i:xTRi:\(ii M i..\ r ok I^■|)^■sTl•;^■. j;45 



tiicly free dI' all political roi)resciuatiuu tor all ihc ^ood the 

 gener.'il public have derixed from the etTorts of Parliament. 

 Uiukr pa'"liam<.'ntary rules and party government, measures are 

 submitted to such a jjruninjj- and emasculation under the ])olicy of 

 ccMiciliati(-)n that their orij^inal character is lost and their effec- 

 tixeness destroyed. hVee Traders have a sop administered to 

 them. Protectionists are occasionally placated, rebels are cheer- 

 fully forj^^iven. and the jxilicN' of conciliation and compromise 

 satisfies no one. In future elections, if the country i.s to have any 

 peace and j^rogress. the electors will have to exact from political 

 candidates definite adhesion to \iews and princi]>les laid down 

 by the various organisations that will undoubtedly be in exis- 

 tence after the war. and unless candidates adhere rigidly to 

 their pledges on the hustings they nnist be compelled to resign. 

 We have had an instance of the efficacy of political organisation 

 amongst our Dutch fellow colonists, and it behoves every voter 

 in South Africa to belong to some political organisation by 

 which he can make sure that his vote has its true and abiding 

 value. It is time that the cheated elector, promise-crammed and 

 defrauded by successive Parliaments, should stand up and count 

 himself something more than a cii:)her in the business of politics. 

 As things are with him now — in s])ite of his ballot-box and his 

 adult franchise — he is a mere pawn that Parliaments play with; 

 a shuttlecock they toss with in sport. It is a lamentable thing 

 to say, but so true that it demands frequent restatement, that a 

 ])olitician's pledge or a Ministerial promise is of no more value 

 than a (ierman signature to an international treaty. There is 

 a very sacred and solemn duty devolving upon all who would 

 rescue our ])arliamentary life from the level to which it has 

 drifted. The leaders who regularly give ])romises to catch votes, 

 and who break those promises Parliament after Parliament in 

 .order to evade irksome duties, should be met with the stern 

 displeasure of an indignant people. Cannot the people so rise 

 above mere party as to form a League of Truth, the meml)ers 

 of which would sternly punish e\ery Ciovernment in turn which 

 proves false to its pledges? 



South Africa has been a favourite dum|)ing-ground for the 

 surplus goods of other nations, whose internal markets are se- 

 cured by high tariff walls. In open competition with such goods 

 produced by the worst-paid labour of any and every country, 

 it is impossible for our infant industries to find their feet. An 

 adequate protection is therefore essential to the birth and devel- 

 opment of South African industries, the number of which can 

 be extended very considerably under symj^athetic treatment. 



It has Ijeen estimated that our, say. 1,300,000 whites in Soutli Africa 

 as a body of consumers, are equal in spending power to nearly 2.000,000 

 Australians, tlie rates of pay being so much higher in South Africa. Our 

 market, therefore, is equal to, and probably better than, the market of 

 3,000,000 .Australians. Based upon this calculation, there should be ample 

 room in South .Africa for 7,000 factories employing quite i^o.otxa persons, 

 of whom (the minimum wage being in force) at least one half would he 

 white, or nearly treble the number oi whites the whole mining industry 



