WHEN DEMOCRACY RULES.

Grey River Argus, 21 July 1923, Page 8

WHEN DEMOCRACY RULES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Throughout the world to-day, there is a determined attempt, by the interests of capitalism, to prevent, if possible, government “by the people, of the people, for the people,” and almost every day there are inspired articles in the newspapers, written only for this purpose. Yet, like John Brown’s soul, the spirit of Democracy

goes marching on. The latest from America (that land that hatched the screeching bird of liberty) comes in the report of the infamous trial of innocent men consummated in the terms if imprisonment of from one to 1-1 years, for what.’ Nothing approaching the seriousness of the watering of bank stock, etc.! “To the west, to the west, to the land of the free,” will be remembered by f(dlow-workers, yet what a tragedy these words convey at the present time. It will be remembered that this so-called land of the free (during the period that Russia was being blockaded by the very Allies for which she fought, in the hope that starvation would force the Russian people to sacrifice that hard-won Democracy they held) only agreed to carry food to that starving country’on the condition that the Quaker Societies which supplied the food, free, shipped it in American vessels, and paid the highest possible freight. “Give us this day our daily bread’’ seems surely mockery, and is it any wonder that in London a ~few days ago the Bishop of London mooted the idea of the sale of a number of city churches, from the fact that no one attended as previously? Democracy, in its wisdom, will still retain its spiritual import, but such will be the religion of a World Federation, and Brotherhood, for we recognise that the Labour Movement is in itself a religion, a church, whose supreme object is the good and happiness of all classes, and above all else Democracy will first seek the disarmament of the nations, and succeed in ridding the world for ever from the ravages of the war monster. At the present time much is being attempted to bring about a war in the interests of oil, and only stern opposition from thi working-class peoples will avoid it. The Labour spirit is alive at present, ami this is a solid factor which has prevented the over-running of Russia, the crippling of Turkey, and other places bordering on the oil fields of Europe, and any New Zealand politician, or English member of Parliament who says otherwise, is certainly playing ducks and drakes with th" truth; but in many cases this is only a small matter when vested interests are at stake. In this city, at the present time, it is impossible to get a letter of this, nature in the columns of the daily papers. Some of them are more concerned about the money they have invested in the newly-formed capitalwatered brewery combine, than they arc concerning the serious amount of unemployment and want that is existing at the present moment in the city of Christchurch. Democracy will not permit these conditions to exist, for we believe that there is work for all who are ready and willing to perform that social service which makes for the good and well-being of us all, and in this direction we can earn our means of exchange, instead of having to borrow it from banks, and thus compounding interest which at present is one of the main factors of the present exorbitant cost of living. In this city there has lately been a wages reduction by the “Employers’ Executive ’’ the citizen nominees on the City Council, and it is strange to relate that one of these men, who is an employer of labour, has since the event vested in a new motor car. Democracy will take

care that deduction from one’s capacity to work will not interfere with the earning power of the performer of the necessary social service, and thus wage-cuts will be unknown when Democracy rules. A lowering of wages

at present means only a curtailment of the already meagre spending power of the masses, and yet at the behest of the “big interests,” it is carried out in any questionable manner whatIn England, at present, there is a new feeling growing up, and it is that feeling of the Democracy which, later on, will startle the world, and this feeling has been fostered by the many men who, previously having suffered imprisonment and other punishments, are now the acknowledged opposition in the King’s Parliament. As time goes on, ami election after election takes place, we find the forces of Democracy gaining ground each day, and in the opinion of the vast majority to-day, the next party to take the reins of Government and lift debt-ridden England out of the financial mire into which ,ghe has sunk, will be those people who are elected by the vote and voice of Democracy, and we shall be able to return to those days described by Tennyson — “There was a time, ere England's grief began, When every rood of ground maintained its man.” So, sir, I : sk all those whose ideals and purposes are akin to mine to help hasten that day, by believing, as I do, that Labour’s spirit is indestructible, and by helping that great spirit to ensure for its people a lasting Peace and Plenty.—l am, etc., | WAKE UP. Christchurch, July 16, 1923.