THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7957, 7 February 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1906.

A recent cable referred to an article, contributed by Mr J. Keir Hardie, M.P., Loader of the Independent Labour Partj in the British House of Commons, in whioh the writer declared that "for weal or woe the common people of Great Britain, like those of the world generally, had entered into a final struggle with the upper classes." The writer, no doubt, intended to be somewhat sensational in his style, and, as a successful politician, he is well aware of the value of language. Mr Hardie, we may rest assured, intended to be sensational, and rather "nasty" as well, and that, not because his heart is not filled with the best intentions to asßist and elevate his fellow-men and women, but because we must always adopt some moans or another to attain the desired end in view. Mr Hardie's general method is to declare war against all those whom he terms the

] "urjper clashes," and to increase j the effectiveness of the "setting" of ] his challenge, if we may so refer to it, Mr Bardie describes his frieuds —and those to whom this grand worker in tho cause of humanity is most strongly attached —as "common people." * # * -x- *

The phrase "upper classes" sounds unoleasnutly in democratic ears, and, as a matter of fact, it ia largely meaningless, lu the same way tho description "common people" ia a phrase that has little or no meaning to either the political economist, or the true socialist. We all know that men and women are high or low according to tho qualities that they possess, and that the highest types of manhood and womanhood may be found in any class in any community, and scarcely may they be looked for in one class more than another. if, when Mr Haidie says that tho workers of the world are going to gain supremacy over the "upper classes," that is, the wealthy classes, he meant that aUthe workers are going to become rich at tho expense of thoße Lhey conquer, he would be guilty of uttoriug a great •absurdity; but, of course, Mr Bar- '■ die does not think or, indeed, mean anything of the sort. Capital and labour, as wo understand them, have always existed, and must always exist, unless Mr Hardie can provide the world with a new political economy that will do away altogether with the relative values of the factors mentioned. It may, also, be said that to a great extent workers have always enjoyed supremacy. The best workers—for the term "worker" is a very wide one—have always been foremost in the world's ranks. But the contention—and it is undeniably true—that Mr Hardio does put forth, clothed in theatrical language, is that the lot of the great bulk of the workers, or rather the condition of a great percentage of humanity generally, can be vastly ameliorated and improved—that the present distribution of wealth is unequal, and that it is possible by * ! certain means to seoure a muoh 1 more equable, and consequently an infinitely more desirable, distribution of wealth. *****

Mr Hardie haa recently written for "Petentia" a powerful and deoidedly forceful article entitled, "When Labour Ruies tbe World." The dream of. the writer will ever remain eucb. For instance, Mr Hardie declares tbat "when Labour reigns" (though he quite forgets to define what he means by Labour) "militarism will disappear," and then, presumably, to add weight to his assertion, he quotes some rather bad poetry. War, to our mind, is inseparable from human nature. The lion does not lie down with the lamb, unless, as Mark Twain, wo think, observes, the lamb happens to be inside the lion. No doubt, if all lions were highly moral and kindhearted creatures no lambs would disappear, but perfection has never been attained, in this world, so far as history shows, by any individual or nation, and there is certainly nothing in the present outlook to lead one to the belief that all tbe nations of the world are going to become perfect. If Mr Bardie's views were not those of a dreamer of impossibilities, it would be feasible to reform the whole world in a few years by simply giving him full power to deoree just what he pleased; from such power for himself and his party we think that even Mr Hardie would shrink.

But to refer once more to the artide already mentioned, the writer states that "when Labour reigns supreme and property has become a public trust and work a social service, poverty will disappear. One of the most mysterious of tbe many mysteries of modern life is the persistence of poverty. Back in the misnamed Dark Ages of Europe ere machinery had been dreamt of and when industry was in its most primitive form and Society was based on the military basis of feudalism, and the accumulation of wealth had scarce begun, the common people still managed to exis l ;. Now, when steam and eleotrioityand mechanical invention and great store of capital and the organisation of industry have increased the productive powers of Labour a thousandfold, the mass of those who toil for a living can still do no more than manage to exist. Millions of them in every land are condemned to a condition of life little, if any, removed from that of the Roman galley-slave. They have to toil laboriously for a wage that will not purchase them paupers' fare, with no hope of escape till death brings tbem a welcome relief. Millions more are just one degree removed from this condition, and are liable at any moment to he plunged into tbe pit by accident, sickness, bad trade, or middle age. And all these, from the most highly-skilled meehanio to the most lowly-graded labourer, are parte of an organisation which is turning out wealth enough to satisfy a Midas. This is the modern mystery of mysteries—that though wealth accumulates, poverty shows no sign of deoay—nay, in Great Britain and the United States of America, is actually a growing quantity. Riches aud poverty grow-

ing side by side is surely a strange anomaly; strange—yet a faot." Mr Hardie has. apparently forgotten the very true words usually ascribed to Solomon, "as riches increase so do those increase that eat them." What has been the inorease in the population of England during the last 150 ye"ars? There are greater forces at work in this "little" world of ours than those of the millionaire or the geutlemau that sports a coronet. * * * * *

The methods by which Labour will seek to obtain control of the affairs of the world, says Mr Hardie, will bo, in the main, Constitutional. The ballot box and the general strike will both be used as occasion may require. In the almost immediate future a new movement for the objects aimed at in the revolutionary upheaval which convulsed the Continent of Europe in 1848 may be expected. Finally, when Labor rules the world, kings, emperors, czars, and nobles, and all such mischievous relics of the childhood of the race will be swopt into oblivion, Already they have outlived their usefulness. They belong to an older order of things, which has, for the most long since past away. The modern millionaire is a product of his times; the noble, royal, or other, is aB much out of place as would be a Mastodon in a sheeptold. Liberty, fraternity, equality is the battle-cry of the Socialist movement. The world is being taught by sad and bitter experience that the spirit of freedom cannot be dislooated and captured from the exclusive benefit of individuals or classes, or even communities; nor can i: be won for some at the cost of the, oppression of others. The law is, that all must be free or none oau be. When Labour rules the world not onJy will class be freed from bondage to olasa, but nations from subjectioc to nations. The race is one and indivisible, and freedom can only dwell in the race, and not in sel«oted portions thereof. Mankind, whether black, white, or yellow, must be left free to work out their own destiny by following the guidance of their own intuition. One realises, almost with a sense of relief, that in concluding his article Mr Hardie admits that "even when Labour rules the world the raoe will be far from perfect. There will be problems still to be solved, heights still to be scaled, depths to be sounded. So loDg as human passions exist life will have its times of cloud, storm, and sunshine."