Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1895. BRAIN RULE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4961, 26 February 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1895. BRAIN RULE.

| Tub world is said to he ruled by I bruins, whatever King, Kaiser, President, or Tsar may say to the contrary. Money was once thought to bo the controlling inlhience, but its supremacy is now open to doubt, The democracy believes that it is monarch of all its surveys, but great as undoubtedly is its power, its sovereignty is mi illusion. The democracy is the embodiment of strength, but it is ruled, controlled and guided by the brains of clever men. Here, in New Zealand, men like Seddon, Reeves, and Ward think for it, and act for it, and are its masters. The democracy here has been a nice little field for exercise of tho special talent of men of this calibre, ] and they have made it pan out exceedingly well for their own exultation ami advantage. There has been 100 amongst us a host of followers who have fossicked in the same field, and earned thereby a comfortable, if not a luxurious living, ut the expense of the community. The democracy has bled, perhaps not for its country, but for the benefit of these camp followers, who have persuaded it that, by submitting to a little blood-letting, it could obtain the gore of the plutocracy, In this way, the earnings of the democracy have been diligently skimmed by hundreds of clever and unscrupulous men who have exercised a brain rule over it. It is after this fashion, that the democracy of New Zealand, halting on a lame leg, is captured and led with a rope round its neck. The democracy dreams that it rules New Zealand, but it is, to a very great extent, the willing, slave of clover adventurers, It feels that it is free from tho shackles of wealth, so much so, that it sometimes dimly suspects that it is poverty-stricken, In New Zealand, wealth is the product of the best brains in the Colony; but tho democracy does not grasp the fact that, in lighting against plutocracy, it wages war agninst the brains which are alone capable of increasing tho prosperity of tho community. Tho real brains which ought to rule New Zealand, are discredited, and the democracy submit instead, to tho direction of an inferior and pretenjtjons ability, which puts the Colony o'u a (Jnjyn grade. The brains required) avq tliose .jyhjch create wealth by intelligent oiitorpmein flastoral. agricultural) audMustrjal pursuits j tho brains .used, are those, iprhicu make $ pretence ,of creating a fictitious prosperity, by jolsss legislation pd political changes,' jfn America, it somewhat similar [experience iia« teen, recorded', but

there brains asserted their supremacy straight away, and by nns crapulous expedients made the democracy their slave. The plutocrats of the States, when they found their fortunes jeopardized by the onward march of democracy, did not hesitate as to their plan of action. They said "it is cheaper to buy the democracy than to fight it," and so they bought it wholesale and retail, purchasing its votes by the lump or by the piece, as was required, buying up newspapers, and simply overcoming all obstacles by bribes which it was not in tho nature of a democracy to resist. It is very much to the credit of.New Zealand that its plutocracy, such as it is, has never attempted to stem tho march of democracy by means of such a character. The money power in New Zealand has rested in the hands of highly honorable men, who would sooner forfeit their legitimate inflnonceas Colonists than retain power by a corrupt expenditure of money. But will this always be so, and willthenew plutocracy of the future be as scrupulous as the old ? We fear not, for the same causes which in America brought into existence a wealthy order of men with a low moral standard of conduct are at work to produce similar results in this land. Brains will rule the world, and if the brains of good men are not to be supreme, the brains of bad men will take their place. It is easy to follow American methods and to run democratic institutions on American lines, but it is in America itself we discover the Nemesis that awaits such developments.