POLITICS AS A PROFESSION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 11, 12 July 1912, Page 6

POLITICS AS A PROFESSION

A brief cable message from Adelaide yesterday conveyed the opinion of the Governor-General (Lord Denman) that horse-racing was an " engrossing sport " and politics was " one of the finest professions." Ho indicated that he had found one a pleasant change from th« other, and left politicians to imagine that when they were weary of statecraft they could find adequate reei)eation on the Turf, especially if they rode horses in steeplechase*. Readers here may regret that- the report of His Lordship's; utterance was all too meagre. "He thought politics was one of the finest professions, but it was never so difficult as it wae to-day," the cable said, and there it stopped. " Difficult " is a word of many meanings, particularly in politics. Probably Lord Denman had in mind the industrial and social problems which are vexing statesmen and politicians in Great Britain and the Dominions overseas as well as in other countries of the Old World and the New. The functions of the State become more varied and complicated from year to year," and in this question of the proper degree of "State intervention" lies the "difficulty" of latter-day politics. In a review of Lord Hugh Cecil's new book on " Conservatism," a critic in the Contemporary remarks : " Lord Hugh Cecil's sympathies to some extent lie in, theory with the Whigs, or Liberals, of the midnineteenth, century — the party that insisted on, the all-powerful character o{ economic laws, on the ultimate uswlessness of State intervention, and (by a curious meonsieteiKiy when we realise that' the doctrine of laiseez-faive enslaved ' the greater part of the population) on • the liberty of the individual. . . . Modern Conservatism desires to preserve in order not to change, and modern Liberalism desires to change in order to progress." The political world move mertt to-day i* Liberal, in rceponee to * deshs of change for the bottc* , ' and

an amy of practitioner* affetite ability to lead the people towards peace and ' plenty. The Parliaments of Australasia venture further into the domain of "liberty of the subject" than the "Mother of Parliaments" has been allowed to go, and they have less regard for the operation of so-called "natural laws." Therefore, if disastrous blundering i& to be avoided, these young countries must be served by well trained public men, student* of history, keen observers of contemporary event* and development*, intelligent readers. It 1* a matter of chance whether such men can be secured to shape a -wise policy of Government. There is no satisfactory insurance scheme against the machination* of th* glib tongued " carpet-bagger,"' whose profession is rather to tickle the ears of the crowd than to enlighten the public. He prefers to lighten the pnblic purse, and gives no substantial return for his emolument. Before a man can practise on the body physical he has to furnish proof of competency, but no searching proof is required from the man who wishes to practise on the 'body politic. It is a profession with an open door, and many charlatans have entered. The " quack," with an oily tongue and adamantine front, may find it easier to get into th* profession of politics than the man of solid character and knowledge wide and deep. The electoral law and the methods which have come into, vogue for election campaign© help rathe*' the undesirable than the desirable type of candidate." Therefore the term "professional politician," which should be an honourable one, carries a tang. It should mean " a man who honestly makes a, profession of serving the public with his whole mind and hi* whole heart/ but in common usage it means "an artful exploiter of the public." The country does need able men of integrity who will make politics an honourable profession, for thus public occupation is one to take the whole time of an earnest man who wishes to keep himself well informed, but it does yearn to see an end of the "parochial profession" of politics.