THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1902. THE COMING ELECTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 47, 20 November 1902, Page 17

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1902. THE COMING ELECTION.

♦ E deem the present an opportune time to lay before those of our readers, who shall lie privileged to vote on the 25th inst, some of the principles which should guide them in their selection of the person or persons to whom they think the making of the country's laws should be entrusted. It is more than a privilege, it is a sacred obligation on every adult to see that no obstacle stands in the way, which would prevent him from recording his vote for the man whom he thinks best suited for the duties and responsisilities of Parliament. We trust that our readers have seen that their names are on the rolls, and that when the polling day conies they will be found to vote for the principles which should guide the true statesman, and for the men who support these principles, not for those who make place and power the sole object of their efforts, and who willingly sacrifice conscience, justice, and truth to policy and party. The Catholic citizen being a shareholder in the State should be in a position to make his influence felt for good whenever public problems have to be solved, wrongs righted, or evils remedied. Owing to the limit to human knowledge different men come to different conclusions on purely political and social problems, hence Catholic will be found contending with Catholic with that energy and zeal which spring from a sense of duty, and a firm conviction that each has truth on his side. This is only what is to be expected, as the true solution to these problems often lies between the two extremes, and is only arrived at by a paring down process. We would say, therefore, to the Catholic voter, make yourself acquainted with the leading political problems of the day, bring your knowledge, guided by Catholic principles, to bear on these problems, cast your vote for the principles which you have satisfied yourself are right, therefore best for the State, cast it for the candidate whose private life is above reproach, and whose public life has been such as to justify you in concluding that he is qualified and is willing to use his influence to further these principles. The Catholic voter is not only a citizen of the State, and therefore immediately interested in public questions, but also a citizen of the Church, which citizenship he must never forget. Let us remark that good citizenship of the Church is not inimical to good citizenship of the State, on the contrary the one includes the other, as both aim at justice, right, and truth.

The one great problem which at the present time affects the Church and State, and in which the Catholic voter is most deeply interested, is that of education. The depth of our interest in this problem is, as we pointed out last week, measured by £60,000, the sum the Catholics of this Colony are being robbed of year by year. Catholics may differ on minor points, but on this fundamental principle all are united, and are agreed on the absolute necessity and strict justice of demanding from the State a proportionate share of the money contributed by the tax-payers (Catholics included) for the secular education of our own children in our own schools. Owing chiefly to want of organisation amongst ourselves and to properly organised means of spreading information amongst our fellow-colonists, we are not in a position, to demand from candidates a public pronouncement on the justice of our educational claim. Not being strong enough to demand justice in this matter we are not likely to get it. Many of the aspirants for Parliamentary honors are mere opportunists, not men of

principle. They are like a candidate who was once asked if he were in favor of our just claims, to which he replied in this characteristic fashion : ' You have only so many votes in this constituency ; 1 can afford to lose that many, but when you get so many that 1 cannot afford to lose them, then, bub not till then, will \ vote to do you justice.' The State will, therefore, continue to rob us of £60,.0 0 a year, and, in addition, compel us to pay for a system of education which is godless in its very nature, and which we, therefore, cannot take advantage of. Our opinion is that we can never hope to get relief from Parliament on this great question until by organisation amongst ourselves we are in a position to go to the Government of the day and say : ' If you do not take up our cause and make it a Government question we are going to vote against your party from the North Cape to the Bluff.' At present we are not in that position so we shall have to stagger along under the unjust burden. * There are, however, many other questions of minor interest but yet of sufficient importance in themselves to demand our attention — questions, for instance, of grants from the State in aid of our charitable works — such as our rescue work and our orphanages — grants which, while assisting us somewhat in our work, yet save the State a very considerable sum every year. There is also the hauling down of the notice which too long defiled the Public Service door, 'No Catholic need apply.' These grants in aid of works are what we may call small favors, and as the oppressed are always expected to be thankful even for small favore, we are thankful for them, but our thanks are only in proportion to the favors received. Catholics should take these matters into consideration and weigh very carefully the claims of the different candidates who ask them for their votes. Catholic voters should keep their eyes and ears open. Many of the candidates make themselves very agreeable at election times, profess to be our best friends, and display a great interest in national and religious affairs. It would be well to note if their past actions agree with their present professions. During an election contest there are to be found some of our co-religionists who have a particular axe to grind, and who would make the public believe that they are the Catholic leaders, and that the whole power of the Church is at their back, while in truth they care very little for t,he interests of the Catholic body, being wholly absorbed in the particular axe they have on the stone. Catholic voters should be wary of such people. For practical purposes we may divide the aspirants to parliamentary honors into three classes as they stand in relation to Catholic principles and as they merit the support of Catholic voters. Fh st, comes the politician in the best sense of the term, a man who loves justice and truth, of broad-minded views, who does not despise the religious tenets of any man, but has the highest regard for the conscientious opinions of everyone, who will not persecute or punish a man on account of his religion. This man is our friend. He loves justice, and is willing, given the opportunity, to right the wrong under which we suffer in educational matters. Such a man should be assured of the Catholic votes, no matter what may be his political opinions. In the next place, we have the candidate who, from want of a logical grasp of the justice of our cause is opposed to our educational claims, yet recognises the justice of our minor claims, and is willing to assist them to the best of his ability. This man is candid enough to act in an open, straightforward manner, to be guided by his reason and intelligence, not by bigotry and human applause, and he deserves our respect, and even our votes in the absence of a more approved friend. Finally, we have the open enemy, or, even worse, the rail-sitter, who is what may be called a political weather-vane, and is as shifty as such. To-day he is your sincere friend as he calculates how far he can make uee of you ; to-morrow, if the tide be against you, he rides on the wave which threatens to overwhelm you. By their works you shall know them. Some such men sab in the last Parliament. ' Hansard ' contains a record of their actions. Some are standing now for the first time, they may be known by such phrases as ' I am opposed to grants of all kinds to denominational institutions ' ; 'lam in favor of inspection of convents ' ; 'lam in favor of our free, compulsory, secular system of education ' ; 'the Catholic

Bishops* only desire is to break up your glorious educational system.' This is all mere clap-trap. With regard to such candidates our advice may be given in the words of St. Paul on a somewhat similar occasion : ' Mark well such men . . . and avoid them.' Let none of their friends throw <Just in your eyes by saying that no matter what these men said or did in the past they are now your friends, and the Catholics of the Colony or of any particular district would deserve to be dragged in the mud if they tied themselves to the political chariot wheels of any man who had used his position or was likely to use it in Parliament to act unjustly towards them, or who, under the cover of the privileges of the House, would hurl at them vile and opprobrious epithets which he would nob dare utter on a public platform. * We now say to the Catholic voter : Vote for the principles which' after mature thought you have satisfied yourself tend to secure peace, prosperity, order, and justice to the country, and for the candidate whom you think best calculated by intellect, by training, by political knowledge to carry out these principles. Vote for the honest, straightforward candidate, but have nothing to do with the bigot, the coward who attacks from behind the fence, the railsitter, or the political balloonist, who soars high in clear, calm weather, but is carried away when the storm of prejudice arises.