LABOUR AND CONSCRIPTION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2677, 25 January 1916, Page 4

LABOUR AND CONSCRIPTION

The chief purpose of the conference of Labour organisations summoned by the United Federation of Labour for to-day _ would seem to bo to condemn conscription, not to discuss the question on its merits. The. conveners of the conference are stated to have asked the various unions invited to attend to adopt resolutions against conscription, and some are said to have done so' and some not. There may be objections to conscription in ordinary times—there are indeed very strong objections—but with the nation situated as it is today, fighting for its life, there is only one possible objection that can carry weight. That objection is that it is not necessary. Should it be shown that compulsory service is necessary to enable us to win this war, then all the resolutions of the Federation of Labour opposing it will be mere waste of energy, for the simple reason that the great bulk of the rank and file of the Labour organisations of the ' Dominion are patriotic British citizens. A man may be an ardent Labour unionist, and may hold strong viiws on questions affecting his rights and privileges as a worker and a citizen, but when it is put to him clearly and plainly that he'must either sacrifice his views concerning compulsory service or sacrificc his country and the liberty he enjoys under its democratic institutions, there can be no doubt what his answer will be. An attempt has been made to confuse the issue by raising the question of the conscription of wealth. Wealth is already under conscrinLtion. The State, already compels

those membsrs of the community possessed of wealth, to pay extra taxes for war purposes. It has already taken from them compulsorily every penny so Jar necessary,' and it can at any time lake as much more as may be required. Conscription of men docs not mean that the services of every man in the community will be taken for war purposes. It means that every man is liable to serve, according to age and fitness, aud the number necessary to meet requirements will be called on. Conscription of wealth should mean the same thing: that is, the compulsion to contribute according tp means what is necessary to meet the financial requirements of the war. _ Our Labour friends, when they discuss these matters at the conference today, should not lose sight of the practical side of things. This i is not at the moment a debating society question. Wc are face to face with conditions unparalleled in our national life. The Leader of ths British Parliamentary Labour Party, Mil. Henderson, was an anti-coriscrip-tionist until a very short time ago. Ho opposed the principle of compulsion until he was faced with the alternative—the risk of Britain's defeat at the hands of her bitterest enemy and the trampling underfoot of those great liberties and privileges which labour and_ all other classes enjoy under British rule. What could he do but vote for compulsion 1 What could anyone of us do in like circumstances? "There is only one task for us all," said Mr. Henderson, in'explaining his position to his constituents,. "and that is to win this war." Conscription so far as New Zealand is concerned may not ever be necessary— at present we cannot tell. Should it become necessary, then Labour would betray its own comrades already in the fighting line as well as its country if it attempted to oppose it, wc are confident that the great body" of Labour unionists would do nothing so shameful.