PROFESSOR W. T. MILLS.

Evening Star, Issue 14607, 1 July 1911, Page 12

PROFESSOR W. T. MILLS.

• DESPOTISM OR DEMOCRACY. Professor W. T. Mills, of Milwaukee, US A., a fluent and humorous speaker with a decided American accent, gave his first addicts in Dunedin last night, when ha took for his subject ‘Despotism or Democracv. ’ Mr A. W. Palmer, president of the Otago Trades and Labor Council, occupied the chair, and there was a good attendance of ladies and gentlemen. The Professor, who spoke for close on %ro hours, received quite an ovation. Government, he said, was indispensable for the control of those things which were necessary to life, and which could not be used unless they were used in common. There were three proposals for their control —first, by unanimous agreement; second, bv a minority of those concerned; ami, third, bv a majority of those concerned. Government by unanimous agreement was | quit© impracticable, because if nothing was. ever done until there were no objectors j left nothing would ever be done. Ins ■uthontv cf a minority government must ( jest on ‘some special privilege, and it was ; absolutely impossible to grant a special privilege to any portion of the people uii- : leas- special corresponding disadvantages were forced on the Test. No man could ■ get something for nothing unless someone , else cot nothing for something. It was a ; Vorr r ' unbroken story in the history ot the work! that where special privileges were granted peopl-e usod special prniteg£* tor their own advantage and to the injury and loss of the rest of the people. There remained, then, government by a. majority. It- was true that majorities might do wrong and perpetuate injustice, but majority government depended for its exist- , euce* upon an .appeal to the judgment and conscience of the people. Therefore, the errors of a majority Government could bo repaired by putting it out of office. _ But a mmoritv acind raver be put out of office. In che 'case of a majority Government its error or injustice could only last until a just minority, by agitation and education, could convert itself into a majority. It had been said that all great acnievenient' ( had been the woik ot minorities. Ihe j wise, the good, the beneficent, the geniuses > were a minority. Why, then, was it left to , the multitude of the incompetent to govern? He would admit that if the minority which would govern would always comprise the wisest and the best his objections to minority government would have no weight. But experience had shown that minority Governments were never so composed. ’ Further, no minority had ever been able to achieve the good it sought to do except by converting itself into a majority. The story of human pmgrees was simply tho conversion of _ advanced minorities into triumphant ma-jmt-ties. He stood to-day for a list, of pro- , posals that were in a minority in every country on tho face of the earth, but he was absolutely sure that tho things he longed to have clone were going to be done, or that something better than he had ever dreamed of would be accomplished in their place. Of the two forms ot government —minority and majority rule—one was despotism and the other was democracy, and between the two there had always been war to the knife. Of the United States he said that, as with all countries, there were two Governments—one with its headijuarteis in , Washington, and the other with its head- j quarters in Wall street, New York. The | Government in Washington was a political; democracy ; the government in New York j was an industrial despotism. The Go- i vernment in Washington held an election ■ once and awhile, and asked the people; what they thought of it, but the govern- j ment in New York never held any elec- ; lions at all, and didn't care what the | people thought of it. The Government at ' Washington dealt with matters that j affected them all. but the government in j Hew York grappted with them in the | Cradle, and never loosened its grip as long ; W life lasted, and was able to stranglty and . exploit the people. What was despotism ? J Government, by appointment from the i top down. Under despotism every man i above ruled all those below, net the ; benefit of those below, but for the profit of ; those above. What was democracy? Under i democracy the smallest group of people i having interests together must have its ; chief man, but that chief man was elected ' by those below. Despotism ruled by ap- | pointraent from the top down ; democracy j ruled by election from the bottom up. . Under despotism evesy man above ruled ' all below in order that the man below j enriched the man above ; under democracy ! the man above was elected by those below, j net that he might represent those below or j those- above, but in order that, he might ! act as the spokesman in carrying out the . collective wishes of those who put him on ) the top. All human progress had been a j departure away from despotism and to- I wards democracy. In the most democratic I countries there were the- survivals of des- j potism. and in the most despotic countries there were the beginnings of democracy. In many countries they had political demo, cracy and industrial despotism, and no i country could long abide the two. Either democracy would be the- master of codec- , tive interest in every relationship of life, or else the despotism that survived would undermine their free institution?, and attain absolute power. The government of any country was simply the sum total of all*the collective activities permitted to be c arried on in that country. Professor Mills also spoke at length on industrial democracy, urging that- there was great need for change from a system which was having very harmful effects on the health of the community. Concluding, he said: “I came to tell vou, the men of New Zealand, that we in America are making every effort to do away with the rudimentary survival of the 'ancient despotisms under which all the people of the earth have suffered altogether too long. 1 come to pay you the most sincere compliment a citizen of one country can pay to another—l come to study and to make mysdf acquainted with the splendid work you have done, and with the great achievements you have already accomplished in democracy. Just because you have accomplished so much, just because you have been able to do so much, all the world looks to New Zealand—and I iia-v it in all sincerity—to do the rest, and to do it quickly, arid to give to others, especially 'to the English-speaking race, the results of the most advanced experiments so far attempted. If there is anything I can do to consolidate, to make victorious, tho real democracy of New Zealand, T am willing to help, in order to elevate all that is'best and truest- in the ■ British race, and to show here what may he done, and to demonstrate round the world what ought to be done." Professor Mills will speak at the King s Theatre to-morrow afternoon and evening.