The Dominion. MONDAY, DECEMBER .4, 1916, THE WORK OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2945, 4 December 1916, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, DECEMBER .4, 1916, THE WORK OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Itt setting out to give the people of Britain a truer perspective of the war situation than they have been able to gather from the censored facts and conflicting opinions appearing in the newspapers and magazines, the British Government has undertaken a necessary but not altogether pleasant task'. It is necessary because it is not possible for the public to form for themselves an accurate idea of the relative importance of given happenings in the progress of the war; and rt is not a pleasant task because if faithfully carried out it must disillusionise a great many people who have convinced themselves .that our enemies are already beaten. If is true, of course, that wo have been gradually asserting our superiority and gaining the upper hand. In spite of recent Austro-Gerrnan successes against Rumania; in spite of the embarrassments in Greece which are hampering our campaign in Macedonia; in spite of shipping losses through enemy; submarines; the position of Britain and her allies today is infinitely better than that of the Central Powers. The genoral situation, though it has black spots, is in our favour. But it does not follow because such is the case that we can look forward to a decisive victory unless wo place ourselves in a position to push home our advantage with all the power that wo can muster to our aid. The difficulty which confronts the British Government is that even now after moro than two years of war it is fettered by tradition and the habits of thought of the people—it is com- 1 polled to move slowly in directions which trench on the habits and customs of different classes, and the national interest is prejudiced by the adoption of half-measures and still less advantageous compromises. This condition of things is almust entirely due to failure on the part of the people to clearly understand the true significance of the war situation. The people know of the sacrifices already made, they know something of the gradual ascendancy we have gained over tlio enemy, and they believe implicitly that tlm resources of the Allies' are so much greater than those of the enemy that wo must ultimately force the Central Powers into submission. What they do not properly appreciate is that our resources and thoso of our allies will not win us the docisivc victory wo expect and are det6rmined to gain unless we utilise them fully and to fcho best advantage. What the people of Britain and the people of the whole of the British Empire have not even yet fully grasped is that to end the war as quickly as possible and to the best advantage we must bring all onr resources to bear on the side of the Allies and as rapidly as we can organise them.

TKat we arc not doing this to-day goes without saying. And it is not the fault of the pooplc. It is the faulty of their leaders. The rank and file of tho people cannot ho expected to form for themselves a correct . judgment of what is or is not necessary on their part. Thsy do not know the real strength of tho situation in the different theatres of war; tho men required, the guns and munitions wanted; tho actual facts of the food and labour problems; the financial difficulties to he met and overcome, and a multitude of other matters known only to the loaders of the nation. A great deal of this information it is impossible to distribute broadcast because it would assist the enemy to havo it, but there is much that could with advantage be told the public to enable them to more clearly grasp the urgency of the need for overy possible effort on their part. It is in an endeavour to enlighten the people in this direction that British Cabinet Ministers have now started a campaign of public meetings at which they will deliver addresses on tho war and the task which still lies ahead. When we talk of our resources being greater than those of the enemy we must always do so with the reservation "other things being equal." That is to say, our resources, though so much greater, may be discounted if not made full uso of. We are constantly being told, for instance, of now departures in Germany dosigned to turn to more profitablo account the available means of production. They have gone to far greater lengths there than we have in Britain in organising labour; in the conserving of the food supply; In the cutting down of waste and extravagance, and in other directions. Those changes 'have demanded increasing sacrifices, some of them of a most severe na- : ture, on the part of the people. The gain_ to the nation's efficiency and fighting strength, for the time being at. least, is the reward. The resources o? th'e German nation are fully utilised. Britain's resources have not yet been turned i:o anything like full account. She may never need to go to the lengths that Germany has been forced to adopt—we

aro not, of course, dealing with Germany's atrocious treatment of the Belgians and French in conquered territory—but it has become increasingly plain that if the campaign of 1017 is to bo prosecuted with all the might of Britain there must bo a more intense and single-minded concentration by all classes on the great task ahead. We have now got the upper hand, but we arc not yet in apposition to thrust forward "to a decisive victory. And we never ftiay be, our past efforts may be wasted in a patched-up peace, unless we utilise all our resources to the utmost advantage, and exert every means that lies within our power, during the months to come.