The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1918. THE CALL FOR UNITY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 130, 19 February 1918, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1918. THE CALL FOR UNITY

At the present crisis when personal prejudice and partisan feeling are severing not only the people of a constituency of the capital city of New Zealand, but even the members of a party which has prided itself upon its patriotism, a perusal of tne Bound, Table for December, just received, may help voters to better sense of the. true perspective of the situation and to the realisation of the true issue of the contest. In an article headed "Freedom and Unity," the review points out that the two principles of General Smuts's political creed arc freedom and unity. Freedom is the object and inspiration of this war, and it is unity that he calls for from the people of the Empire as the one thing needed above all others for its successful prosecution. "It is," concludes the article, "only by unity that this war for freedom can be won." In an article on "The Gathering of the Nations," under the sub-heading "The Birth of a New World," the writer says: "The most important conflict may well be not in the trenches, but in the hearts and consciences of the individual. The enemy is fighting us quite as much behind as in front of his lines. Wo are entering tho final testing time when only a clear grasp of principle and an unbending resolution that the world shall be saved for freedom will carry us through. It is well, therefore, to examine briefly tho insidious arguments whereby our clear vision of the issues at stako may be impaired and our courage sapped.

This he proceeds to do in a very striking and convincing manner. There is, first of all,- he points out,

the pacifist argument. . . . The out-and-out pacifist has usually no real understanding of what liberty means. For all his professions he would take the risk of leaving the small nations of Europe under the

tyrant's heel and the stronghold of militarism untouched. He would "condone" all the iniquities of the machine, from the ravishing of Belgium to the massacre of the Armenians.' He cannot sec that now is the appointed time for winning liberty and peace. He cannot see that the war itself is tho birth-throes of that new world of which he himself dreams, in which the devilries which make peace impossible wjll be overcome, and freedom and justice and honesty, the conditions of peace, are secured. Turning. to the second quarter from which the attack may come from behind the lines, the writer directs attention to those who are so preoccupied with ideals, social, economic, and political, that they have lost sight of the fact that their own dreams can be made real only through victory, and that victory will, in fact, bring them in its train. The social system in the British Isles, the capitalist system throughout the world, is badly in need of reconstruction. There must be, ho urges, a greater equalisation of status, of wealth, and of opportunity. But these beneficent changes canuot be introduced by a stroke of tho pen. Not only will they be impossible if the Prussian military cast still rules over Mitlcl Europu, and condemns all nations to a new rivalry in armaments as a prelude to a new war, but they will come about only as the outcome of a real change of heart in all classes, and it is in the struggle for liberty in Europe that' the spirit which will change the heart of society is being born. It will not be from the panaceas of the advocates of the class war or the introduction of the bureaucratic paraphernalia of the Socialist state that industrial peace will come, but from a change whereby rich and poor, capitalist and labourer, cease bo regard inordinate wealth and 'having no work to do as the conditions of happiness, and agree that the first duty of industry is to provide adequately for the needs of all, and that throughout industry happiness and affluence will only como trom perfect work and perfect service by all. _ "Does anyone believe," the writer asks, "that any heaven could be made out of the jealous hatreds and bitter controversies which dominated the industrial world before the war? Is it not obvious that tho spirit which will transform our national life* is the spirit which took men out of these conditions into the battle, and which has enabled them to find peace and contentment in greater measure than they had ever done before, though sacrificing everything that the world had to offer at duty's call? It is out of the war, and out of victory for our cause alone, that the real reconstruction of our- society will spring."

Another influence to be taken into account is the attitude of those who are appalled at the price which has be paid, and who feel that nothing can justify the prolongation of tho present carnage. Nothing could justify the carrying on of tho war for another hour save that to stop it now would mean an infinitely greater loss and suffering in the long run. Victory now, whatever it may cost, is the cheapest and most merciful road. Finally, the Round Table, writer finds a still moresubtle enemy in the mental, and moral inertia which settles down at the end of every long struggle, and which is reinforced by inability td see clearly how victory is to be won. Having made great efforts in the past, it is only too fatally easy to shrink .from the fresh efforts and constant resourcefulness and adaptability which arc necessary to tho mastery alike of the enemy and of tho circumstances of the time. The broad situation is clear. The Government of Germany and its agents are endeavouring, by every means to persuade us that we havo reached a stalemate, that victory is impossible for either side, and that compromise is the only alternative to the total destruction of civilisation. Nothing could bo more untrue. Never have the Allies had suchi assets on their side. They have the wholo world behind them. The war indeed can now bo lost only by faint-heartedncss. The apostles of Prussian kultur are making frantic 1 efforts to get a compromise peace beforo their own victims turn against_ them. Thoy know that if the Allies are united they must be defeated utterly and forever. Tho great need of the time, we are told, is something of the spirit, with which men enlisted for service in the early days of the war. With the great majority it was no subtle calculation of chances, certainly no thought of profit, that took them into battle. Tho men who won the first battle of Ypres went forward and stood firm because it was their duty, and because they could see no other way of.fulfilling the mission which they felt laid upon themselves. If we go forward in the same spirit now we shall obtain no less a victory.

Wo have- quoted very fully from the Sound Table article because it seems to us to state tho obligations resting on every • loyal-hearted British citizen so clearly and dispassionately, and yet with such convincing force, that the message it convoys should serve to sweep aside all the minor issues and considerations which are tending at the moment to create artificial divisions in our midst, to our own injury and to the advantage of the enemy. What is to be the message of Wellington North, on the one hand to the men in the trenches, who are looking to us to keep them reinforced and to "stick it" in our comfortable homes, as they are "sticking it" in the Flanders mud; on the other to the enemy, who is making such desperate efforts to stir up discord among us, and who will publish broadcast, to hearten up his dispirited people, the news that an anti-conscriptionisfc and pacifist has been elected to the New Zealand Parliament, if that deplorable ovent should happen. Is that message to be that private prejudices and individual dislikes were sunk, and that the "wowser" and the "sport," the Prohibitionist and the Trade, the churches of all denominations, the working man of Tinakori Road, the bourgeoisie ,of Kolburn and the aristocracy of Hobson Street, the Reform, tho Liberal, and the true Labour Parties all united to return the candidate of the National Government, and to prove to the world that New Zealand was united in its support of its Government and in its inflexible determination to carry on the war to a victorious conclusion 1 Or is it to be that the anti"wowserites," the "sports," the racing men, those interested in the liquor trade, and "Hobson Street" failed to sec they were in effect placing their own interests above those, of the Empire, and thereby sowing the seeds of discord in their own country and sending a message of discouragement to England and of i glad tidings to Germany 1