MEN WITH DEPENDANTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2818, 8 July 1916, Page 10

MEN WITH DEPENDANTS

DUTY OF THE MARRIED MAN

(To the Editor.)

fc>ir, —There is a thin, faint (to some wholly invisible) line, the crossing of which, in our utlvueacy of any cause, brings that cause into contempt, and Jimkea us, the advocates, objects of ridicule. As une uf the class alfected—the wen with dependants—l feel that the Kood ol letters un exemptions from the Military Service Bill, now disfiguring the correspondence cofumns of our daily paper*, has already crossed that line. The untioiy cry to send the other l'ellow but to_ leave me at home becansc 1 have others to share iny earnings would at any time become tiresome lruiu constant reiteration, but now, when it is becoming more and more evident, as each day passes that the whole nation must make sacrifices if victory is lo be' secured, it fills one with disgust. That the married men 01 this country, that tile single men with dependants, are, in the Lour of trial, seeking by the mere volume of sound to escape the ordeal of tlia trenches is surely a libel, but just as surely it must suon become evident to those so vigorously writing to the papers that their championing of their own cause at this crisis in our national existence must- inevitably tend to tester such an opinion in tho minds of (.huso whom they are calling on to risk death. It requires no super-intellect to understand how the growth of that opililou ißll strangle, before it is born, that impulse to be national ol' which the Military Service Bill is the first sisn of conception iTven if as one crying in the wilderness, I raise my voice in protest against the inhuman, unnatural pressuro on the single men. 1 am a married man, and having been married two and a half years before the outbreak of war, am consequently in the Second Division of the Reserve. It cannot therefore he raised against the feeling of my statement that I am trying to make out a case for myself. I have two infant . children, whom I love dearly, and therefore, in all conscience, if we apply the favourite nrgument of limny anti-militarists of the Socialistic type, I have more at stake, more to fight .for, more to defend, than tho boys of twenty who have already gone to tho fiunt. There are even now signs of this argument being raised in reply' to the cry for exomption coming from nieit witli dependants. 12' it continues the point may be further driven home by a contention that the single men have mude a far greater sacrifice for the country than any man with dependants could possibly be capable of. He ) risks his lite not solely for patriotic motives. To a great extent his most immediate concern is the preservation of those most near and dear to him—a.wife maybe, or children, or an aged parent. His effort, it may be said, has less of the merit of pure patriotism than that of the single men who with nothing but their love of. country to inspire to sacrifioe, or tq_ call to duty, have made such a magnificent response. This may seem, and probably is an extreme statement of the case, but it is'an extreme called into being by the attempt to make an extreme statement in the opposite direction. It may bo asked of me, "Do you, then, contend that married men and others with dependants should volunteer or be called up before single- men?" My answer tq the first is that so long as the curse of voluntarism exists any man Jias a perfect liberty to please himself which ho places first, his love of country, or his duty to his dependants. I purposely contrast love of country and duty to dependants; duty in the former case does not exist under voluntar- : ism, because there can be no duty to take a certain course when'them is the liberty to take the opposite course. Gloss it over as we may, talk as grandly as we like about "the call," the fact remains •that voluntarism implies a perfect right not to volunteer; and yet, this is one of the truths we have !".iitd to grasp. So far have we misunderstood it, that the Military Service Bill is hailed as a new departure instead of a belat-, ed effort to right great wrong. It is an agreement by the people of this Dominion to place themselves under a duty to the country. We are told that its object is to ensure that our Reinforcement drafts shall be sent away at full strength, but the inspiration of it is undoubtedly that force of public opinion against the sham that for more than eighteen months has been masquerading as voluntarism. What we_ have had since our first bitter realisation of. the cost of victory is compulsion in its worst form—the compulsion of whitefeathers, and the inob-cry of "Shirker"— the compulsion that forces a man to tread a particular path against his inclination and his right to go another way. The deepest iniquity of it all is the fact of its being a class compulsion directed by the lame, the halt, the blind, and, worst of all by the onc-yed, against the youth of.tho Dominion. The men with dependants have been told that their duty is at home, and with engaging frankness tho forcible vohuitarists make clear their reason for this. The single man without dependants is tho cheaper labourer; his death will not place the State in the position of having to provide for dependants. Further, they say. a man's primary duty is to those for whom in tiines of pence he provides the means of living. Under a system of pure voluntarism this is true; a married mall' 6 only duty of support is to his family; but surely it is iniquitous in tho extreme when the voluntary system is allegedly in operation, lo compel the single man to lay down his life, iind- by the very force of such effort prevent tho married and other men with dependants from offering to make an equal sacrifice. This prevention of the letter is real, for the fiercer becomes the | cry for the single men to enlist, the fiercer grows the, demand for the married man to stay' at home. So. by a marvellous perversity of reasoning the married man v>ho' desires to enlist becomes a. shirker, too. Even if he has the moral courage to face, criticism from outside, he Is met with 'he far more serious prospect of his motives bping misunderstood bv his own. for whom in a vp-v real sense he will be liehling. The insidious effect on dependants of whoever degree.of the system of forcible vo'itnlnrism is only too clenr to those whose manhood is shocked by Ibe h»» ■>"(1 erv after the man without dope",]"tiri The evil does -not eea>-» here. The Slate IT mean by this t'<o Ptate in i_t° narrowest sense of vlie Covernment nf the (Viy) *—ol\vm\s influenced by public, opinion, end unfortunately its sensitiveness to this fJiHitpnce in democratic connIvV". i' ci'M) ri L as as not i* mistakes shrillness for voTume, the rattle of ••"in for the roar of ocean. Thus, while f 1 ■ e forcible vo'unterist-i a v o screami;"'. man with donendnifs is met in hi" feeliuss of a dut.v to Ms country by cold from i:lu* R«!v controlling lis destiny. Thus the idiotic circle of our present system is completed. Tor voluntarism in the pure sense the word one may have resnect. even if it Is the recpeet one has-fin 1 a mistaken, a suicidal principle. For Hie d1 'C.ui H l ' l ': voluntarism becomes when Ihe reality of events nroves 'Is futility as a national safeguard, on" who bus fell •f.e- curse en" entertain only feelings i f th« deenest disgusl.

Tn fuinvnnc!iiii' T Ibe whether under pomoulsio'i miM-ried m°n e-lmiil'l lip ch'lp<l 11 n first, it ronv !>" ptntpfl fl'.nt iiriflrr n system "f nil serv'ee l>nspd fin fhr> nrinr-inle of th° p-onle nf n cniint"v submitti" l " themto Mtp Wal dutv of fiy-liMp** ,l-f n ..-.n of 1 hoir lWinnn' existence. Mi»i-p lip i;o nup=ti()" of ono class bpi* l ? ppllprl iin 1-nfo'-i .inofliPr. All would b n p"llccl up Inti™oii='v. the on" tp?* rf .i-i.o <:}ionl/] l>p cpul in the " , ;'ii , *- I li l o ft"-' llpinT fihlP l -'" n'>vcipnl. °"d '1 1 1^itA 11 v ".

rpsnp"livp of v'ipll'p" tl ,ft nffp^tp'l werp o r liinvripfl. This, of --nin'-'p. Tppnic (|iat d"ne"<tniiK ** n o, would '"p'fp qnoi-i fife'-'. M'vl fo- they nerbatis Pven mn-p t'-nn Ihosp on whom Mi»t om*p t-b«ir rhfpf<- to tlip initio"! hut "fl* 1 " Ml. t.his sae'-ifiee ' s ni"rp liK*"' w tn I"tempororv who'-e the whole nn(i«'i ri«" -o n"i>. than whom thn bunion <>F ri-" : <'- miu flip n[|pi:iv i* 'pfl (o lh nn e ir ' ,n < y ' t Iv, fl.nilMov it. TliP''" OPII h n 110 fin-ibt that whp"p tlio pr"<!" f' r Mi|v in n nponlp luc'iifc-ls itself in tlm rppoßnition of common fllltv to in' 'he hour nf_ Mm pvncpppfs F ilpn flt i' l '>n'-= nvp hri^' l ltiv

"■hen the 'lutv of tho fi- te J, 'pir livot for their ceui\try is i-ppopnisorl. then "•ill tlip nntion.il son" of justice impose on tW» who. for whatever rea?on, are nnf -illerl upon !o make the sunrpw

sacrifice, the duty of adequately providing tor those dependant for their Jiving on the efforts of those at the front. It is mainly because our .Military Service Bill is not a complete measure of national service that the question of; the duty of a mail with dependants arises. That the Bill is not a complete measure cousists in the following facts:— Single men are to be called up before married men; elaborate machinery is provided which will enable men to escape the ordeal of active service; and linally its operation other than as a press-gang measure is postponed until sucn time as the liu\oniot' declares that voluntary recruiting shall cease. This state oi ail'airs is due to a variety of causes, the principal undoubtedly being the limitation of our contribution to tue Allied armies to the fixpcditionary i'o;-ec of BUOO jueu. and the Kiflo Brigade, with reinforcements at u fixed rate. Thus the number of men called for is always far Ic-s than the number available. 'L'lie Government takes those who will cost least, and is frank in slating that it does not want men with dependants. The consequence is a state of mind in the community at large which as a general- loreo impels every man to place Ins own personal obligations first. He is as keenly aware of the other fellow's duty to go to the help of his country, as ho is of his own duty to stay at home. So when compulsion is in the air his voice is raised in over-loud protestations of his sacred duty to his dependants. The idea of an equality of sacrifice cannot appeal to him. This principle adopted by the Government in all good faith has further tended to obsctue uio real seriousness of the position, flow many of us have .realised what exactly the war means to New Zealand, ami indeed the whole of'tho British Uverscas Dominions. Tnougn i'ranoo .be huuibied to the dust", though Britain's ivavy be shattered, it woulil be idle to argue that either country would lose its national exisynce; but for us a German victory would mean our national annihilation, our absorption into the German Empire. This is. a bald statement of fact that cannot be denied. And it is an equally buid and true statement that wc as a people have not realised it, else who would be content wiflt what we have already done, who would have mocked' his high opinion of hij own manhood by claiming exemption when at least one of tho Empire's allies, and that one the noblest, has called up every available lit man; who, indeed, even, would have admitted the necessity tor such an elaborate Bill? tinder our Act of 1909 we are all liable, to serve for home defence, and it is salt, to say that not one among 113 opposes that principle. The eries for exemption are in themselves an admission that we do not realise how truly this is 11 war,iii defence of our homes. Uur muddled minds cannot even perceive how fortunate we, the British race, are in not haying to hght this battle for our,homes iu our homes. In more ways than one the frantic lady who, at the recent deputation, assured the Prime Minister that if the Germans came here and interfered with licr she would fight them, typifies the national short-sightedness. Were we, indeed, alive to the seriousness of it all. would am- member of Parliament speak as did the member for Wellington Central when he claimed that New Zealand had already . done more than enough? surely if there is any one of the Allies who can justly say she has done enough it is Serbia. The answer of the Crown Prince to this suggestion the other day, when the reorganised Serbian army- was read} for the field, should sufficient to shame any advocate oi "Njw Zealand has done enough." Let us be honest enough to admit, if only to our inner selves, that despite cur eager response, our good iu-. tentious, our ■ willingness, our two millions" voluntary contributions to' war funds, we have as n people so far made but a trilling sacrifice. .Wliilo Belgium is 'ruined, Serbia for the time being blotted olf the map, France devastated, New Zealand is enjoying a prosperity on which even the high cost of living has ' made no impression. Knowing, tnen, the weaknesses of our Bill in its particulars, but .at the same time recognising what nil advance it is towards the goal of national service, what, when in ftill operation, it will have achieved by wiping out the sham of forcible voluntarism, and recognising further the necessity for loyally helping the Government to administer it effectively, one is in a position to answer : what .is. tho duty of the man with dependants. It is to cease agitating for exemption, and when called up for service/ as many; must be' before the war has run its course, to go, not with a wry mouth complaining that someone with sixpence per week less domestic responsioihty should have been called first, but with the glad heart of one who has been given his opportunity to make the sacrifice he feels is due. from him. That is the duly of the' man with defendants, as it appears to me, under the present conditions, and the lav that will lie when the Bill is passed; a~i. when this is the conception of the country as a whole; and not till then, will we/as a people, be able to face our inner conscience a>;d say that we ore doing our share—l am, etc., , .- v AUinIALN. Wellington, July .1, 1915-