WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 86, 8 October 1921, Page 4

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

It is true that Messrs. Veitch, Kellett, and S. Smith came to be known as the Moderate Labour section of the House of Kepresentative's, and' we can understand some soreness on Mr. Veiich's part at the fact that the name of a group of M.P.'s to which he belongs has been appropriated by a party organisation to which he prefers not to belong. But even if there has fifteen some tampering with a moral copyright, we hardly think that the matter is jworth pursuing, and we are disinclined to analyse the technical arguments of Mr. Statham ("Where is your party?") and of Mr. Veitch ("Where is your union?") or to perpetuate a discussion that seems to be hardly worth while. The main question is not who can take a name, but who can live up to it. If the name "Progressive" is not to be lived up to any better than the name "Reform," the name "Liberal," and the name "Lab-' our," the self-christening efforts of new organisations, and of organisations yet to be born, will not amount to very much. If the electorate is not tired of names, it ought to be. The prime need is a no-humbug party, and it may yet have to be built up synthetically by the election of; independents whose personal calibre commends them to the electors. What is wanted is strong men rather than played-out labels.