Cerberus

Mr. Charlton, M.H.R., says that the proposal to abolish the amusement tax in picture shows is a sop to the electors. The Treasurer asserts that anyone who says such a thing is guilty of an outrage. Mr. Charlton replies that he is willing to commit that outrage, though he agrees with the proposal.

There was a dog named Cerberus
Supposed to be three-headed.
In days of old,
    So we are told,
He was extremely dreaded,
No present-day suburban dog
Could ever equal him.
    His growling low
    Filled folk with woe,
His attitude was grim.

There was a dog named Cerberus—
But that was long ago.
    If you should ask
    What was his task,
I'd own I do not know.
I only know folk threw him sops
To keep him sweet and kind.
    But ev'n today,
    I dare to say,
That dog still lives, you'll find.

His three grim heads have multiplied,
Their growth it never stops,
    And men who dote
    Upon the vote,
They have to throw him sops.
His heads run into millions now,
And that each red maw—
    Trusting to luck—
    They have to chuck
Some sop—theme men of law.

"Public Opinion" is his name
('Tis changed since days of yore),
    He'll feed and feed
    Till, like savages greed,
And then he'll ask for more.
The anxious members rack their
    brains
To think of some fresh sop.
    He barks and growls,
    And snarls and howls—
The brute will never stop!

And many a legislator pale
Sighs sadly, "What's the good?
    Is there no way
    A member may
Work for a livelihood?"
Must he for ever shirk our task
Until all progress stops,
    And spend our days
    Devising ways
To manufacture sops?

I fear me, friends, it must be so,
This is democracy!
    One sop, one vote,
    You'll wisely note,
It ever has to be. . . .
And so the game goes on and on;
The dog will not relent.
    The brute they feed
    To stay his greed,
And call it—Government.