SOCIALISM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13598, 19 May 1908, Page 7

SOCIALISM.

To the Editor of tha "Timaru Herald." yi r , —£ n your rerf fair comment* _on raj l*ttcr, on tlw iiith, yoa say; "Ibe .first thing to arrive at is. a dear understanding of what the boeialitofc* are aiming at." 'iheir aim *» contained in the iAun Labour Conference resolution quoted in your first article, on the Tth, I think, tout why is* that thetr aim? I'he opp«m«nt« of "Socialism say, as yon so weti put it, " the ordinary persons need a spur vi iDmu bind. ihe eompeuptive system. w# grant, applies a cruel spur, etc."' L*t us «e* how it work*. In aii my remarks I am thinking of Oreat Britain, but the cauuses- which hav« produced the dire effect* J am about to point out are in operation here, and wtli and are, producing the sanie> effect*, though not yet so visible. In Kuwntree's book " Poverty: A Study in Town Life,** I gather that there art- two and a half millions of pjople living more than two, in a room, cooking, eating, sleeping, everything, in fact, that people- do at home ;m many easts mora than five adults, of both sexes, in a room. Consider the effects of this on the " moral fibre'' of these people, i'rom the same book I gather that four and a half mttiion* never have, even in tbe most prosperous times, enongh income to buy s.ufiicient food to keep them physically tit for work ; and "another eight mtliionu, have «>nly just enough, to ksep litem tit. without anything on reading, recreation, otc. so that their livus are- pretty drab. How can these 13 miliiorjj. develop moral fibre? lb.:re are huudretlsr <n£ tnouaands of dear little children going to school with empty bellies; think of it, and don't shudder, and if you can help k. I can't. Have the opponents- of Socialism no pity for the children? Have the churches no pity for them? "•Inasmuch :ia ye did it- unto these ye did it unto Me." Go to Uradfey Heath and watch pregnant women carrying heavy chains from fire to anvil,, and from anvil to lire, day in, day out, and within a few days before, and after accouchement. Would you like to see your wms and daughters in that picture? Then why other men's wives and daughters? Go to the salt , works «f Cheshire, and the alkali works of Lancashire, and the pott err works of Staffordshire, and see the whetehed. poverty stricken, dirty men and women walking over the huge bedri. of ea.lt breaking it into powder with wooden moffets. Or see the clothes of the alkali worker* rottmg off their back*, and the flesh off their boots too. Or see the pallid faces «f the lead poisoned girls who work the lead glaze on your beautiful crockery. Fine products of the competitive system I But what matters the- degradation of » few millions of women and children, not to name the men, so long a.? a few thousands of o» can scoop in the bawbees. i> "But then, Mr Socialist, see, how this strenuous exertion to win a higher place in the social economy tends to develop moral fibre." Let m eea jj ow . j t Xfm i g& out; what sort of morality is developed; I quote from R. B. Sutfaer'a book " Mind your own Business." Sir Edward Frv, fate Lord of Appeal, says:—"Let me enumerate some well known fact*. I Overinsurance of vessels. We know the efforts which have been made to (.heck thevii, but he would, I fear, be a sanguine v and credulous man who believed that tin? evil had disappeared; and when one conJ?? this ,in approaches to murder, this consideration is startling. 2. —The. bad and lazy work too often done by those in receipt of wages. s.—The adulteration of articles of consumption. 4 -—The ingenuity exercised in the infringement of trade marks and the perpetual strain exhibited by rival traders, bv «>me device or other, to get the benefit" of the reputation <;r nanw of some other maker. 5.—A whole class of fraud exists in the manufacture of goods', by which a thing is made to appear heavier or thicker or better in- some way or other than it really is. Thei deceit is designed to operate on the ignorant ultimate purchaser. .Lastly, but not least, bribery in one form or other riddles and makes hollow and unsound a great deal of business-." The late Lord Chief Justice Rmssei, said:— "A class of fraud which is rampant in this community—fraud of a most dangerous kind, widespread in operation, touching all classes, involving great pecuniary loss, a Ices largely borne by those least able to bear it, and. even more important than thi>. fraud which is working instiduonsly to undermine and ■ corrupt that high sense of public morality which ought to be the common object of all interested in the good of the country to maintain fraud blunting the sharp'edge of hon-:ur and besmirching honourable names." Mr R. H. B. Thomson, at a meeting of Inspectors of Weights and Measures, said:—"Tea is the subject of more fraud than any »>ther commoditv." A London baker told "a House of Commons Committee that 70 or 80 per cent, of the London bakers habitaallv rob the public by short weight: and. according to com* medical expert*, a pure milk cannot, bv bought (Not the cow's fault, Mr Thomson.) The abov« evidence does* not- sav much for trade morality, and I could multiply evidence to fill columns. know all this, and that eocialising land and industry is a remedy, and the only remedy. Hence the Hull refoifiion. They are determined that ttat degradation of the many for the enrichment of the few shall ceast\ They fcnnnthat we have the power to fully f>ed. warmly clothe, and adequately shelter *very woman, and man, and child in the land; and it has got to be done. Ther know of ihe terrible waste of unemployed labour, and perhaps greater waste of unproductive labour and it has got to b*

strvpjK-'i. I nny iwv«> {■•► milling '•'» wy about this waste if allw.vcfl the Kpact. Shew tr» a. b-At> r w;»y tlnn otiift aiul we aw with yi u.—! am, etc.. SOCIALIST.

Sir, —I confess I was somewhat knocked | oat to tead Dr Hodgkin's view th.it Socialism was responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire. It did not at all tally with my historic gleanings- Henry George tells 1 us of " great estates eating the heart oat of Rome/' I find it difficult to reconcile State .socialism and great estates. It is sortie years since I read Gibbon but I do not recollect anything there likely to bc.tr out the doctors view. I should just ns soon imagine that Socialism contributed to the tall of Babylon, to the defeat of Xtrxe*. to the fall of Tyre, as t» the- fall of Rom'. Nearly as reasonable t»> suppo.<e that the French revolution was the visible sign that something equivalent to Uie Hull manifesto had been

adopted in France. I ask for light on

this aspect of the subject. My reading hours art-? limited ; I can but trust to an r imperfect memory. Ten* second aspect of this subject directly arising oat of I)r Hodgkin's view, and the resolution of some socialists in Melbourne is just as staggeting as the first, the more so es» ye u suggest that could Socialism adopted tlu- world over, you consider it would be a. good thing. But if Socialism i.-i tcoing to produce a type of manhood such as mtts: have existed in old Rorae. ic in the future we shall cease to progrrs-s. under Socialism, to a better type of man: if we shall as ;? consequence develop the *' ape and tiger" then, away with it. We don't want anything t«> help tts back to tstont- adzes or Atone tomahawk*. Is ic not rather a low estimate to make of poor humanity? We are poor ,iq ot sir jood «w v>jtnb tou mq qSnou? prompted by the incentive of gain alone. Just as reasonable to suppose that, with the vanishing tourney chivalry died, as to say that the mad scramble for profit l>eing eliminated from lifts we, are incapable of developing on other lines. Blatchford in "Merrie England" elepicts what he would have, and I can lind nothing in hw suggestions likely to make a man less patriotic, less fearless, less manly or less likely to give a right good account of himself in any fix he may find himself. I don't quite know wti.it on would term the politics of the Sydney " Bulletin." I venture to think, however, that that paper voice* the mtndf of more socialists on the subject of defence than any resolution of socialists no matter where congregated. We are something socialistic in NewZealand. We have State-owned railways. I telegraphy, fife assurance. In proportion as these have socialised our five:* here and in Australia, making ib somewhat easier for uis to exist in comfort. I look to find a lessening of the scramble for profit ascompared with. America and the consequent proportion of loss* of moral fibre in the two peoples. To quote from a letter I received from a visitor to that country: "They live in a, constant bustle, live hard. and don't five long." Mr Thomson's little homily. Yea. the human heart is according to the wise man "•desperately wicked." 'deceitful above all things." But Solomon was not always wise. He was sometimes a fool. For instance Socrate.* was content with one wife. I do not find that he. made use of such expressions to the disparagement of his kind. Let me remind Mr Th- mson that, th? first Socialist was hounded to death bv the privileged class of hts time*. None would shout more lustily than Mr Dives " Let him be crucified." I would alpo like to mention that quite a number of Yankees with a fine na.*:il twange would exclaim:—"How tk> Dicken:.- do you do it" when told, that here we don't run our railways and telegraph service in the interests of combines, quite a much more complicated matter than a milk supplv.— I am.etc.. ANOTHER SOCIALIST.