A WAR THAT WILL END WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2267, 29 September 1914, Page 6

A WAR THAT WILL END WAR

■'■'■'■ mrL h. g. wells on .:'•. ;. ■.;■ "kraftism; , After hearing anathema on some disembodied persan called Graft, or Kraft, as Mr. Wells prefers to believe he onco was known, as the personification of all the vices which find expression in German militarism, German cunning' and brutality, and oven the British disciples, of the Germ an school, Mr.;H. G. Wells writes in-the. London "Daily News" thus:— ... . .'. ■ . ■' ■■.

"Now lot us English-make it'clear, once for all, to the Krafts and other kindred patriotic gentlemen from abroad who are.'showing us the really artful way , to-do thing*, that this is not our way of doing-things. Into this war we bave gone with clean hands—to end the reign, of brutal and artful internationalism for ever. Our .hearts nro heavy at the task beforo us, but our intention is grim. AVe mean to conquer. We are prepared- for.every, disaster, for intolerable stresses, for bankruptcy, for hunger, for anything but defeat. Now that we have begun to fight we will fight if needful until the children die of famine in our homes, we will fight though every ship wo have is at'tho bottom of the sea. We mean to fight this ivar to its ■ very .finish, and that' finish we' aro absolutely resolved must be the-end of Kraftism in' the world. And we will come out of this war with hands as clean as : they : are now, unstained by any dirty tricks in field or council chamber, neutralities respected, and treaties kept. Then wo will reckon once for all with Kraft and with his friends and supporters, the private dealers in armaments, and all this 'monstrous, stupid brood of villainy that has brought this vast catastrophe upon the world. •• : ' ..•■•'

; The Plain Man's View. •.-'". . "I say'this plainly now for myself and for thousands of silent, plain men, because the sooner Kraft realises how we feel in this matter the better for him. He betrays at times a remarkable persuasion that at the final settling up of things ho will mako himself invalii-r able to us. At diplomacy lie knows he shines. Then tho lisping.whisper.has its use, and the studied insolence. Finish tho fighting, and then leave it to him. He really believes the; born English will. He does not understand in tho slightest degree the still passion of our streets. There never was less shouting and less demonstration in England, and never was England 60 quietly intent, This war is not going to end in diplomacy; it is ■ going to ond diplomacy. It is quite .a different sort of war from any that have gone before it; At the end there will be no Conference of Europe on the old lines at all, but a Conference of the AYorld. It will bo a Conference for Kraft to laugh at. Ho will run about button-holing people about it; almost spitting in their faces with the eagerness of his derisive whispers. It will conduct its affairs with scandalous publicity and a deliberate simplicity. It will be worse than Woodrow Wjilson. And it will mako a poaco that will nut an end to Kraft and tho spirit of Kraft and Kraftism and the private armament firms behind him for ever more. "At which I imagine Ihe head of Kraft going down between his shoulders and his largo hands going out like tho wings of a ohorub. 'Englishmen I Liberals! Fools! Incurable 1 How can such tilings bo? It is-iiot how tilings aro done.' It is how they are going to he done if this world is to' bo worth living in at all after this war. When we light' Berlin, Kraft, -we fight you, . - . An absolute end to you, Yes. •