The Dominon MONDAY, AUGUST 2,1915, EVERY MAN A FIGHTER

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2529, 2 August 1915, Page 4

The Dominon MONDAY, AUGUST 2,1915, EVERY MAN A FIGHTER

The close of the first year of tho war has brought with it a much keener realisation than existed at the commencement of hostilities of tho stupendous task which the British Empire is, called upon to perform. We have now entered upon what will. probably prove tho most Critical phase of the struggle. We see that tho price of victory is going to be an extremely heavy one, but Britain and her Allies have decided that however high it may.be it must bo paid. After twelve months' experience we know what modern war on a great scale means. Wo knew at tho outset that the present conflict would be a terrible one, but its terribleness has surpassed all anticipations. The time has come _ for sweeping away all comforting illusions, and to look the actual facts straight in tha face. Me. Lloyd George has put the question, i "Can anyone, reading the inews intelligently, ■ doubt that the situation is serious, if not perilous ?" It is perilous. The nation's character and powers of endurance are going to bo put to a tremendously severe test-. The latest news fully Dears out tho assertion of Mr. Lloyd Geoiige that "events in the East portend that a larger share of the burden than ever will be cast upon Great Britaiu's shoulders." There are many indications that the people at Homo have arrived at a truer understanding of the gravity of the and tho need for more thorough national organisation and for greater sacrifices but this clearer recognition of the Empire's peril, instead of weakening, has strengthened tho determination o£ the nation to fight on with redoubled energy until victory has been achieved. Britain's danger is also New Zealand's'danger, and the call to greater activity and zeal in the common cause comes to us with tho same urgency as to the Mother Country. On Wednesday next (August 4) British citizens in every part of tho Empire will lie given an opportunity of expressing their unanimous and unshakable vcsolvo to caw nn tho v«u' at :»KB till tho JJ.QWM oi que Ml

been, broken. At a time like the present, the face of tho people should be set like a flint against any manifestation of the spirit of faction. With tho enemy at our gates it would bo madness to start fighting umong ourselves. The Russian set-back emphasises with tremendous force tho need for almost unlimited supplies of munitions of war. We arc told that the llussian newspapers attribute the withdrawal of the Ts.ut's armies to the enemy's overwhelming superiority in gun power, and declare that the resumption of the Russian offensive will have to wait until tho munition industries have been mobilised. The French armies have not felt tho shortage of munitions as severely as the Russians, but a cablegram whioh appeared in Saturday's Dominion shows that the French authorities Jiavc not been without anxiety on this point. Oreusot's employees have been working day and night, and General Maudhax assures them that by bo doing they will save the lives of many of their brothers and hasten the . day of victory. M. Charles H.ombrrt recently contributed stirling articles to the Paris Journal, urging tho necessity of reinforcing without cessation the capacity and activity, of the French war industries, and. expressing approval of j whatsis now being clone in Britain in tins mattev. Organisation has ber come the motto in France as in j Britain, and Russia is now following along, the same lines. "It ii, ' necessary," writes M. Humbert, "thati organisation should become a i regular rule of conduct. Victory is to be had at this price, and at this price alone." -Ho goes on to say that "what will triumph is certainly not the France—admirable, of coursethat knows how to suffer and t'o die; but the France—not less fine, not less great—that knows how to pro< duce, to invent, to work; the France that means to live." In this war both work and sacrifice are needed in .supreme measure to ensure victory. M. Humbert reminds, us that the conflict in which we are engaged has brought to blows not only armies but whole'nations in arms. Entire societies, with their whole vital strength, are fighting against each other. Germany has made this war an onterprise of methodical destruction, which she pursues by every means. And behind her troops are her workers, her engineers, her chemists, her experimenters, who are working for our death. Let us understand in our turn that we must fight with all our' strength. Tho problem is to extract from our crucibles, from our blast furnace?, a constantlygrowing number of projectiles nn<l shells crammed with tho most devastating explosives; it is to forward in great supplies these masses of steel and melinite to the front; it is to batter the fortifications of tho enemy with the most accurate artillery, the quickest, the most overwhelming; it is to have our (inns always ready—artillery, rifles, cpiiclcfirers—to replace thoSo that this debauch of shooting will wear out. Tho problem also is to have for this artillery, traction, telemeters, telephones, aeroplanes always hiore abundant and more improved—in a word, all the auxiliary material that will give most mobility, most safety, most efficiency.

These are plain, grim facts to which wo cannot afford to olose our eyes. '.'Tho war is not only on the line of fire; it is everywhere in the national organism." The sooner- British Empire and every part of it comes to understand that this is' no mere figure of speech, but absolute literal truth, and" to act accordingly, the sooner will this terrific struggle bo brought to a triumphant issue. It is becoming more and m'oro evident that not only the men at the front, but every man in the Empire, must be a (fighter—must do all lie can to help his country and to defeat its foes. The Empire must brace itself up in this spirit for the second year of the war.