WHAT ARE "THE RIGHTB OF MAN?"

NZ Truth, Issue 606, 27 January 1917, Page 8

WHAT ARE "THE RIGHTB OF MAN?"

Doar "Truth," — Has man any "rights"? How did ho get them? What are they? Also, what ia meant by the word "man" In this connection? Does ( it mean everybody on earth? Does It Include negroes, Indians, Japanese, convicts', madmen, eunuchs, etc.? Is there not something mythical m the word? Experience teaches us that a man's rights depend entirely upon who he is, what he Is, and where he is. In common practice an individual without money Is an individual without power, and, therefore, without rights. If ho goes to law he finds that ho cannot get fair play without paying for It at every turn. If ho is oppressed by Government or an enemy, he cannot save himself (or his property) without funds to finance the struggle. If he l» charged with some "crime," ho is certain to be convicted If he happens to be poor and friendless. Rights that ara written- on paper cannot enforce themselves: and if there Is no one to enforce them they are but scraps of paper. Hence those who trust them are walking Into a snare. The standIng army of Government officials always laugh at i hern. If men are trained- to roly too much on "things written" for protection or salvation or freedom from oppression and ofllcial robbery, they roly 100 little on their own personal Intolllgoncft »md strength. This, m turn, undermine* their manhood and In tho misfortune, the supromo tragedy of tholr liven, a secret terror creep* upon thorn that 'a-usbvi their . spirit, deoUon* Inltbutx, aiiO

darkens their soul. When brought face to face with grim reality there is then no resistance m them, and dofan they go to a low and ever lower level. What chance has one man against the monstrous governmental machines of our day? He hasn't a ghost of a chance. In actual life a man's rights are strictly proportionate to his might, and that might is everywhere symbolised by hard cash. Gold is not only the king of metals, but it is also the king of the world. There never was an age when money did not govern, and there is no nation on earth that it does not govern now. Gold is the monarch of monarchs, the lord of legislation, the commander of the legions. Gold is law and justice and God! It is death and life. It is freedom and captivity, property and pleasure. What is there on earth that gold cannot buy? Verily, men with money are men with might. Your "rights of man", are nothing to them. Therefore, get this divine thing, if you can, get it m tons and waggon loads, even as the great men, of all ages have done. Dig it out of the hills, evolv« it out of the cities, capture it from the financial Jerusalems, seek it m the temples of, the sacked dragon — but get it. Develop your business instincts and acquire the' gold of the gods. Then you become one of them. If you cannot get gold, then you are truly accursed. There is no hope for you. The powers of evil will choke-* and crush and ruin you pitilessly. The ■' man who wrote . "The Rights of Man," however, approaches his subject from an entirely '" different and much more sympathetic viewpoint. He trusts m politics, and his ideas are all of the humanitarian and "love one another" variety. They are extremely suggestive and illuminating, however, and ought to be closely studied by young men who want to comprehend the clanking mechanism of our howling political swindles. — Tours, etc.,

" SIMON THE SEEKER."

Waiutu.