RIDING THE WHIRLWIND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3042, 12 November 1908, Page 4

RIDING THE WHIRLWIND.

"We must stop on ths side of safety." In these words the Premier, in his speech at Auckland, on Saturday night, expressed his present attitude towards Socialism. "If," he said, "you 'ask the State to go into financial bankruptcy for the theories and dreams of extremists, then I'm not going in that direction. We must stop on the side of safety." But can he? asks the Christchurch "Press." And where does he draw the line between safety and danger? It is all very well for him to say that he means to go along the road to Socialism as far as it is safe, and to go no further, but what guarantee have we that tne imaginary line which Sir Joseph Ward refuses to cross to-day may not gradually be pushed forward? Under the leadership of the Premier and hia predecessor, the country has made step after step towards the Socialists' ideals. We have from Sir Joseph's own lips his views as to the duty of a Premier. "We first find out what the people want, and then we do it in the way they want it done." This description of his policy, given in a speech during his last visit to America, he has actually defended, declaring at Carterton last week that it was "the duty of statesmen" and that "it was democracy." A Go-

eniment that adopts such a principle as its guiding motive is capable of any act of folly suggested to it.