SOCIALISM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13607, 29 May 1908, Page 6

SOCIALISM.

- MISS POWELLS ADDRESS. BEFORE TIMARU LABOUR LEAGUE. A very good audience, including a few ladks, met in the Assembly Rooms last evening to listen to an address on Labour and Socialism by Miss H- F. Powell, «>» Ballarat. who. Mr T. Hawkey stated from the chair, has been working aa an organiser of labour in Australia for three- year* or so> and for about nine months in New Zealand. She had given addressee in other centres, and had come to Timara under the auspices, of the Political Labour League, and would, remain here a week, giving if a. hall could be had, a s<econd address, and in tht* meantime employing the time in organising work. Mies Powell began by saying that the Labour question and Socialism were* connected because Socialism was Labour's objective, Socialism was undoubtedly ""the"* subject of dm'Usision throughout the civilised world to-day. chiefly »; a question. "What i.<s Socialism." Men of all ranks, rich and poor, master and ■workman were asking that question, and seeking answers, aia. a guide to them in their voting and other political act tors. The Labour movement as it w»* now known, was. ot" recent growth, in Acbtralasia and in England, America and eWwhere, but it had made such .progress chat it had become a subject of great importance.—not least to those who were ment bitterly opposed to it. Much laifglted at, a few yeare ago, it had becon>.» ;»n important factor'in industry and in poltttt.,. its progress was» measurable even tti (.'onservativt» England by the return rt forty Labour members to tiu> Ho civ of t.'onimony, most of them avwv.-.d ></u»i*i;*: and by the growth of the S <,'bl->t vncin America. In Australia tin- f-ab-ntr movement wa* distinctly- s-w'atii-si-'. nv.d it had attained such powtt'. though it started there only atvtntreu rtar> ago. that it held the balance of politu-at pmtvr. and for a time, with Mr Watson a*, its head, held the reins of the government of the Common wealth. And tin.- Labouv Oovernmcnt justified it* rxir-riu:;- by u~> legiislation. In Xew Zealand. ntueb later—only four years age—the Socialist movement was making headway, and under ths title of th.- Political Labour League it now bad strong branches in tuts principal centres. Miss Powell paid a tribute of praise to the late R. J. Sedihm as a true democrat, who with a foresight that was characteristic of him. paw that New Zealand must advance along the lines he had laid down for hl*> own Liberal legislation, and had provided mean* for peaceful advance. A contrast with New Zealand was Russia, where for lack <A ■education and constitutional machinery, the method!* of brute force were adopted." with the same end in view, namely. Socialism, the elimination of the struggle for existence. It was- the *great evil of lit',, under present conditions, for the majoritv, and a bviief that ctrugyte «>;iiu be avoided was the inspiration of Socialism. Mr Seddon. shortly before the. last election, made a statement which proved that modern tendencies had worked against tb; welfare' of the masses. Re said that while the wage* of workers had been increased »£ per cent., their-e«.it of Irving had gocup 33 per cent, or more. I'hat meant that the capitalist muioritv w,-re gaining at the expen.v- "of the working majority. 'I hat vtav the inevitable result of the present competitive individualistic system, and it was to get rid of this system that mada for such an inequitable* division of the proceeds of labour that the Political Labour League had been called into existence. Its aim was to bring about a» change to Socialism, by means of education and the exercise of the voting power of the majority. It would take time, but in the course of time the change would come. The Australian Labour Party had adopted a clear-cat programme, calling for the cultivation of a national patriotism of the widest nature, and the adoption of the principle of national ownership of all means of production by the State or by municipalities. A true patriotism implied care for thai welfare of onr neighbours and the development of one'ei own country, entirely commendable objects. The second objective was only an extension of tbatprocess of industrial evolution that. was going on before their eyes to-day. A dictionary defined Socialism as ""an orderly construction of society." Hyndraan said it meant an organised co-operative, instead of an anarchistic, form of society. An American said it was scientific cooperation in industry in its four aspects—production, distribution, ownership and management. In part this scientific cooperation was realised already, and in those matters was wit stn to be tha horrible bogey which most newspapers made oat Socialism to be. Thei capitalist could not seet any good in this form of organisation becanse he could not «xereisu his money-making faculties under it. The musses must take warning against the private profit system, for with even,- improvement in machinery the n»n-d for human labour was lessened, and the private profit system regarded humanity only from the labour profit point of view. Socialism would not m»-an chaws, reducing all to a dead level, breaking up the home, sending the children to a Staff nursery. confusion in place of order. It was full of hr.man sentiment, consonant with common sense, the brainiest movement on tit* board to-day, and the most gigantic fask ever undertaken. Socialism with labour saving machinery, and the modem developments of machinery, making mac's labour comparatively less valuable, was driving" the labourers to see that .'» readjustment was necessary. Under Socialism machinery would work for the be;»'it- of

all, not for a few, lightening the i.urden of toil, and enabling all to rise to .-»nd enjoy a higher life. Socialism had arrived in part, in production and distribution, and in a few cases of ownership and management, also as in the post and telegraph and railways. In reality individualism in production "wan broken "down by the factory system. There was now socialistic production, but not yet socialism _ in ownership or management. And the immensely increased production of social work was the justification of that method. That principle could be seen in application in all directions. Society was doing the work of production, and distribution, by the co-operative efforts of countless people and classes of |>eople. A newspaper was mentioned as a good example of socialistic production and distribution. Social ownership and management had yet to be applied, in plat- of capitalist it;. Men and women were apathetic tr» their own welfare, or thev would .see that socialistic ownership and management would be as grewt a blessing as socialistic, production and distribution. The " minimum wage"—just •' enough to ke?|t body and soul -ogeta..J."._wa.«i r-ltfix pointed to as one of the blessings* of thU "God's Own Country." Was it a blessing to be proud of or contented with? (Applause.) Certainly not. and the remedy was the extension of the socialistic principle to the oth<r two branches of industry, so that alt rhouid share the whole of the benefits. of industry. Ths> struggle for food had been man'-- task from his first appearance nit the earth, and he had found from the tiisi. thai* co-operation made his task ui'te easy. Then leaders, strong men arose. wfjt» tacauie tyrants, masters, and the rest were thrown back into a .struggle for food worse than primitive man had endured. In modern times the minor tiy had adopted a different method of dealing with the majority, but .still left them their struggle for food. The majority had now awakened to the fact ».»it titer minority had no rigm to such power as it had arrogated to itself or had inherited, and the movement of the majority in the direction of frtedoni had ci-ealed a great scare among the minority, u tu> were going about crying "Anarchy" and " Rain." The way to the new systi'4:» lay through legislation, which would rot b- in favour of methods by which targe fortunes could be piled up by individuals. Tlils struggle was only in its infanty. but it would lr nceiorth be steady and continuous, and its sutce.-r, depended upon, perseverance, and education. I'ldacalinu, agitation, organisation. and .7g;>in education in public affairs were the Biwn* whereby the change would be brought about. A democratic government of the people, by the people, in the trues-i interests, of the people could only Ikj brought about by an intelligent us-.- of their vote:*. To have an enlightened ' Socialistic Government they must have an enlightened socialistic people, for the Government, was always a reflex of the people who the members to Parliament. Kducation in affairs was Bherefoiu the first requisite, in that votes might ~be used intelligently, the selection to be aimed at being the choice of men who would legislate for the people as a whole, and not for the benefit of private interests. In conclusion Mbis Powell quoted with approval a statement made by a Melbourne doctor three years ago, of the aiim> of Sociaia-m: Socialism would bring about a state of society wherein every person able and willing to work, mentally or manually, would have secured to him or her a comfortable existence in an elevating and sanitary environment; wherein the loafer would have the option to work or starve; wherein the inn'rut and old would be attended to a-s a duty and not a.-, a charity ; wherein industry of all forms would be equitably, not equally, rewarded; wherein all other interests would be subordinated to vital interests: wherein individual efforts, mental, manual, and moral, wonld be fostered and encouraged to tlu highest and equitably rewarded; wherein no person would be permitted to live in luxury at the cast ot the degradation of others; wherein offences agaiust the person would bo treated with greater severity than offences against property: wherein selfish capitalism, ringi, monopolies, trusts and combines would be considered criminal conspiracies: and wherein society in general would be in accordance with" the highest ideals of the human mind." Such was the aim of .Socialism: and such an aim could never be reached under a system of selfi-h competition. It might be difficult t f «ttaim.>ir-.\t.. but half had been gained, in social i-.»-«.p i.it;...i i„ production .'tii.'t distribution. I: c:.;'rri.. ..-:i of the Heed for it. and • lili-iit.•::= ,1 , IF it would extend toi.. I.> ..lit: !->; (>;:!;' .:..,. , ." „1.-nt. af'safrU ai(.i;r..u!i ily :• , : -. r. . t ,| la „„,. had b.eu lot L.. "i h t - i.,,,.: .. ..u!d !».- ' ;• true brotherhood of man so w.tl fXpre.ssed by Bitm>. in "A Man's a .Man for a* that "-"lt's comin* yet for a' that." Mi-s Pow»-H was fir quVntly applaud-d during her addre^y. Questions were invited, but only tin-'-were asked. 'I he- replies were: Hun the steps to br- taken line to help on the Socialistic movement, wer-- to suppt.rt the League, hold meetings for debates, addresi-.e.*. readings, and social funetiotss; by educational propaganda, in Timaru and adjacent towns : by extending the m>'inber>hip and the know! -dge of Socialism: finally, by selecting candid::!•., for Parliantfiit p!. dgV.I !•> the so.-bl ■•.. gramme. Her attention had Ik en drawn to a paragraph in the papers :>tatiri£» that at a North Inland Farmers' I'nioii meeting, mot*- than on.- speaker urged that the Government •should do soniet-lnng to check the progress of Socialism. Farmers generally were antagonistic to the movement. b.-cau»v thw did not understand it. She

recognised that farmers were hemmed in hy "n very stern environment, and had v'erv great difficulties to contend with, and* that to a givat extend explained their conservatism. Yet Australian farmers i were not averse to Socialism when it gave tIK-m wire netting five. The trouble with the fanner was that he did not understand ih-.> question; when 1m did. he would he. found on their side. In New South Waks ;t good mail'/ farmers wer<- Socialists now. and s«-v«ral "country constituencies were itpresented bv Labour-Socialist Members in the House of Representatives. The member for Wagga was a largo fanner, and a straight-out advocate of Socialism, ana other cases could be cited. In fact tlu larger number of Labour numbers in New South Wales represented country districts. and that showed that a large number of farmers believed in Socialism., and vcre supporting the movement in a practical way. It was only a matter of time when the" fanner would be with them, for he would come to see that- Socialism could help him better than the usurer. In the-' meantime they must, excuse him because he did not know any better. (Laughter and applause.) The third question referred to the relation between Socialism and the Temperance movement, and the reply was. in effect, that Socialists left this to the dect-, sion of the people by the local option polls. Mies Powell then recited the address of Brutus over the body of Caesar, and a lighter selection "The Old Front Gats." A vote of thanks for the address and recitals was moved by Mr Koller and .seconded by Mr Toye." xlio latter invited those present who had not already done so to become members of the League, and he stated that it was their intention at the coming election, if strong enough, to bring out a candidate for Timaru. The vote was carried by acclamation, and the usual compliment was paid to the chairman at Miss Powell's request. (To the Editor of the "Timaru Herald.") Sir, —In your issue of the 18th Mr Geo. T. Roller."in his reply to Mr T. Thomson's letter, makes use of the following words, viz.. " Ignorant," " unprincipled," and " glaring untruths." I will borrow the first from Mr Roller's letter, and will charge him with being ignorant of the natural laws in connection with profits, rent, interest, and usury. In fact, I believe him and his fellow Socialists to be ignorant of the "ABC" of the subject which he is attempting to deal with. Some time ago I was present at a meeting in Timaru at which Mr James Thorn .s>»oke in the interests of the Political Labour League. After the meeting I was asked by Mr Koller and others if 1 desired to join the League, and I enquired about the necessary qualifications. I was told that it did not matter whether I was a millionaire or a poor man. I then mentioned the fact that I believed that the self-styled Socialists of the present day did not understand what they were talking about, and my object -in joining the League was to point out to, the leaders of the organisation the errors in their arguments. Mr Koller and somo of the members then told mc mat ; l would be ridiculous for me to join the League as I would hinder rather than assist them. I told them that if 1 had an opportunity at one of the 'League meetings to, put my views before them, ney wonld rao>t likely change their minds, xnd they would see that I was a truer friend of the masses than they were. I believe that at the present time the greatest enemies of the working men are to be found in their own ranks. - believe chat men like Mr Roller who do not begin with the examination of simple cases but rush at once into the complexity of concrete /phenomena, are the class of men whose influence on the common workman results in almost- incalculable loss to the world at large. If any of our local Socialists will give n.e an inexpensive opportunity of .« applying evidence to back up what 1 have stated, 1 will be pleased to avail myself of it. I am sending my nanw and address to Mr Koller.—l am etc.. WORKMAN. Sir,—Mr Thomson says: "Assuming and admitting there are irregularities, anu inequalities and misery in life, no turning the stream would permanently alter the position—with all the armies of overseers required for the duties." But we want to lessen the overseers or inspectors. There are too many now, and why? Why of course to keep dishonest traders within the law. At 8 years of age I worked in a factory 10 hours a day, and at 18, 14 hours a'day. Laws Were parsed limiting the hour*, but many employers evade the law and inspectors were appointed to prevent -evasion by the employers, not ths employees, as is done to-day; and most of our laws are passed to keep employers lather than workers within the law; and so long as self interest, in the shape of prcfit, is the ruling motive of trading there must- be competition ; and when compaction is keen, as it always is, so long will there be dishonesty ; for competition breeds lying, adulteration, overworking of worker.-:.* etc. Hence the need for in-.-p*ctor.-. Again, he says : " Population would increase rapidly, support being assured by the socialistic scheme, while production would be less, there being no necessity for active labour." Nay, Mr Thomson, what "dreadful rubbish people talk." I'm glad he acknowledges that support would be assured in a social state; but I was not aware that it- would greatly improve the birthrate. We constantly hear it said that we want more population in New Zealand. Theu go in for Socialism and the trick is done. he French people bewail their low birthrate; Socialism is the remedy: and more sensible than paying a premium on all babies above two in a family, as some of their staUsmen propose. But how about this : '" production would be less, there Wing n> necessity for active labour." But '* -support would be assured" evi-ii though " production would be less." Then how, Mr Thtniion? But there evidently would be some production though it would be less; but there would " be no necessity for active labour," and so the people '" would b? insured of support without active labour," and besides, there would be some production " without active labour." Mr Thomson will solve the problem of perpetual motion by and by. Again " Socialism as exemplified by there decent men—is simply emasculated Christianity." Is it? Let vs i-ite: Here ar.j some opinion; to the contrary. Hall Caine says: " The Labour party may fee! sure that they are holding up the Christian banner, and are waging, whatever the world or the churches may say, a religious, not an irreligious, war. * Let us continue to claim the Gospel for our <-harter and the teaching of Christ as the basis of our social! message," and I say. Amen. The Rev. William Dickie (Glasgow) at the General Assembly last year said: "I refer to the Socialist propaganda which is being carried on all over the conntr\' with the zeal of a religious mission. It has its regular meetings, its missionaries, iis Sunday schools, its newspaper.- a vast determined organisation, worked with an enthusiasm and love of humanity which might put. many of our churches to shame. It is futile to denounce it. for denunciation is the weakest of weapons." The Bishop of Birmingham, at. the Church Congress, quoting Si. Paul, said : "If any man will not work, neither shall he eat : each man is to labour, and so eat his own bread. There must be support for all who cannot, none for those who will not. work. Tl.is is ih» Christian rule. We must return to it. If it may be. without violence or revolution, but it not, then anyhow to letuiii." If 1 had said that instead of a Bishop! The Bishop of London-••Justice, not charity. for ilie oppressed." The Bishop of Truro says 'lf Socialism is impossible, then also is Christianity impossible." At the Church Socialist League conference. held last June, the chairman "urged that the ra-

tional basis of that Socialism we held in J common with the secular Socialists was found in tho dogma of the solidarity of mankind, and believed by pre-Christian philosophers, revealed more completely by Jesus Christ. If some Socialists failed to see that their cause was divine, it made that cause not the lr«.i divine, nor themselves the less true servants of God in their advocacy of it," and he said, as we say, that " Socialism is the true solution for our present evils." The conference defined Socialism to be " the fixed . principle according to which the community shall own the land mil capital collectively, and use it co-operatively for the good of all." That is the Hull resolution. Space forbids much quotation, or I could multiply them considerably to the same effect. " Not much emasculation there. Rather it is the churches which deal out emasculated Christianity. Do not Christians to-day "join house to house, and lay field "to field, till there is no room?" Do they believe " the love of money is the root of all evil?" Do they act up to their creed by " selling .all they have and giving to f.he- poor?" Do they? Do they "lend hoping for nothing again," not even the principal, never name the interest St. Augustine said—"lf you wish to love your neighbour as yourself, divide your money with him." St. Ambrose said—" Nature made tommon right, usurpation made private right." vSr. Barnabus said—"'You must communise all your and not. want anything to be your own; for if ye are Communists in the imperishable things, how much more must you be Communists in those things' which are perishablbe." The early Christians " had all things in common and distribution was made unto each according as every man had need." (Acts IV. 32 35). I could multiply many times both Christian and scientific evidence of ' the Cliristlikeness, and the practicability ofour faith. I did not intend to go into this at such length, but I am anxious to stop this cant about the unchristian attitude of Socialists. Socialism, will, when it gets its chance', which it never has had, lie better than private enterprise, or it will be worse. Let its opponents show by argument, not merely by assertions, 'how it will, nay how it can be worse, and don't quote the past blunders of good intentioned men, who were groping in the ilark, as present day Socialism; but get to know what is meant by Socialism, today, then discuss it. I hope to help you towards that knowledge in a future letter. As to that cobwebby wheeze "who will do the dirty work under Socialism," let Mr Thomson ask himself, who does it now, and why do they do it? If he ponders a little on these two question he may see the answer himself. If not I shall ba pleased An answer it for him.—l am, etc., SOCIALIST.