generation, our forbears had moved on to better things. The dawn was in somo countries owly just bimkijig. Now Zealand, uud'er present condiltions, with its universal franahiisc 'offered privileges to the masses which compelTiSHl (the udmiration of all thinking men. The f;icultiftj of her mantood and womanlhtood wore being liberated to work for eouie good end. Education! had -been of great value to thz masses, and the unrest of the present day was not confined to New Zealand alone, Ibut in soime countries was so insistent and Miu'now that it was hard to «ee w!iero it would stop slioiit of rovoi'iitiwi 1 . New Zealand did not want revolution. She was too far advanced

for such a devastating influence. Hers .mist be the proga'css of evolution. The old contempt for honest toil hod gone, •audi the men who represented! the constructive farces of a country, leaders of commerce, toilers with brain' and- muscle, were recognised as that country's niMt essential possession'.

AN END TO WAR, St was a fact, the speaker continued, that the more refined and intelligent a ■race became., .the more Wiley abhorred methods -of violence, 'Great Britain's •.'hief problem to-dliy was to maintaii the standing army. She did not want & standing army, and the epirit of the nation wart against conscription, because it too often emanated from the complicated stihemes of selfish financiers. A)l the best in life lay in settling) disputes in a reasonable audi.constitutional ifi.uuiei'. Ho hud spoken in nearly all the battleships tof the American Navy. From one end of it to Ithc other the men were coming to a better conception of the best in life, and the navies and --regiments were but a skeleton of) the military iklea,!. OUTSTANDING DUTIES. ■Mr Poole then dealt with tile outstanding duties of citizenship, which went handAi-hhiid with its privileges. A man armed with power was filled with

the idea of responsibilities. In Now Zealand men. wore too* lax in their exercise of their duties. They were rounded up at election itime, and they voted witto-ut due. thought. 'Hie power to rote meant tlio power to further reforms. The fight which our forefathers liadi made for tllife franchise laid on lis a sacred trust to exercise Alio right to vote. No cftstocle could Mock a body of determined men dntcC'ligcnuly cxereis*ing ithat right, and it was their duty to lend Mils aid' to movements for reform. POWER OF The power of brotherJilood was strengthening gto'cxl citizenship. In America .lie had addressed meetings of such organisations, at wihieM 500 men gath- ' ored to discuss ithe good, of their race. Aaniong them were the Chief of Folico at Pittslwrg, iind eight of 'his. men, one of tihb leading Jews of the city, and the ; chief stationinaster of the Great Coii|tm! i Railway Company. At Rochester he had i sptoken to 000 mrn iind at Chicago to i 3000, and all s'ent greetings to New Zen--5 Hand. I)t was tliis spirit whkih. would , ilio-vo soon ij.o .],;, reckoned with in the - lives of nations. He appealed r.-.pecially f to the young men of the country to d avail themselves of tilileiv opportunities - to realise that no door was. closed to them if they only dared enough. Let 1 them leave nothing undone for the good a of thieir state and their country. 1 . _