"LEST WE FORGET"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3189, 13 September 1917, Page 6

"LEST WE FORGET"

A WORD TO THE SENTIMENTALIST

(By Wi.)

Yesterday afternoon I went up to tbs Bouse to hear what was to bo iieard. Isitt was oh bis feet on the liquor question. It was liis pet subject, and that fact probably detracted from the weight of what on tho vhole was a very good speech, delivered in temperate language the interjections of dissentients notwithstanding. (This is upt a dissertation on. the liquor question, by the way.) Towards the end of his speech he, zs near... ly as' I can remember Ins words, said this:—"After this war is .over there will be another war, a bitter death-struggle for commercial supremacy. Jt is therefore imperative,- if we are to jna&o ourselves efficient in the coining conflict, that wo should deal with this great menace, to human efficiency—the drink .traffic." Payno followed him. Payne said that: he did not believe thsre would bo anycommercial war. The democracies of the, world would determine the economic situation, etc., etc., etc.

This claptrap about the demosraises of the world doing this, that, and t\io other thing is humbug. Suppose for thy) sake of argument that the day of peaces dawned on a world of governing 'democracies, with' kings; emperors,, princes swept into the back pages of history. Tho, German merchant,' the German financier, the German commercial: spieler will all be democrats. Will they alter their business methods? "Will the' democracy—vague term—compel them to, alter their smooth-faced, cheap-jack, swindles on honet'ter men? No, MrPayne, they will not. The •Jerman,. first, last, and all the time, is a .spieler.. lie is born one; his riatural gifts arecultivated in tho schools and acadsbies of spielerdom. Let us beware of the sentimentalist in this matter of settling accounts with the Hun. Let us remember who .begaui this business. Let us remembor what we> found out about this oily cheat idter ho, had unmasked his batteries. Let us remember our dead.

You all remember the Lusitansa. Ycm remember the thrill of horror, the hoarse cry of anger? Listen. In Ireland, the> Lusitania's dead lie buried under tlacei great mounds—and these mounds are neglected. American correspondents—representatives of reputable journals—have visited them, and reported on this: neglect. A high official of the Cunard.Company has deprecated the condition, of the graves. Recent!;, tho widow of:' one of the victims placed a wreath oyer her husband's burial place. It bore the inscription: ■ "Vengeance is mine:.l will ropay." But the public memory is short, as ■witness the state of those graves in Ireland. The'sentimentalist will profit-Iff! it, furtively,, openly, and finally, maybe, if we grow apathetic, triumphantly^ A correspondent to tho Now York: "Evening Post" warns his public very plainly that we may havo to fight against: this relaxing influence for our commercial existence. He was talking to a. German merchant—this was before the. Stars and Stripes fluttered to the windsi of France—on. tho steps of the Capitot at Washington one day. This German, had been in London, and had ■ made money—the Germans have made mora ■ money out of they'hare out or their own countrymen. Ho said he was going back to London after tho war. ."But you won't get a chance," said the other. "Oh,, yes, I will," said the German. "The English are easy." There you are!