A Call For Polling Day.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1919, Page 9

A Call For Polling Day.

APPEAL TO LABOR. (Published by arrangement.) The'following artiale appeared ongmally in Truth and the ii.oriland Worker but as it raises many questions o wide political and industrial interest, i, is reprinted here to secure the utmost possible publicity.

A WORD TO THE WORKERS! (By "Looker On.") I am not a candidate for election, but I am a Liberal, and therefore I am very much interested in the workers of New Zealand, their present and then■ futoc. Liberalism, to me means the policy that has always preached the gospel of the greatest good for the greatest number and practised what it preached What Liberalism has done for the woiWof New Zealand during the past twentyfive years should be enough to convince you that, when it has the power, Liberalism means "Government by the people

for the people" all the time. I Look now at the Liberal statement of policy and at your own Labor platform! Much of what you need and desire is to be found in the Liberal programme; nearly everything that you want outside those limits you will have to wait for till you have converted a great many more people to your way of thinking, and that means at best you will wait for

a long time to come. What is the best course for the workers to take? Shall they stake their all ou the attainment of the impossible, or be content for the time to take what is well within their reach, here and now? No intelligent worker can believe that the Labor Party will gain a majority next week at the polls. Has not Mr. Holland said that ho expects to be Leader of the Opposition? And does not this mean that Labor, if it strives to stand alone must, ho content to wait, perhaps for many years, until it is strong enough to gain what it regards as its deserts by its own unaided strength? I do not speak thus to the men and women who hold "extreme'' views, such as glory in the name of Bolshevik. With them Liberalism has nothing in common; for their aim is not Freedom, but Tyranny—not the common welfare, the "greatest good" of nil, but the destrue- ! tion of all classes but one, in order that ' this one shall rise upon the ruins of all the rest, and the "class-consoioiiß minority," its scilf-eonstituted leaders and autocrats, shall dominate us all alike. To Laborites of this type I have nothing to say. But my appeal goes forth to"those among you who feel deeply the injustice and the wrongs that Labor

endures, and who are willing to strive earnestly and persistently that these grievances may be redressed; but who believe—as I know that most of the workers of New Zealand do believe—that what the world needs most to set it right is not Revolution but. Evolution, not Destruction but Construction; and who know in their hearts that the ends of Right and Justice can never be secured by Force and Tyranny. To you, then, I appeal. For your own sakes'do not'hinder the forward movement of Democracy—do not reject or limit the measure of progress and advancement that Liberalism cau and will secure for you to-day, if you will cooperate with it on rational, constitutional and democratic lines. What other- alternative is there for you to take? I. have said that if Labor stands alone it must wander a weary

while in the outer darkne-s of Opposition—and the years will go by, and the Millennium will be none the nearer. For if you choose to isolate yourselves, and the votes (if the people are split, between Liberalism and Labor, the victory may go to "Reform I '—and this, you known, is what "Reform 1 ' has long foreseen and desired. Do not forget these things: You know that the present electoral system, the "first past the post" system, is unfair and illogical because sometimes it does not give minorities representation, and sometimes it gives minorities all the representation there is, but never doss it provide all the people at once with the power of expressing their own views. To remedy these evils the second ballot was tried, and poor as the substitute is, it was better than the "sudden death" system. Then, Mr. Massey "rc--1 formed" the second ballot out of existence, promising to give us "something better"—of course, in his own good time Why has he never kept his word? Because "Reform" is waiting for you to split the votes and by dividing the force* that ought to stand side by side for Democracy, to open a way to power for Conservatism and Monopoly and Reae» tion.

Do you not see that a, vote taken from Liberalism must be, from-.your point of view, a vote given to "Reform"? —the creed of the Conservative land monopolists who stand behind Mr. Massey, the gospel of Mr. Massey himself, who told us the other day that he believes in I Nationalisation—"so long as it does not interfere with Private Enterprise." But there is more behind "Reform" than Monopoly and Conservatism. The Masseyites constantly ask us what is the difference between Liberalism and their own policy. The simplest answer is that which Gladstone—one of the greatest of Liberals—gave a long time ago: "The principle of Liberalism is Trust in the People qualified by Prudence; the principle of Conservatism is Mistrust of the (People qualified by Fear."

Because the Masseyites do not trust Democracy, but fear it, therefore, they cannot be expected to deal with even the just and rightful demands and aspirations of Labor in a sympathetic and conciliatory spirit. Another great Liberal,! James Bryce, tells us all that we need to know about Masseyism, when lie describes the party which tends always to believe and maintain that "social order can be secured only by force." That is far indeed from the standpoint of our own Liberalism which a generation ago, by wise and judicious statesmanship, by careful foresight, and by generous concessions to Labor's most urgent needs, prepared for us twenty years of industrial and social peace. Let Labor, then, give careful heed to all these things. As fa;- as I understand the strongest claims and highest hopes of Labor, my sympathies arc with it, so long as it "stands on the old paths" and clings to the oldest and moat sacred tra-

ditions of Democracy—to Eight, Justice, and Freedon-. Aud so, to sane and rational Labor I make this appeal—not to the Bolshevik, who wants to overturn the Tyranny of Capitalism only to set up in its plane an even more absolute! "hierarchy of the proletariat," with himself as self-appointed De3pot-in-Chief. I For him, Liberalism and Liberty and Democracy have no meaning and no message. But for you—Liberalism is your firm friend and natural ally; it is to Liberalism that you owe nearly all that makes life worth possessing in this country to-dy. See that you stand by Liberalism now.—Published by Arrangement. "