(continued from page 3) m---mjm ""-irerjm

Dr.Wl'iilfon'sAclclress

of Christ. of the generations of our modern worid. who latterly sought their realization by the uni- versal extension of the right to vote to all the people in the illus- ion that the right to a vote would mean a vote for the right. and therefore just and good and decent and honourable things for the good of all.

BREAKDOWN or DEMOCRACY 1

instead. what has come about has been too targeiy and widely just a transfer of power to an increasingly diffuse and indiffer- ent and uninformed body. - the people. And ignorance and error have been rampant. since. as John Moriey. says: "it is an idea that error somehow in certain 5.35.95, wnei-e there is enough o. it. actually does Ellodt "k9 V30 cination.” I

And so we have come full cir- clei This ”den'mCl'al.lt.' way of life." that we hate so glorified - have we not held "vox populi, vox dei" m the voice of the P90Ple 15 the voice of God? - and which was designed to assure the exer- cise of their direct POW” WET their own lives by the people themselves. has become so dif- fused'over great masses with anything but common interests. so blurred in outline.-so much a form of speech indeed rather than a way of life, that it threat- ens ”in bogs and sands" to per- ish, and "to evil and to good be lost forever."

Loss of Responsibility: The fit'st and greatest corroding force in this internal decay of Democracy is the lessening or loss of any deep sense of responsibility on the part of elector and elected alike. There is little thought of seri- ous study. of honest searching to know and espouse what is the cause of the common good, of seeking good for itself, or a regard for freedom is and of itself. with all that such a precious right implies.

Shear Inertia: Related and allied to the lack of much sense of responsibility for their government is the sheer indifference and in- artia of the great mass of free electors. It is not an age of inter- est a concern with ideas, (and Democracy is a concept of the mind) but with material things.

Educational "Sloppinese": This evil preference is bred in part in our educational tenets. One school of so-called educational- ista argues that the pupil should be taught "not to learn facts but to think."

"0 thinking" - exclaims my old professor of English (the same Dr. McNelll) - "What intellect- ual crimes are committed in-thy name! How can a man think if he doesn't know? . . . . . . You cannot think with hopes and fears and ignorance. but only with a

well-trained and a well-filled mind." )T.i-gs "THINKING"

gll is so easy to swim with the tide and the tide is afloat with 50 many swimming the same way, went along by the pleasant ways of press and radio and television. easygcommentators and vast con- formity in the colourful propag- anda that has us all living so uniformly the same way. eating so many different brands of al- most the same foods. (and sav- llll their cereal tops for contests). wearing clothes atylad to stand- Irds. changing just enough to stimulate profitable com- petition but not too great depar- ture from a common norm; indulg- llll ll the same .....eations. driv- ing cars of the year's prescribed mod-ls; shifting to the hair-do's, f-'0lmGtlcI. sport shirts. flahlng IICRIO. U WIIIC IIVI you - gven H II! diapers Old bib, (arm. uiaa - of changing mass din. tataa. la a material dilsoontent we are OK with the old. Just because it is the old. not because it is worn If useless. and on with the new. whether it be new garments, or Ildlltl. or manners. or morals. a new wife, a new husband, or a new faith. - change merely for chansu --kn. as publicity and propaganda call the tune. and :::tOI'hWI::Iod;ltIlI::slOll. never with . in or splr t. u"'"- '0 l0I1i sought. for the recreation of mind and body, has become "waste time" to the great- " number of the people. to be liked-in commercial entertainment. sports" instead of games, passive exposure to amusements organ- ized and marketed for whlllng lWl)' the hours. or capitalizing the love of risk in the affairs bill skill and chance" that. in this and make legitimate an other- wise lllegitlmata undertaking. u:ll0"8ll. to be just. there Is. d Wldely evident an anxious mange to be of value and service ed 0"” dly in the unprecedent- ehtiltlggllt of fraternal. religious. W 1' l0. service and general ummullty Cllterprisee in which .nd.l:l;lch of humane. individual pk” BI:l.Il' is generously outpour- de;m."- "1 greater and greater mw - "ml organization. no... In ., ""C9dl"'0. mus "market- h'- "N1 mass publicity tend obscure and to absorb much at the original spontaneity and hdivldual service of the citizen ll" Dublielsed "cause."

Tlll PRES! I DEMOCRACY

The anaesthesia of ladiffarence and irresponsibility evident la ao mac a portion of the electorate ”- "I Part reflected la - as well as Indeed. in part. a reflection of - the attitude of a great sec- tion of the press.

There remain journals, both large and amau. wurageous and certain champions of it f . truth. honour. for-thrlghtnesa in the functioning of our govern- ments. but the number grows of those who make licence of their freedom. and with whom a un-

An pI'C:5

informed,

is to the

later ' ' .

Q

on others by any

itself to life. In such

poll are deemed

llIl'9

enriched.

office might have

unreserved his constituents.

their business

ture judgment.

hols

ing you. your opinion."

the end. the only

decency. honour.

in a free society. "A free man,"

during democracy

them bec

arm

the franchise.

settings leadership goes under discount to this evil of superficial mass opin- ion - which goes by the name of thought. This i pie want", so recorded. can then be exploited and fed by too many of those who should resist and de- stroy it. - those who appeal to the people for their votn

THE "POLITICIAN"

DIFFICULT TASK

The high and difficult task of leadership. of attempting to in- form and persuade and direct the mind and conscience of the elec- tor to serious study, to honest search. to earnest inquiry of what is the public good - and so, in

operation for the sake of good cit zanshivi and good gut'ernn1guL reliable truthfr

conscience I

democracy as a whole what the voice of conscience is to the honourable citizen in the free an. democratic state; in the lack or either democracy is impaired: in the lack of both it is doomed.

THE "POLLSTER"

But. lest an editor here, an; individualist there. play other nun the Peoples Pied Piper tunes. andl so lead to dangerous deviation in! ideas or even rouse a hunger for speculation or for thought. there in the newest by-product of our. declining Democracy - "the pol.l

The pollster will quickly let youl know whether you are waridering from the mass assembly line of public opinion and make clear the way to that feeling of safety a. gain. - the safety of being "right" because you are with the major-

That is deadly dangerous, in a Democracy. that feeling that you are one with power. part of n great dominant group. in numbe a strong enough to impose your will

means. Minor-

ity.opinion is ignored and. brood- lllg. it generates the very same bitterness and resentment against the power of democracy that first brought the germ of democracy

courageous

'what the peo-

Those with their ears thus to the keyhole of the public opinion

to have been

far-sighted when indeed "Nothing doth more harm in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.”

Someone has said somewhere that the politician thinks of the next election. the statesman of the next generation. He or she who would he an honourable trustee of our freedoms must think not only of the present in these fu- terms but of past genera- tions as well, of the painful pro- gress through which these preci- ous possessions of liberty have been bought and bequeathed to us and of the comparably courageous and. if not painful. arly unpopular leadership, reqiiis- ite tn preserving and transmitting them unimpaired and, if possible.

certainly simil-

PRICE OF LEADERSHIP

The responsibility of leadership must surely be the responsibility of truth. not compromise; of cour- age. not concession.

Edmund Burke. saving his own honour and self-respect at the cost of his constituency of the City of Bristol. said finely what every honourable candidate for public

printed on his

nomination papers to this day: "it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live lIL1he strictest union, the clas- eat correspondence and the most communication with

Their. wishes

ought to have great weight with him; their opinion high respect; nnremltted attu- tion. It is his duty . . . . . . . . . above all, over and in all cases. to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion. his ma- his enlightened conscience. he ought not to sacri- fice to you. to any man. or to any set of men living. These-be does not derive from your pleas. ure: no. nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence for the abuse of which deeply answerable. representative owes you not his industry only. but his Judgment; and he betrays. instead of serv- lf he sacrifices it to

Your

real good for

himself - is foregone in the easy expediency of "interpreting the wish of the electors" instead of so interpreting right. justice. good.

freedom that

they shall become not only the wish but the ideal of this free man who wants to remain free

wrote Lord

Tweedsmuir, "ls not one who is permitted to do as he likes. He is one who willingly accepts a discipline and makes it his own because he understands its value."

Responsible leaders of an en-

inust enjoin

discipline upon those who support without discipline there cannot long be an ordered society. The democracy which cannot assure self-discipline so dlslntegi-ates that the external dis- cipline of dictatorship swiftly an-

Advance of Administrative Pew- ar: The power of Democracy is dwindling further by the inertia of the elected representatives in the face of growth of power and competency la the administrative

The people entrust power to thou elected in the exercise of and presumably seek to contain It within limits H t

Dr. Charl

Charlottetown Club.

garet Irving, Miss Helen Yeo, Provincial

olle hiiion

President, and

change has been centered in a permanent civil service. presum- ably impartial. interested only in the effective application of the policies, devised by the elected arm and delegated to this ad- ministrative arm for execution. Policy and planning belong to those directly responsible to the people: performance to those re- tained to carry them out.

Here. however. modern Dem- ocracy is being impaired in that. more and more, the appointed public servant is being involved in the development of planning and policy. for the simple reason that government is becoming so tech- nical and involved that the concept and application of many of its problems cannot be easily encom- passed by the seml- or uninformed.

DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS

Two things are happening - both destructive of the democratic- system itself.

The elected representative is re- flecting not his own. nor neces- sarily the electnrate's. wishes but rather becoming the medium of carrying out the policies of the permanent service.

Or. the permanent civil servant. desiring to see what he believes in put into practice. is identifying himself with the policy of the government (whch he is supposed only to serve) to the point of di- rectlng. and implementing and. even at times. actually entering the field of political candidature to further his designs.

Thus Democracy becomes bur- eaucracy and the exercise of the power of the people becomes the privilege either of the party or the permanent civil servant in of- fice without full and free discus- sion and debate,

Here. tigain, this vitiaiion of the democratic process is not the work of external forces. its remedy lies at hand in the election to the inc. ' complicated and dif- ficult task of modern democratic government of persons properly qualified for the discharge of the duties which a free society seeks to have discharged by freely el- ected. and as freely changed. rep- . resentatlves.

DELEGATION OF POWER

This deflection of direct respon- sibility from the elected arm may take other forms - the entrust- ing of more and more of the duties and decisions that should be government's - if government is to remain responsible to the people - to administrative bodies. to whom policy and expenditure are both accorded with an "ongoi- at-abllity", and ”unaccountabillty which would not be tolerated on the part of the government itself. Such a trend entrenches Bureau- cracy in separate and fortified dwellings beyond the reach of Parliament or people.

Another instance of this removal from the elected authority of di- rect power - and so final resP0Il- slbility for its actions -- is the development of compulsory arbi- tratlon in labour disputes of a pub- llc body - gnvemmental or sub- sidiary - with ita employees. One consequent result is to remove control over the rates of public expenditure and. so. of taxation from the constituted government authority. and to have it exercised by a temporary and anP0lI'It0d body. again with no direct rela- tionship or accountability to the electorate.

This is a denial of the funda- mental controla h the Bill

tructlve of one of the fundamen- tal safeguards of a Damooraw.

POWERS W111

E e if 9.. 3 s B- s '1

government. organized strength which. by its influence or weight of votes, exerts a power on policy and administration quite unwar-

fettering. and so weakening the full play of free and constituted authority.

However representative. how- ever responsibly led. such de- velopments can end in but one of

- in a "Corporationist" state. such as Italian Fascism. in-its early and better stages. or in Communism.

It is wise. if perhaps not polit- ically sag:-icious or discreet. examine whether. on this con- tinent. the strength and power of certain militant and organized labour movements and certain of their leaders do not so threaten

democracy to quite different de- gree from the United Kingdom

at-able" from its direct participa- tion in political life.

the modern industrial democracy:

pie. nor under as direct sentative control of as broadly elected an authority within their own area as are the competent governing bodies of the nation.

Within a democracy. the powers of the executive (whether the Crown. the Executivevor the Cab- inet) are strictly limited and for all matters of major policy and vital concern decision may be taken only within the whole rep- resentatlve assembly of the peo- ple.

But tremendous power (which can involve industrial and conse- quent economic paralysis of the nation) is now eiilrusted to com- parably small executive bodies of the "authority within the public authority" that our powerful or- ganized labour groups have be- come.

The cost of production, and so of living. and. through their inter- -ilav. ultimritcly of taxation; con- trol over the assured continuous

nip.-ration of the life of the na-

tion. its systems of communica- tion - such vital factors of the public weal - are now as effec- Iively (if not in actual legal factl in the determination of the dis- cretion. sanity and sense of re- sponsibility of a few most highly placed "labour leader lords" of to-day as they are of the duly constituted government. and as similar powers. in other times. were exercised by the mlllL9l'y- the feudal. the industrial "lords" of those days.

'SOCIAL' SECURITY

But. what price essential liberty or freedom now? Life has become so concerned with the standards of material living that these have become greater ends in them- selves. Hun Suyin. coming to us from the oertainty of her Eastern philosophy. saw materialism shrlvelllng the life and spirit 01 the West.

"Everyone wanted security. security no longer a word but a duty, a lifedemanding god . . . j round people smaller and mJn- er, shrunk in a fixed search for security. Deep-buried in this word lay the talent of the slothful ser- vant unadventured on the dail- gerous seas of life. For this

a strange end nun planned Wltll

pension and retirement at It f saint!!! of as, h youth aspiring to safe sen- illty. For the security of death they foraook living. Security arm- ad ad ra-armed the nations

3 E E .2

rial" X

Allenls: A. Club l.Uf'lCl'lOl'l A

Dr. Charlotte Whitton. Mayor of Ottawa, and a member of the Ottawa Business and Professional Women's Club chats with a few of the members of the Club just prior to an informal luncheon given by the Club in her honour

ranted by any legal provisions and

two ways in modern Democracy

lo

the full and free operation of pure

where Labour leadership is "get-

Labour is the great capital of

the hours and rates of labour are the greatest single factor in its na- tional economy. Yet these are not under the effective control of the constituted authority of the peo- repre-

aenturiea of

growing under at-niarnants and

dcvia ever more efflcgesit has said thus Arnbld Toynboe has said another way. - that in our technology the West

3 S

5.. led terial society utabllsbmnt g;l.tllshi;i:.ht;.dKI:g, yin; c:.splrltiTall:t:acutbr: wgiltcyh andllmpmor. the infi or soce . du:.ei-ant wdi. I C'I.itIl- nII:e values of the spirit. Ill... -mg... min. are some of the "iv. gnw seams and break ninnlng through hm; In structure of Democracy

H. waianhs I. internally. as now. u. .. anus now than all you! of con- . Idea struggle for mastery W07

'5

I

W

at The Charlottetown Hotel yesterday. Seen in the picture from left to right are. Mrs. Walter Bears, Miss Isabel MacDonald, Miss Lena McLure. Dr. Whitton, Mrs. Benj. Rogers. Miss Dorothy Cullen. Club President, Miss Mar- Miss Gertrude Love. organizer and first president of the

1112;

possibly want CTIIIHEIIII has told us in other words:

"History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past. trying to reconstruct its" scenes, to revive its echoes

land kindle with pale gleams the I-passions of former days. What is

the worth of all this?

”The only guide to a man is his conscience; - the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions . . . . with this shield. however the fates may play, we march always in: the ranks of honour."

RULE OF THE SPIRIT

Conscience is the voice of the

Spirit of God in man.

That rule of the Spirit iinpuses partnership with "the spirit of goodness in all forms of social

organization" and the religion

that is thus individual brings all

together in social progress be. cause of faith in the ultimate tri-

umph of goodness itself.

And so. in 1912. Dr. Watson

appealed in the Gifford Lectures:

"Religion is the spirit which must more and more subdue all

things to itself, informing science and art. and realizing itself in

the higher organization of the

family, the civic community, the

state and ultimately the world.

gradually filling the mind and

heart of every individual with

the lava of God and the anthusi.

asm of. humanity."

Life is real and life'is person-

al and that state and that forml 0' 50Cl6'-3' will endure which give) to man faith and hope in thisl life and. after he has striveng

peace at the last.

"Go out into the darkness". came the niessage from our good mm dymg IUUR. ”and put your hand in the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light

Beat three tablespoons of liquid or creamed honey with a fourounce nach- age of cream chew until light and hudy, and use mixture for a wild spread.

the Guardian Snhtrday, April 23, 955

Continued from Page I '1.

Pretty Home Settings

are just dancing with color and -rich beauty We were charmed with a wallpaper design consist- ing of a series of bullfight posters based on the Goya etchings of this sport. The pride of (jraz!'..a the lovely Alhambra. furnished the inspiration for a printed cot- 3 ton that used the twelve-sided tile! and the grillwork of the building as its motifs.

do

it

tier

with SYLVA

DOUGAS nnroo

Barter's Film Lab.

sl

armed indeed with the thunder- bolt of his own destruction or the power to release the living of life to new and unimagined fioedoms and equality.