A CASE FOR COERCION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20306, 13 July 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

A CASE FOR COERCION.

MIGHT BEHIND RIGHT.

BY MATANGA

What a splendid world this would bo without parliaments and polico and prisons! No laws to bo made, none to bo enforced! Tho dream captivates vc.ry different minds. Tho theologian and the thug, m their diverse ways, cherish it. I'lie moral and the immoral meet hero in agreement Each would havo n law less world, ono because all hearts become so surely set on viniie that tio statutes and by-laws aro necessary, the other so prone to vico that these tilings mean to him an irksomo restraint. It i 3 a strange fellowship unequally yoking those, who long foi the best of all possible worlds and those who long for the worst Each eyes with misgiving every watch dog, every padlock almost every walk mg stick. It may bo conceded to them both that a world withoui bolts and keys and window-catches is to be desired greatly, but it must be equally denied to them, for their chastening that this millennium of their hope- stiouM dawn to-morrow There is onough common sense in tho community to prevent a clean sweep being made of al law and tho things that embody it. Nor docs this common sense appear only in communities marked by such outward nr.d visible signs of civilisation as parliaments and polico and prisons. Youi savage, innocent of latch keys and burglar alarms, has his own ways of enforcing respect foi property and person: primitive enough, some of them; and some, like tho tapu and the muru of the ancient Maori, elaborate to a degieo. In them ali is law, and be hind law is a power of coercion only a little more summary in its working than the coercion operating among peoples blessed with the luxuries of blue papci and red sealing wax. High-sounding Claims, A very interesting feature of these advanced and advancing peoples is the appearance from time to time among them of apparently respectable folk bent on ridiculing law Verv significantly, they are young, and present a study in atavism that must deligh' 'he heart of the an thropologist. No longer children undei the constraint of well ordered homes, but grown to an age when they are sure that thev havt learned all that then fathers can teach "hem -and a good deal more—they kick over the traces I hey not only faugh at locksmiths; they laugh at locks. they mock not only at law vers but at laws Legislation is to them a hugo joke, arid courts but insti unions to be defied Especially does the suggestion of coercion irk then assei tive spirits. The most interesting aspect of tins in dividual revolt against the communal authority is that u is often marked by high-sounding claims to sit in |udgnient on judges Defiance of law is defended by appeal to some allegedly lofty pnn ciplo to which tho law must be subject, a principle of which its espousers claim to be the infallible exponents. when their defiance meets with 'he only eftec five answer thev have left to a Routed authority, and they are corn pelled to suffer for their hi each of the considered edicts of 'lie community, they assume the role o) martvrs, attempting as a last resort to turn "the laugh upon coercion thus. The role ill befits them. Martyrdom, to have anv merit, must be deeper than tho skin Refusing self-assertively to obey irksome injunctions, they have proved themselves of alien spirit to the patient heroes of old who underwent an imposition of pain and toil, and only accepted martyrdom when it was inexorably thrust upon them Thev did not seek ii. and had no thought of self-p'orification in it. These seek :t. for obvious self-glory in their revolt against the community. The Only Possible Answer.

Coercion is the onl x possible answer to tho defiantly lawless in a world that has not yet outgrown tho need for law; and those who condemn resort to this answei are logically committed to carry their condemnation of coercion to a negation of all respect for civil government. Indeed, to be consistent, they should abstain fiom the use of all facilities not to be had without coercion. An impressive fact of modern life is the remarkable development of services of public utility rendered by corporate action of the kind that depends ulti mately on legal coercion backed! by force. Roads, bridges, railways, tramways, water supply, drainage, street lighting, sanitary precautions, postal and telegraphic systems, and what not, are either government or municipal concerns, or the achievements of private enterprise given special rights enforceable by law Under existing conditions, conditions seemingly destined to endure for untold years to cotnc, all theso amenities are impossible without social compulsion. That is 'he lesson taught by every rate notice, every land tax and income tax return and demand. Could these things be kept going on a basis of individual go-as-you-please 7 The reasonable majority of every corn munity would say About that—" We Are prepared to do our share, but wc refuse to do also the share of others ablo to help, but preferring to enjoy the benefit for nothing." To bo consistent, tho doPiers of law in any one particular should decline to use all such amenities, including the services of public health and public education, for all rest at bottom on coercive law. If they care not to accept tho position as they find it, they havo tho option of emigrating in search of soino land where coercive law is unknown. Anarchists. In all thought of such individual revolt against lav/, whatever the motive of the revolt, there ought not to be over looked the fact that the re vol tors are anarchists No denial, however grandilo qucntly phrased, can alter the fact. The liberty that is churned is indistinguishable from licence. If every man asserts his right to do what is right in his own eyes, there is an end to social order; if any considerable number of men do so, social order will be compelled to fight for its life; if even one or two do so with bravado, they challenge social order, and tho challenge must lie taken up, lest lawbo brought into disrepute. The law may sometimes be an ass, but Bumble took care to say so in private, and then only under the maddening smart of exposure of his own trickery. To have it publicly so arraigned would bo intolerable. There arc 'ight and wrong ways of seeking a change of the law, and open ridicule of authority is certainly not among the right ways Only those taking caro to keep "on side" by obeying the law as it exists merit heed to their endeavou-s to get it altered. A clinching justification for coercion is found in the need to prevent lawless deed. The idealist who would produce a lawless world by changing men's hearts—an excellent but tedious programme-—ought not to ignore the necessity, in existing irciimstauces, of restraining their hands Ft would be poor help to a man being ma! treated by roughs to waste sentimental oleas on them, and, when these failed, to leave him to his fato. Law is the cor porato expression of social ri nonsibility 'or his security from villains, and it must 'ieeds do more than offer a scent bottle to them, and then, if thoy liko not its odour, go its idlo way.