YELLOW BIGOTS RUN AMOK.

New Zealand Tablet, 26 June 1919, Page 37

YELLOW BIGOTS RUN AMOK.

Thus the Mao-nlcmd * 'Worker, of /"June/47 Democracy has much to answer for. Under this system, as; it exists, every ; - fool can write to the papers, or start''a| political party. Such freedom is not an unmixed blessing, but as it is : all done in the name of democracy it is not safe to be too ; critical about it. , Freedom is a glorious thing, but much. depends on " the kind- of freedom, of course.; The Protestant Politi- |* - cal Ass. is of the biggest asses the asinine democracy * q£ New % Zealand has' produced. 'Of course, it is an ; , : Orangebody;, and Orangemen' suffer from a plentiful | j lack of humor- They cannot see themselves as - others |. Tl see them, and it is very certain they will never get 'f people to see them as they see themselves. \At the last, ~ meeting of this hbdy-of cranks, -the chairman (a man who should have more sense) .opened 7 the • meeting by f I 'ridiculing the idea, that the association was purely out , to destroy the Catholic Church." At least, that c how he is reported in the choice journalese of the local ... ; Time*. -What ''purely out'' means may be guessed: * r it is not a classical English idiom by ,any means, and - probably.means that the P.P.A. is not in . the political game for the- purpose of demolishing Rome. Well,Rome was not built in a day, and it is pretty certain „ it, will not be destroyed in a day. So far as the CathI olice have; been responsible for the creation of a body of * «ridiculous fools Like the : %embers of the P.P.A., they have done ill for their 'country. Mr. Howard Elliott ; ; ,;complains that the Government has treated the yellow ' bigots as dirt- Can this be because they deserve it? Mr. Elliott ,- r declares that ; , "Rome and Bolshevism" -•* (strange bedfellows .1) would dominate the country unless the people gave ear to the v counsels of the P.P.A. m All this is too silly for serious comment. If the P.P.A. raises sectarian issues at the next general election, it wHI find that the people cannot be warmed up totake any interest in a '.'sane Protestantism" that lacks dignity, common sense, and even* common decency in its .". propaganda. ? If Protestants really believe that Catholic r influence s is improperly used, or have a- -genuine grievance in connection with -the Ne Te mere Decree, then v? their fellow-citizens can be relied upon to "see that justice is done. There is no need to raise the sectarian devil and to prove that they have no more religion in f them than the brute beasts, by embittering the personal ! relations of Catholic and non-Catholic, or raising issues that, are, purely iiivaginary and have as much bearing on the state of Maoriland * to-day as the : Battle Iff/the