"A ROBBER AT HEART."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9130, 1 June 1891, Page 4

"A ROBBER AT HEART."

Sir, —In a recent ably written article you inform a rather numerous section of your readers —the socialists—that " they are robbers at heart," Christ, who was unquestionably a socialist, remarked that it was easier for a camel to pasß through the eye of a needle (not a brummagem one, of course) than for a rich man—a capitalist—to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, aud the only individual.he mentioned as having taken lip his residence in Sheol was Demos, a capitalist. Of course matters have chauged since the Gallilean carpenter made these statements, for now Demos ia often " an elder o' the kirk." You say we have got manhood suffrage, vote by ballot, &c— what more can we want? WeU, I might as well live under a despotism if I am uot to be allowed to exercise my right to vote for human .advancement on what I conceive, however erroneous, to be the best lines. And if Ibe " a robber at heart" (a socialist), believing that the divine right of kings and of capitalists theory is exploded, and that there are the divine rights of humanity to be considered, then I may feel assured that unless the voters as a body agree with my notions of property and as to who ought to own it, corpbrately or individually," the robbers at heart" will not be able to carry their way, and government on Christiau (socialistic) principles will never become the law of the land. The propertied classes of the United Kingdom, numbering 10J millions, receive a yearly income of £850,000,000 sterling, while the wageearniDg classes, numbering 26J millions, receive a yearly return of £500,000,000 sterling—which is at the rate of £80 18s for each individual in each family of the capitalistic class, aad £18 16s for each individual of the wage-earning classes, tbe proportion being that the income of the capitalists as a class is four-and-a-third times as much as the wage-earning classes. Now, if the working classes could earn sufficient to enable them to have a reasonable command of the comforts and the luxuries which, I believe, God made for all, I would not be a socialist—for Ido not believe iv the mental or physical equality of mankind—a result, perhaps, of our present deadly cut-throat competitive system; but haviDg witnessed the starvation which prevails among the destitute, and thej want which through the competitive system obtains among the bulk of the working classes, I see no other cure for the disease but socialism, which is neither freetrade nor protection, but the world for humanity, for whom God made it, if they as a whole but exercise the common sense which He gave them to use the earth, which is His and not dummies', aud squatters', but for their common weal. And if to be a socialist is to. be a robber, then I subscribe myself May 29. -.* "* "A'Robber at Heart." p.S,—Orginally astronomers tell us all the matter of our earth—barring meteors—waa detached from the sun. At last man was somehow ushered into being, himself a product of organic aud inorganic matter, all originally inorganic, and as coal continues to be extracted from the earth, more carbonic acid, vegetation, and life will be able to exist on earth. Am I to believe that the Almighty ordained that the ultimate end and aim of His marvellous and sublimely awe-inspiring universe, with its awful mysteries, had for its final object the concentration of its luxurious wealth into the hands of a few capitalists wbo had a common origin with myself? No ,* the thought is blasphemous. Let me rather be " a robber at heart" and do my utmost to proclaim," the earth is the Lord's, (and not the capitalists' ouly) and the fulness thereof." Christ scut the capitalists to Sheol, heaven being reserved for the socialists who pray: " Thy kingdom come. Thy will ba done on earth as in heaven." This has been prayed for 1800 years, and with what result?— « A. R. A. H." Some ploughmen on a farm in the Kaitangata district worked on a recent Sunday during the absence of the owner: and on inquiries being subsequently made as to tbeir reason it caaie out that tbey had lost oount of the day of the week and were under the impression that it was Saturday. It is not stated whether they kept holiday on the succeeding Monday or not. Dkde Jongh's LiGHT-BnowN Cod Liveb Oil.— Iff Consumption akd Wasting Diseases its efficacy "is unequalled. Dr Hardwicke, Medical Officer of Health, Paddington, writes:—" In the class of Tubercular Diseases, including Consumption so prevalent in onr great centres of population, the use of Dr de Jongh's Cod Liver Oil is atteuded with manifold advantages; and I know of no therapeutic agent which, in connection with judicious sanitary measures, is better calculated to stay the ravages of theso great consuming plagues of tho British Islands. Sold only in capsuled Imperial Half-pints, Pints, and Quarts, by all chemists. Sole Consignees, Ansar, Harford, and Co., 210 High Holborn, London. mlO