WITH PIPE ALIGHT

Southland Times, Issue 19690, 24 October 1925, Page 13

WITH PIPE ALIGHT

THE PEOPLE'S VOICE. (By “Criticus.”) If one could be sure of escaping the ire of the censor it would be possible to declare in trumpet tones that the greatest fraud ever put upon the world, from the time of the Marine Department’s inquiry into the stranding of the Ark down to the hurly-burly in which we now move while politicians make mincemeat of each other, is Democracy. Back in the old days someone was bitten by the idea that the masses should rule and from this germ there spread a malady which has been battening on the world ever since, to the intense disgust of everybody who is courageous to look the facts in the face and confess to what he sees. There were times, of course, when men with lusty arms and massive thighs carved their way to power, leaving the hacked bodies of their opponents strewn about the place as an evidence of the dangers awaiting those who stray into the path trodden by the clumsy feet of Destiny, and though they knew little of economics they were well versed in the science of government which consisted of keeping others from interfering with the kingly prerogatives and seeing that the taxes were paid. Life was fairly exciting in those days, but the good man had opportunities aplenty and if he chose to make good of them he could found a family of gentlemen without much difficulty.

Government was quite inexpensive, and no one stopped to argue about the increases in annual appropriations. It simply didn’t pay to do so. Unfortunately one or two monarchs, stricken by humanitarianism or physical infirmities, inherited or acquired, found themselves unable to govern firmly, and to keep themselves in regal eminence they found it expedient to listen to the advice of those lower in the social scale than themselves. It was at that point that the kings ceased to rely on their own finger-and-thumb rule and promoted the cute ones of the community to lofty posts. The politicians were born at that stage and with them came fawning, fabrication and footling. This first descent was the fatal step, because in the guise of elevating the intelligent it raised the cunning to power and quickly led to further transmissions of authority. The kings, -who had centralised everything in themselves, were compelled to confess that they were dependent on others and these insecure reeds found it necessary to secure buttresses from those below. They commenced to organise the big battalions and it wasn’t long before the people who saw power in numbers began to regard the minority in the top positions as blockheads, so that the next step, the placing of the heads on blocks, was taken.

The French Revolution showed how the callous and unintelligent mob could make ducks and drakes of government. Those who tilted the French kings from their cushioned seats were not long in finding that those who use the power of the mob quickly become its slaves and its victims. The mob told to fight for Liberty began to take liberties and even the most cunning of the leaders found that Mme. Guillotine’s arguments were too sharp for their wits. New methods were required and finally, after a whiff of grape-shot had convinced the democracy of the day that they had found a master, autocracy came back for a brief reign, but the people had heard themselves speak and it wasn’t long before they asserted themselves again. Politics became part of the conversation of the mob and by a quick process the last vestiges of government by governors were removed. The less summary method of selecting administrators by ballot was gradually evolved and this new mechanism was so intricate that it opened the way for rule by the cultured, who, enjoying the confidence of the people, enjoyed themselves in verbal battles which made pleasant reading, and thought little of the political notions of those they were supposed to represent. But someone, I think it was Burke, began to discuss the duties of members of Parliament and only a few years were required to enable the mob to see that by making a little more noise they could make themselves heard.

It was about this time that someone thought of the virtues of organised battalions and parties were organised which gave the people what they needed rather than what they wanted, until Abraham Lincoln in a hurriedly concocted speech slipped into talking about government of the people by the people for the people. This thoughless phrase became the stock-in-trade of the cunning folk who designed the next revolution and they completed the process of putting the power of government into the hands of the mob.

Chaos might have been the result if the discovery had not been made that the mob, in addition to having a voice, had very' large ears. Authority had then passed from the tough armed to the tough lunged and men with loud voices became powers in the land. It has been remarked that empty vessels make the most noise, a discovery which probably inspired the later statement that loud voices are produced by the spaces in the head, and so orators grew to be more powerful than statesmen. The inarticulate mob, consoling itself with the idea that it had a voice in the affairs of the government, was content to permit itself to be talked at until someone who could not make an effective speech revealed the fact that rhetoric could be made a cloak for insincerity. This merely meant a change in the methods of the politicians: the mob was still talked at and extracted less wholesome fun out of the process. Cute men discovered the weaknesses of the mob and playing on their sympathies, their intense respect for figures they could not understand and their love of phrases, they foisted on them all manner of men who made the word Democracy their sesame to the mob heart. A new word—Worker—was later projected into the arena and proved almost as effective but the result was always the same—the longeared mob was managed and guided by persuasive voices.

Some day someone will come out and in frank terms will show’ the people that the few r occasions on wh’ch their voices have been effective they have led straight to chaos and that otherwise their duty is primarily to Fsten-in with their long ears while the loud-speakers are at work. We are governed by voices, but not by the voices of the people. Democracy is merely an audience w’hich pays pretty dearly for a poor entertainment bv inadequately trained amateurs but it will never discover the truth of that statement and so orderly government is safe.