THINGS THAT MATTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14977, 24 April 1909, Page 12

THINGS THAT MATTER.

(By J. T. PAUL.) I.—OF DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP. ' ,

The Cynic: Nothing matters. Tlie Pessimist: Everything is wrong, Tho Optimist: Everything is right. Tho Average Man: Nothing matters—much.

The Wiser Man: Some things matter more than others.

Such are the types and the everyday view as I seo them. I agree with the Wiser man, though his wisdom in endorsing the very ordinary motto may not bo profound. But just how much profound wisdom is there in modern democracy ? Wisdom there is, of course; apathy, yes. And how far does, the apathy overshadow everything P The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Liberty mean* citizenship and nationhood of the highest and fullest order. I-purpose writing a series of articles on Things That Matter. Present-day tendencies take too much for granted. Everything is left to Providence with neither request nor thanks. It is not surprising that Providence decides that there are many things we must do for ourselves.

The other day a man from far back was travelling on one of our coastal steamers. Ho was ' not an ordinary type. He had individuality of a sort. An officer struck up a conversation. " What do you do on the out-back ranch outside Working hours?" " Well, at times I read a little. Other times I sits and thinks. Sometimes I jest " Sometimes I jest sits 1" As with the individual so with the nation. Now, I am not a Jeremiah. I have ample faith in the dominion and its people. A country richly endowed by Nature, peopled by a vigorous and intelligent population, must command and hold a large place in the world. Quite so—unless it " jest sits."

Has it ever occurred to tho average man that, though we have the most democratic franchise possible, our system of representation is unscientific and undemocratic? I purpose trying to prove that contention in this series of articles.

We had better first understand that wo are neither the first great nation nor the first democracy. Tho history of democracy has not yet been written ; the spirit of democracy is breathed by millions of men and through a hundred thousand pages, but to trace society from its origin to the attainment of universal suffrage is impracticable here. Godkin, when discussing Aristotle's "Politics," says: "It is somewhat startling to see how small is the advance we, have made on his ideas." All his main principles can be approved. Summarised by Godkin, they are mainly that the great end of men in society should be not simply to live, but to live well; that a free State should be composed of freemen; that a State in which the good of the rulers is fought rather than that of the many is not a free State; that private property is- essential; that no man is» a citizen who does not share in the government ; that a good citizen and a good man are.synonymous terms; that no man should be judge in .his own cause; that government should be adapted to the men til and moral condition of the governed.; that every class '.in a State, if it gets possession of the government, is apt to seek its own advantage exclusively. Aristotle's time, it will bo remembered, was about 400 B.C. It must not be imagined that early democracies ran wholly along our lines. Neither Greek nor Gothic schoolsresemble ours in some fundamentals. In the former the labourers were slaves; universal suffrage was unknown in all. Citizens of some of the dead nations, however, had high principles and responsibilities. " Our problem," writes the high-minded Dr Felix Adle r , "is not as it was in the Old World, to work liberty out of order, but order out of liberty." The citizen of ancient Greece had a high ideal of public service. Patriotic public spirit was> shown by the city republics of the Middle Ages—" the glory and honour of Italy." "We regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs not as a harmless, but as a useless character," wrote Thucydides. The old Romans penalised the man who.did not use his vote by depriving him of his freemanship for a year. 'Bhis all means that in many ages it has Seen' recognised mat only ho is valuable to the nation who will accept and live up to the responsibilities of citizenship. " The greatest difficulty in England to-day is not to -get more power for the people, but to induce them to use the vast power they havo," wrote Mr Sidney Webb. To the thoughtful the same difficulty is apparent hero. How much interest was taken in the late pavljamentary election as such? Eliminate the liquor issue and tho public interest displayed was unworthy of a municipal contest. And it is pertinent to hazard an opinion on the interest in the coming municipal ©lections. On. the last occasion the votes polled displayed a lamentable lack of public spirit. And this in our municipalities where—the poet says: Tho Devil lias wrought with his broom of Greed, „, Sweeping the land this mliiy a day; Ho hits heaped i\e people in cities and towns,

Next ho wi'.l shoval the heaps away;— lies a field bevond dreams for affectiug the everyday lives of the. people.' Many have lost faith in the Parliaments of older lands, and look to tho municipalities as tho fountain head of democracy and tho hope of the future. Tho great strides made in municipal betterment give substance to their faith. And why have the older Parliament? especially failed? I will attempt some answer in my next. 'lts discussion is worth while, but if older Parliaments have ceased to be able to cope with present-day problems, and no longer hold the confidence of the people, our younger colonial Legislatures are endangered. An old policeman with long years of duty about the House of Commons once put it this way to Mr George Haw: " It's not what it used to be, sir. They fight now. Likewise tell lies regular. Before they only used to do it occasionally, and it used to be done in what you might call a delicate way. But now, bless us! they do it deliberately every night. Big tins, too!" A' policeman's standard in the matter of a nation's Parliament should not be so high as impossiblo of achievement. The policeman formed his judgment just prior to the advent of the Labour party. That may have worked some improvement. Democracy in action must always bo consciously honest. Shallow thinkers advocate that tho mistakes of democracy should be remedied at the expense of individuals. It is a rough-and-ready method; immoral and disastrous. If democracy accepts the dictum that this year's mistakes do not matter because they can be righted next year at die individual's expense, then it will alvays be a slovenly blunderer. Democracy, like the individual, must pay for its errors. It is a collection of individuals. An injury to one is the concern of all.

An ever-present danger to a young democracy is a forgetlulness of tho past. Granted the past was 90 per ■cent wrong, oven in the large percentage of wrong there are wholesome lessons. " Nothing in progression 'can Tost on its original plan," said Burke. Live nations are in progression. Tho wisdom, of the past is a priceless treasure. The experiments and failures of the past have a very real value. The o;reat men who are asleep leave us their debtors. Yet it is fashionable at tho moment to ignore or to dismiss tha

past with a lofty eneer. There are a few in my own school of politics who profess contempt for the-early Labour leaders. " Why, they only believed in trades unionism t" Precisely. And they blazed tho track when the largo majority were active opponents of trades unionism. Those of thorn who are alive to-day deserve honour rather than a patronising censure. In the great scheme of things they filled their allotted part. They were not revolutionaries because their surroundings and their enviropmemnt were not revolutionary.

We. of the new dominions are fit for . the universal suffrage we enjoy. It is at once a duty and a trust. We will deserve a low place in tho history of peoples if we betray that trust. Many a staunch democrat has despaired of democracy in bygone times. Joseph Mazzini, democrat to his finger-tips and passionate lover of the people, had hia dark days.. "Give the suffrage to. a people unfitted for it, governed by hateful reactionary passions, they will sell it; they will introduce instability into every part of, the State; they will render impossible those great combined views, those thoughts for the K future, which make the life of a nation powerful and progressive." Mazzini declared that he had seen. " the great and beautiful ensign of democracy" torn, and his ideal —" the progress of all under the leadership"of the best and wisest" —shattered. The great task to develop and prove democracy is the measure of our duty. By temperament, education and environment I believe we are fitted to fulfil that duty. But to do so demands the best thought and activity of every man and woman. If only half*of our adult population realise the responsibilities of citizenship democracy will probably fail, for it can only succeed and develop equitably when its constituent parts take their full responsibility. To have complete self-govern- , ment is not necessarily democratic rule. Without a full acceptance of the duties of citizenship by all citizens even the universal franchise may mean government by the most mischievous elements. Mazzini advocated universal suffrage as " the starting point of political education." Morley says democracy is spendthrift." The reason, of course, \i that the units are apathetic. If the electoral system is such that our-representative institutions do not reflect the views of the democracy, then again democracy may easily be a magnificent failure. And for the reason that democracy does not rule I purpose a consideration of that question later. In a consideration of the Things That Matter I do > not want our de.mocracy to "jest 6it." .