160 BRITAIN FOE THE BRITON 



overt action by the defection of a section of their own followers 

 and the hostility of the Socialists, the party principle so 

 dominates the situation that for the life of them the party 

 in ofl&ce dare not put forward a broad, comprehensive scheme 

 of real usefulness, because of the fear that the party out of 

 office might make so much political capital out of it as would 

 ensure the defeat of their own government and turn them out 

 of power. 



The Insane "Party" System 



And this insane and suicidal system of ruling the country 

 and administrating its affair's is not a thing of yesterday, nor 

 does it begin and end with the present Government. It dates 

 back to the " good old days," to those times " when knights 

 were bold and barons held their sway " ; to that halcyon period 

 of which poets sang and which were immortalised by various 

 writers, when the people enjoyed universal serfdom and had less 

 voice in the doings of Parliament than a child has in the 

 domestic government of the household. 



To-day the people have considerable political power de jure, 

 but de facto it is really vested in those they send to Parliament 

 to represent them. It is a matter of common notoriety how 

 recklessly the people's welfare is sacrificed to party interests 

 when their representatives get there. 



This dominating tyrannical spirit of party influence equally 

 affects every political party in the State, and it is inimical to 

 the people's interests and antagonistic to real reform. The 

 Statute Book for the last twenty-five years, for example, instead 

 of recording a number of useful measures which would benefit 

 the people, is full of Acts which were conceived in a craven, 

 half-hearted spirit, born and bred in an unhealthy atmosphere 

 of party jealousy and animosity, and which bear on their 

 features the marks of destructive party warfare. 



Whichever party may happen to be in office it will always 

 be pursued by this baneful party spirit, dominated by its malign 

 influence, and rendered feeble, inert, and nugatory by its un- 

 remitting enmity. 



A Dawning Hope of Better Times 



There is, however, just the dawning of a hope visible on the 

 far political horizon, and it is to be M'ished that this distant 

 point of light may grow into a brilliant sun which will illumine 

 the darkness of the people's lives and warm and cheer them 

 with its fervid beams. 



The cold selfishness of parties is bound to thaw sooner or 



