A Kind Word for Politicians

We do not want to die

Three facts are outstanding in the Federal. House today:—

1. The Government is dying, and is long past the least usefullness of value to the country.

2. Sugar is still 6d a lb., when it should to be substantially less.

3. It is most highly paid House in Australian history, with the greatest number of placemen ever known, and it does not want to die.

We do not want to die, kind friends,
    Why should we?
We do not want to pass away,
    How could we?
The joy of nations and the lilt of life
Were gone without the story of our strife.

Consider, friends, if we are not
    Just factors
In government; well, let us be
    Play actors;
And for the entertainment of
    The nation
Grant us, for just a few years moral,
    Salvation.

We do not want to die; for, lo,
    The money—
(Tho' to unthinking men it may
    Seem funny)
We get for talking reams of bosh
    Attracts us.
And there is joy when some poor fool
    Attacks us.

Yes; there is joy, and columns in
    The papers,
Outdoing the advertisements
    Of drapers.
Even the woman reads about
    Our doings—
Our strange antipathies and
    Sudden wooings.

Day in, day out, when Houses are
    In session,
Upon the public mind we claim
    Possession.
And, pray, believe us; cunning, say,
    And strange is
The clever way we ring the
    Daily changes.

To-day 'tis sugar, and
    To-morrow salt;
Jam the day after; we are ne'er
    At fault.
We always can ring in some
    Special act
To dope the press and make the
    Crowd re-act.

We do not want to die, kind friends,
    Why should we?
And, in the modern scheme of things,
    Why should we?
Outdoing the advertisements
    Our history,
And how we keep our jobs is just
    A mystery.