The Washington herald., 1911-01-08
SOCIALISTIC DREAM
OF NEW ZEALAND
CALLBDAFAILURB

New Zealand has gone further than
country on the road to the realization Of
socialist ideas. The opportunity to ex-
pertinent has been remarkable. and It
has been freely and widely used.
The New Zealand socialists and near
socialists claim that their country has
abolished strikes and lockouts, made ac-
tual want Of the necessaries Of life i'm
possible in old age. established the eight
hour day and Saturday half-holiday.
done away with the holding Of great es-
tates for an advance in the price Of land
made millionaires so nearly impossible
that there are none, stopped tax-dodging
prevented the formation Of trusts or mo-
nopolies, and given the state ownership
and control of public utilities. such as
street railroads, steam railways. gas.
electric lighting and power, the telegraph.
and the telephone.
Many other things have been done by
very busy and paternal government, and
the New Zealanders - some Of them -
claim that their country has come nearer
ideal conditions of existence than any
other state ever did.
1t has had every opportunity for pros
perity and happiness. The climate is
very fine. 1t is never oppressively hot.
and except in the mountains, where few
people live, never very cold. The coun-
try is extremely healthful. Outdoor work
can be carried on easily throughout the
year. Little fuel is needed to warm
dwellings and not much cold weather
clothing is required.
Soil Exceptionally Fertile.
The area of New Zealand is nearly the
same as that of Italy. Its population is
only about LOCO coo. The pick of the land
is more than enough for the inhabitants
to use, and the soil is exceptionally fer
tile. The shape of the islands is such
that no part of the country is remote
from deep-water harbors. No long hauls
on railroads are necessary to carry prod
ucts for export to the open highways of
the sea.
In such a favored land, where there is
no hint of crowding and little excuse for
real want, the moral effects of applied
socialism ought to sustain the theories
of those ardent apostles of social regener
alton by force of law who charge crime
to the account of the state 1t is their
ruch-exploited doctrine that the indi-
not first wrong him by grinding him
down in poverty or depriving him of rea-
sonable opportunity for happiness
1t is a pretty and attractive view of
the possibilities of swift and made-to-
order progress for mankind. 1t would
open golden vistaS down the shining fu-
ture-if the theory would only work AS
To actual results, let an enthusiastic
member of New Zealand's socialistic
government bear witness. in an article
contributed to the socialStic Twentieth
Century Magazine
In the December issue of that periodi-
cal the Hon. J. T. Paul. member of the
Legislative council of New Zealand, dis
cuSseS new lines of governmental prog
ress in that country. He is officially and
personally hopeful. of course. as becomes
a spokesman of the party in power, but
he makes one apparently quite uncon-
scious admission which is extremely sig
.nificant
Prison Reform n Failure.
In quoting a specialist in prison reform.
Dr. Findlay, the minister of justice in
the New Zealand government. Mr.. Paul
indorses this extraordinary statement:
THE problem (of prison reform) is not
an easy one and ii is not small one. 4
large proportion of our native-born popu-
laton are going yearly to our prisons"
No immigrants. be it observed, with
the curse of old-fashioned systems of
government still upon them, but a large
proportion of the native-born New Zea-
landers are going yearly TO the prisons
which even fatherly and tenderly med
Glesome state finds it necessary to main
tain. The conditions which socialists
guarantee to come near eliminating crime
have been created. in large degree, ac-
cording to the New Zealand socialists,
but crime and criminals evidently abound
notwithstanding.
So one dream of socialism goes to
wreck and the world is left still to toll
slowly and painfully. yet surely and quite
steadily. upward on the long spiral of its
destined way. mending government meth
DDS here and there, and cutting out the
cancer of an old abuse now and then
but always depending, in the main. on
the betterment of the individual man
and woman. Once more it is demonstrat-
ed, where the chance for success for a
cure-all was best, that the ills of hui
nlanity are too deep and grave to be
eradicated by socialist nostrums stamped
with the approving seal Of government