LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2684, 2 February 1916, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE ANTI-DEMOCRAT ID PARTY. Sir,—The working men of New Zealand will not i>e deceived by the manifesto engineered by that anti-democra-tic party known as the Red Federation. That this is so is proved by the daily enlistments, eighty per cent! of whom are working class volunteers. In a previous letter it was pointed out that resolutions'passed at a Labour Conference against national service was likely to retard recruiting and bring about compulsory service, the Very tiling the Social Democratic Party is so anxious to avoid. If the Labour Conference in Now Zealand had adopted the lead offered by the distinguished man leading the Labour Party aiid Trades Unionism in Great Britain, they would have adopted resolutions calculated to stimulate recruiting, supported the policy of the National Government, and declared that if' conscription were found to bo necessary they would uphold the Gbvcrnment in that too, so that the men would be found in all classes of society in sufficient numbers to overthrow the enemy and win lasting peaco to the world.

The public generally will endorse the attitude of the Premier towards that ill-timed, ill-considered and unpatriotic manifesto. If the Government cannot got sufficient men to enable us to fulfil our obligation to the Imperial Government then conscription must follow, for it ,is generally admitted that many thousands have not yet realised the Bense of their responsibilities, nor how much tho winning of this war by the Allies means to the civil liberties and industrial, freedom of the working classes throughout the British Domin" ions-. But the Socialists and Red Feds are ready to fight for "the right to work," and "the right to strike," and have by this manifesto added another plank to that platform—"the right to shirk." Any section of men who make such a declaration as the Labour Conference has issued, which is a menace to tlie maintenance of the Empire, have abrogated their rights to full citizenship. It is true we are fighting for Belgium, for right and justice, for that liberty which is the hope of progress among all nations, and to repel the attack that ,was made through Belgium Knd France upon Great Britain's, and even this Dominion's, very existence; and no country has any need for men who will not fight for all that and the personal privileges they enjoy under the British liag. But these Social Democrats have lost a great opportunity to .rise in favour and estimation of the people as a whole. The huge blunders they,made by which working men and their wives and children suff feretl so much might have been condoned by a simple loyal patriotic doliveianco that would h&vo encouraged rather than hindered thousands °of workers "to down tools" and light for their country. Their action id not only disloyal &t this juncture, but positively undemocratic. It was Abraham Lincoln who gave to democracy the rallying cry of V'government of the people by the people for the people," and he was engaged in the mightiest civil conflict the world lias known. Recruits were coming tardily and irregularly to the colours, and declaring that "we must somehow obtain more or relinquish tho original object of this contest," parsed a Conscription Act in 1863, wliich required all able-bodied citizens between twenty and forty-five to bo enrolled; and Lincoln saw to it that the conscription law was faithfully executed. It was vital to success. By it succcss was achieved, let Abraham Lincoln was tho gieatest and noblest leader democracy has ever witnessed. Then, spoaking at the dedication of Gettysburg cemetery, the Prosident, in that well-known oration, declared that the honoured dj?ad who lay there had not died in vain • they had died "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of tlie people by the people for tlie people shall not perish from the eartli." The blood of tho thousands who died in Gallipoli, the tears and sorrows of stricken Belgium, tho horrors of devastated Serbia, all seem to have failed to impress tho Labour Conference of New Zealandand tho Social Democrats and Red Feds, are saying throughout this country to-day: "All theso things arc nothing to us compared -with our right to refuse, to serve." ''Then theso are the persons who call aloud at the selfishness and indifference of the master class! The manifesto of tho Labour Conference is an affront to the patriotism of the nation; and our only consolation is that it in no way reflects tlie nnnd or purpose of the workers of NewZealand as a whole—l am, etc. J. D. SIEVWRIGHT.