A CALL FOR POLLING DAY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 23, 13 December 1919, Page 7

A CALL FOR POLLING DAY.

;.>■'',. :i : ;r. (Advt.)

APPEAL TO LABOR.

(The following article appeared originally in "Truth" and the "Maoriland Workev" but as it raises many, questions of wide political and industrial interest, it is reprinted here to secure the utmost possible publicity.)

A WORD TO THE WORKERS! (By "Looker On")

I am not a candidate for election, j but I am a Liberal, and therefore 1 am! verv much interested ill the workers of New Zealand, their present and their future. i

Liberalism. .to~ me means - the policy that has -idways preached. the gospel of "the greatest good for'the greatest number," and practised what it preached. What Liberalism has done for the workers of New Zealand during the past twenty-live years should be enough to convince you that, when it has the power. Literalism .means "Government by the people for the people" all the time. Look now at the Liberal Statement) of policv and at your own Labor platform ! Much of what you need and desire is to be found in the Lberal programme ; nearly everything that y? n want outside those limits you will have to wait for till you have converted a great many more people to your wav of thinking, and that means, at best you will wait for a long time to come. What is the best course for the workers to take? Shall they stake their all on the attainment of the impossible, or be 'oonttrit for the time to take what is well within their reach, here and now? No intelligent worker can believe that the Labor Party will gain a majority next week at the polls. Has not Mr Holland said that he expects to be Leader of the Opposition? And does not this mean that Labor, if it strives to stand alone, must be content to u'ait'., perhaps for many years, until it is strong enough to gain what it regards as its deserts by its own unaided strength? I do not speak thus to the men and women- who hold "extreme" views, such as glory in the name of Bolshevik. With theni Liberalism has uotliing in common; for their aim is not Krcodom, but Tyranny—not the eominon welfare, 'jhc "greatest good" of all, but the destruction of all classes but one, in order that* this one shall rise upon the ruins of all the rest, and the "elas&-consciious minority," 'its self-constituted leaders and autocrats, shall dominate us all alike. Mo LalxHit.es of this typo I have nobbing to say. But mv appeal goea forth to those among you who fed deeply the injustice and the wrongs that Labor endures, and who aye willing tn strive earnestly and persistently tUiat these grievances'may bo redressed; but who believe—as I know tint most of the workers of New Zealand do believe --that what the world needs most to set it right is not Revolution but Evolution, not Destruction but <. (instruction ; and who know hi their hearts that the ends of Right and Justice can never be secured bv Force and Tyranny. 'To von. then. T appeal. For your own sakes do not hinder the forward movement of Democracy—do not reject or limit the measure of progress and advancement that Liberalism can and will secure for von to-dav. if you will fo-"pera.tc with it on rational, co»vt.itutipnal a"d democratic lines. Wb"+ alternative is there for "o" to tn-keP I have said that ir" Labor stan' I ".' "Ion" it must wnndev p. '••r-tii-v while i'' t 1 " 1 outer daftness of o.— ~:•■;-,,,— oTlt | the yors Till o\o-.b" - '<-! Mille.nium will be none the

nearer

For if vou choose to isolate yourselves, and the votes of the people are split bet-ween Liberalism and Labor, the victory may so to "Reform"—and this. . vou' know: is what "Reform has long foreseen and desired. j 0 not forget these things: lon know that the present electoral system, the "first past the post" system, is unfair and illogical because somebilio-) it does not give minorities representation, and sometimes it gives minorities all the representation there is, but never doe s it provide all the people at once with the power of expressing their own views. To remedy these evils the second ballot was tried, and poor as the substitute is, i L , was better than t'-e "sudden death" system. Then. Mr Massey "reformed ' the second ballot out of existence, promising to give u s "something better ' „of course. 1 in his own good time. Why he never kept his word? Because "Reform" is waiting for you to s'Mit *h<> vo'es and by dividing the forces that ought to' stand side by side for Democracy, to open a way to power for Conservatism and Monopoly and Reaction. Do yon not see that a vote taken firm Liberalism must be, from your point of view, a vote given to "Reform" ?—the creed of the Conservative land monopolists who stand behind Mr Massey. the gospel of Mr Massey himself, who told us the other clay that he Relieves in Nationalisation —"so long as it does not interfere with Private Enterprise." But tliere is more behind "Reform'' than Monoix>ly and Conservatism. The Masseyites constantly ask us what is the difference between Liberalism and their own policy. The simplest answer is that which Gladstone—one of the greatest of Liberals—gave a long time ago: "This principle of Liberalism is Trust in the People qualified by Prudence: the principle of Conservatism is Mistruct of the People qualified by Fear." Because the Masseyites do not trust) Democracy, but fear it, therefore, they cannot be expected to deal with. even the just and rightful demands and aspirations of Labor in a sympathetic and conciliatory spirit. Another great Liberal, James Brycc, tells us all that wo need to know about; Masseyism,' when he describes the party which tends always to believe and maintain that "social order can be secured only by force." That is far indeed from the standpoint of our own Liberalism which a generation ago, by wise and judicious statesmanship, by careful foresight, and by generous concessions to Labor's most urgent needs, prepared for u s twenty years of industrial and social peace. Let, Labor, (lien, give careful heed to all these tilings. As far i»« I understand the strongest claims land highest hopes of Labor, my sympathies are wi L h it, so lone as it "stands on the ol 1 paths" and clings to the oldest a"d nx'st sjifred traditions of Demo cracy—to Right, Justice and Freedom. And <so. to sane and rational Labor I make this appeal—not to the Bolshevik, who wants to overturn the Tyranny of Capitalism only to set uo in its place an even more absolute /'hierarchy of t.he proletariat," with himself as soll'-apnointed Despot-in-Chief. For him. Liberalism and Liberty and Democracy have no meaning and no message. But for you—Liberalism is your firm friend and natural ally: it is to Liberalism that you owe nearly all that makes life worth possessing in tin's country to-day. See tint you stand by Liberalism now.—Published by Arrangement.