The Time that Passes

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7979, 9 December 1911, Page 11

The Time that Passes

By Selwtn Kideb. 1-hn river) in" viro in ynu nml mo Is hateful at Um first; but then, ihoulcl it ones spread Irom sea. to sea. 'Tis virtue in tea thousand men. rim crawl'll!,' bates tliat blot ami mar Tim beauty of the vernal sod Oo multiply, unti! they arc Accounted as the luists of God. —Abbas cl Dm el AmiU The Crowd. iH.VVE road many books ami treatises cm tho habits and psychology of crowds; but I coutess that 1 don t tinlierstund crowds yet. They are human and inhuman, keen and stupid, prepoeIf ro us and imnre.ssivo, kind ami ■ greedy, tt’iso and mad. Tho great crowd outside tho “Timet*" office on Thursday night Ava.* no exception to this rule. -It was, on tho whole, a .remarkably good-tem-pered crowd: but lit some points irritation stirred it immediately to bitterness. ■ I stood wedged in tho heart of it for four mortal hoars, and at the last was rather abashed than exalted by the experience, first <ll all, “» I thought of the divino and mtalliblo TH’iueiples of democracy, this crowd gave mu pause All about mo wore callow youths ami girls with votes. I watched their behaviour, and I heard their comments; and 1 put it very mildly when I say that their behaviour was foolish, while their comments were absurd. XVrhaps the most astonishing thing of ail was their absolute ignorance of politics, (heir positive inability to understand what such a contest meant and portended. Homo of them volubly expounded their faith. X heard bow certain had voted for National Prohibition “to see what would happenand how some had. voted for National Prohibition, for no apparent reason at all. I listened to amazing misstatements touching almost every province of p<i 1 itics. Incidentally, I had added proof of tho fact that the Prohibition issue- and menace has brought into tho minds of even the most thoughtless of our people an element of permanent and hateful bitterness. It seems that even young people who have not yet boon nobbled and hoodwinked by tho maudlin or mediaeval party aro beginning to understand dimly what Prohibition moans. When Mr Wright (who is doubtless an excellent gman, though Providence lias denied him grace and dignity) got tip to speak, hundreds of young faces about me blazed into a lire of contempt. The Wowser Byword. “Wowser!” they cried. To-day there is no other term in our colloquial quite bo ’contemptuous and derisive ns that. Even Mr Fisher would have had a hearing, hail ho not been suspected of what people consider the wowser taint; and kind Heaven knows that poor Mr Fisher lias little enough to commend -him in tho field of politics. It is useless arguing at length about tho matter now. This wavo of Prohibitive mania lias

spread over the country and it seems that things have to ho worse now before wo ’ can hope to soo them, better. That ie, X honestly believe, because the people have not yet been made to understand what Prohibition implies and threatens. If they once could bo brought to understand that, they would shriek derision at the execrable thing. To tell them what this or.that parson thinks about the excellence of beer, or to mention what some perfectly unimportant bishop in a far country said or did not say at some vague period of tho remote past—all that docs not help in the slightest, all that is waste of space and waste of opportunity. Before you can arrive at sano conclusions in any groat public matter, tho people must bo aroused to. the passionate cry of principles. So far, there has been a great game of bluff, and tho people (being much as Carlyle saw them in another land) have been fooled. Credo.

To urge that alcohol should ho prohibited because there is a certain amount of drunkenness in tho country is to ■urge a fallacy. Tho essential menace of Prohibition goes so deep and is so Teuomed that no amount of drunkenness could justify or condone it. So far ns bias and prejudice are concerned, I should personally tend to favour tho Prohibition heresy. I have seen the terrible effects of the abuse of alcohol in scores of cases, since tho day, when X was first able to notice anything. 1 luivo scon bright hopes damned and promising careers go to smash from this cause. But if tho intemperate use of alcohol did a thousand times more harm in tho world to-day than it has ever done: I would still not vote for nolicenso, I would still cry out with my last gasp against tho prohibition heresy. My reading, and my personal experience and reflection have convinced mo Absolutely that prohibition is hateful, inhuman, and absolutely futile. Even if it wore proved—as it certainly never has been proved—that prohibition is a remedy- for drunkenness, I would still oppose prohibition: because I cannot beliovo that tho cause of righteousness was over served by tho perpetration of a wrong. So you will understand that, although I have always been a humble ohampipu of free speech and tolerance, I could in some sort appreciate tho bitterness that famed in those young faces at every mention of tho taunt of "Wowser!" > Woman.

I 'hoard in - this crowd many things that convinced mo that it would be an admirable thing if some league or association were formed with tho object of teaching enfranchised woman • tho first rudiments of politics. About mo 1 heard tho talk of dozens of girls whose only conceivable qualification, to vote Lay in tho fact that they had passed tho ago of twenty-ono years. It is useless to say thnhtheeo ladies may have known .more than they pretended; for such ignorance as theirs could not be feigned. But hero again tho prohibition, mama is at fault. Bodies and cabals laboriously organiser! have been working at our girls and young women for years, until in thousands of cases tho prohibition. issue stands for tho whole of a woman's politics. , The blessed sew is delicious, but entirely characteristic. Thousands of women voted for prohibition on Thursday, merely in tho hope of abolishing barmaids. ,1 have long been of the opinion that if the -Moderates had done away with barmaids years

ago wo should havo had vastly less eurtlrasiasm for the prohibition mania among tho masses of tho people. There aro some matters as to which it is impossible to arguo with women; and tho matter of barmaids is one of, them. Any day of tho week, you may put this thing to tho test. You can moot women for whom tho barmaid is an absolute and fearsome bugbear,', tho barman a shining angel by comparison. A fighting party shrewder in its tactics than our Moderates havo been would have recognised this weakness, and reckoned with it, long ago. The loyal home-woman goes to tho polls in her thousands, and her little weaknesses and opinions should bo taken into account. It is' because tho prohibition party has reckoned so skilfully and so unscrupulously' with, these little weaknesses of hers that prohibition, occupies the place it does to-day. A big crowd is tho democracy epitomised. It rushes to conclusions, and Is devoured by curiosity.' It is somewhat devoid of delicacy and of reverence. It has no traditions, hnt many prejudices. It is rather honest on tho whole, hut brutal. It loves horseplay and uncouth badinage, but lias a very, slight redeeming sense of humour.