RISE OF DEMOCRACY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 7

RISE OF DEMOCRACY.

MODERN EXPERIMENT! i i IN THE EXALTATION OF WAR.j I i OBVIOUS WRONG REDRESSED. | UNATTACHED VOTES. |8j OlWe-— , ' , *** Aseot-Utlou. -Copyright ) ißeceived in a.m.) LONDON", March 23. < )lr. Lloyd Oorge, in his usual weekly { article' upon current affairs, deals this wee k with the growth of democracy and tie extension of the electorate in Britain. He writes:— Democracy, in tiip sense of the government of a great St;ite by tlu> absolute unfettered authority of the majority of its citizens, of all ranks and conditions, j, a modern experiment. How many re jlise that Britain became a democracy lor the first time in 1017? Until then He majority of the adult population ki no voice in making and administering the laws that. rule, their lives. The United States, France, and Ttaly adopted universal suffrage for many a year, so lave the British Dominions, but Britain, the pioneer of representative institution? mtil recently, shrank from the experiment of adult suffrage. Before the Reform Act of 1R32 the total electorate in this country was only 3 per cent of 'lie population. The distribution of power amongst this small ereentage was so arranged that no more than 1 per cent was effective. Tho generation of turmoil, almost culminating in revolution, forced through a measure Increasing the electorate to 4.5 per cent, but to call this percentage a democracy It ridiculous. DISRAELI'S AUDACITY. Another generation of growing agitation ensued; this also ended in violence. Then Disraeli, one of the boldest and most venturesome of British statesmen, doubled the electorate. Disraeli's audacious plunge horrified some of his -iristocratic supporters and shocked many others. Bob Lowe had already foretold tie calamities that would follow Mr. Gladstone's more cautious proposals. Seven years latpr saw the election of the first Tory Parliament since 1841. Ro much for prophecies of men who always fear that evil must flow from jußtira. Fifteen years after the Disraeli measures Gladstone added another 7 per cent *.o the Thess proposals were so vehemently contested that they nearly precipitated a constitutional crisis of the first magnitude. Ultimately they irere carried, and there the franchise remained until the war. The electorate, which accepted tho Gorman challenge of 1014, and therefore was responsible for involving the country in the costliest and most sanguinary war it ever waged, represented one-six't'i of the pop.ulation and about one-third of Ike adults. The Conscription Act converted this country to the injustice of this state of things; millions of men were forced to risk their lives for a policy in which they had no share in the fashioning: millions of women faced anxieties and tortures worse than death in fte pursuit of the same policy, yet no woman was allowed to express any opinion on the selection of rulers. It was felt to be so unjust that in the walfstion of war. which lifted men to 8 higher plane of equity, this obvious wrong was redressed. INDIFFERENT ELECTORS. Hence the greatest of all enfranchisement Acts, that of 1917, for the first time converted the British system of govt.Tvment into a democracy. He.v has (t worked? It is too early to speak of Its results. You will find ffom the result of the recent election more than half fie new electorate unattached to any political narty. It is free, floating ihout without any anchor or rudder, and ready to be towed by the first party that mceeeds in roping them. Millions of tbe new electors are too indifferent or '-o undecided about political issues to take sides at the polling booths. In the election of January, 1010. 92 percent of the voters polled ; "at the 191S flection (34 per cent. This might be explained by the inevitable political apathy which follows war. The old party organisations had fallen into complete disrepair, hence their failure to induce 5K million new voters to take sufficient interest in their new privileges to exercise them. The next four years formed a period of growing political activity, the new party being especially enercetie. Irs fhief organiser, Mr. Arthur Henderson, w as one of -the most gifted party "rjanisers of this generation, and his achievement forms an example for future political organisers of this country. The old parties had also time to repair their machinery, nnd the only party *ith no organisation worth .speaking about was the National Liberals. The "tiler? wpre ready for the strjjrgle. nonrlv five million electors w cr<> not sufficiently interested to record 'heir votes. How does the record compare with democracy in other lands? France is no better: on the whole, 1 understand, it is worse. Voting in the T'nitcd States Ituctuntcs, and does not differ from Britain. The Germans polled W per rent last election, Italy much lower: hut one day an issue will arise *hich will wake nn tho most lethargic. SOCIALISM'S GROWTH. What will it be? AVliat view will they taken when it comes? They may rally to the defence of property menaced by rapacious creeds: they may rush to the Protection of their homes threatened by avaricious wealth. Even those who tavc already voted arc liable to sudden devastating changes of opinion—witness Mitcham, Willesden. and Edgehill byp lwtions. Among many disquieting factors there i* one which "ought to be dealt Jntb. before another election is held. ' nder the present system a minority of the electors may usurp dominion over 'he fortunes of the kingdom for fully ove years. America has brought its vast electorate under what seems perfect discipline, but through much tribulation. including the furnace of a terrible civil *ai-. a'talv has been impelled to correct the working of democratic institutions "y the display of force. Britain may mobilise and drill its electoral forces w ith less trouble, but it has a Socialist party n-hich has grown by millions -withWle3B than a decade, and is still grow,'flg. Its most eloqu .-nt member is proposing in the House of Commons v solemn men ion for the abolition ol Private property. Deputies chosen l>v jouraiid'a .limner million* will vote lot "i Bud if t,.iir yi'iirf hencr they add "toother million and n half to their poli they wi 1 bo i,, :. position to r.lace thai moticn on the Statute Hook. (A. and K -2. I able.)