SHOULD MAJORITIES RULE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14531, 19 November 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

SHOULD MAJORITIES RULE.

BY FBANK MORTON.

Once upon a time, there were wrecked on a Small and inaccessible island fourteen persons" of undoubted integrity and rather admirable morals : three scientists, two wise men of distinguished attainments, an excellent elderly bishop, and eight strenuous artisans with profound political convictions. So soon as they had dried their clothes and regained some portion of their animal warmth, the most determined and conscientious of the artisans convened a solemn conference of the party. He said, "We may be here for an indefinite period of time, and I do not 'esitate to say that we shall be in a state bordering on anarchy if we don't order our conduct accordin' to true democratic principles. I propose, therefore, that tb« majority shall rule, and that nothing shall be done contrary to the wishes an' desires of the majority. If this meets with the approval of the meeting, will you kindly signify in the usual manner. Carried." "But," the bishop pleaded, "it may be that the majority will decide on certain i things that my conscience cannot approve, nor my vows permit me to , condone. What then?" " We have 'ad enough of the tyranny of an effete aqd parieitical church/ said the Determined Artisan. " You will do as yon are ordered, or we'll know the reason why." "But," objected the leading scientist, " I perceive that there are on this island many poisonous fruits of a very pleasing appearance. It may be that the majority will decide that it is well to eat some of these. How will you know what to eat and what to reject, if you leave the decision to the majority?" " The majority will be honest workers," said the Determined Artisan. "Accordin' to the most approved political principles, a majority of honest workers can do no

wrong. That truth comes, as it were, I may sayerreverberatin' down the corridors- of Time. We shall be guided by the instinct that 'as enabled us to overthrow the corrupt oligarchy which, with the assistance of the effete and parasitical church, has filled the world with blood an* tears for the last two thousand years. You will do what you are told to do, or you shall do nothing at all."

"But," urged the wisest of the Wise Men, "these conditions are not the conditions in which your approved political principles have justified themselves. Why should not each of us earnestly strive to help and comfort the others, while maintaining full liberty to do what seems best for himself ? Does it not seem, to you that in matters of our common interest the special knowledge or attainments of any one of us should outweight the mere opinion or so-called instinct of the rest?" "I don't want ntano of your dam' impudence," said the Most Determined Artisan.

When the party was finally rescued by a steamer from a Mesopotamian port,, it was found that no determined artisans had survived.. One had caught a chill, and sturdily refusing the ministrations and firmly disregarding the advice of the scientists, had miserably perished in a twisted manner. One had died of a sudden apoplexy brought on by his frantic attempt to convince the wisest of the wise men that there was no hope for the salvation of the race, save by the application of a gross and astounding fallacy that he then and there propounded. One had succumbed to his pains, having eaten a certain poisonous fish which his instinct (deriding the warning of the scientists) had preferred apd selected. Three had been suffocated in a quicksand, as they went out in the dark to prove that ho such quicksand had ever been known to exist. One, while rehearsing an oration in a solitary place, had been seized and slain by a prowling cannibal with a reasonably good ear for music. And the eighth had died from exhaustion while in the act of proving to the protesting minority that it was possible for any man to live without food for a month.

That island was an epitome of the civilised world as we know it. The majority of men in every civilised land are incredibly persuaded that they should, by some inexplicable, divine or natural, right of majorities, rule and coerce everybody else. . A steamship that was' ruled and navigated by vote of the majority of those aboard would never arrive anywhere before the smash came. The business concern that was manged absolutely and in detail according to the vote of the majority of the persons in any way concerned in it, would be torn to pieces by irascible judges in bankruptcy within a year. Even a newspaper that was edited according to the dictates of the majority of the people employed in producing it would be promptly scoffed out of existence by an outraged public. But still we are told that the governing of any nation or community should be by the majority, any majority that happens for the moment to be on top, wholly and eolely. Why? No man, out of the hundreds of public and would-be public men it has been my pleasure or misfortune to know, has ever been able to give me a satisfactory reason. A household is ruled i>y its head, a college by its principal. Even a permanent department of government is essentially ruled by its paid experts, except on occasions when it is made foolish or ineffective by the interference of some political minister or cabal. An army is governed by its officers, and in the ultimate resort by its commander-in-chief. Even in communities of the superior birds and beasts there is often a recognised leader or autocrat. Why should it bo- supposed that politics is of necessity topsy-turveydom ? I don't know. You may pretend to know; but as a matter of fact, you know no more than I do.

It is perfectly true that if all men and women were intellectually and morally equal, it would be a fair arrangement that the will of the majority should rule in regard to certain matters where interference with the individual is absolutely essential to the common welfare of the citizens. But all men and women are not intellectually and morally equal, and it is one of the prime defects of democracy that they are for political purposes so regarded. A man's value to the community is his individual and moral worth, and not merely his weight as a unit in proportion to the mass of population. No man in any degree sane can pretend that the wise and prudent among men form a majority of the whole. The seers and initiators are, in fact, a minority infinitely small. A certain man may be the glory of his nation but modern democracy of the most advanced type has decided that at the ballot-box he shall have precisely the weight and power of any kitchenwench he employs, if she happens to be over 21 years of age. If the women of England were politically enfranchised tomorrow they would be more numerous than the enfranchised men, and in any matter as to which they made common cause they would be able to control and compel the men, arbitrarily and absolutely. This, in spite of the fact that there are still whole great provinces of men's concerns of which nine women out of every ten are almost pitably ignorant. In any case, I will never admit the right of any majority to drive me. Our dealings with each other must be governed by concessions based on compromise. If you are personally disagreeable to me, I never could be fool enough to pretend that I have any. right to call in Brown, Jones, and Robinson to join with me in compelling you to be agreeable. lam within my rights if I personally attempt to persuade you to alter your methods; but beyond that I cannot go. And I would not if I if»vd<£. * " - — 1