WANTED MORE MEN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 169, 6 April 1918, Page 7

WANTED MORE MEN

Sir, —As one of the "'Would to God, I were twenty years younger" Brigade, and a rather simple person, who finds it tedious to follow the detail or "thoroughness" of even the great poet Schiller in his wonderful essajs on aestheticism, let'alone the colossal knowledge of Nietzsche on overy detail of the drama oi all time, as shown.in his book, "The Birth of Tragedy," may I ask a few simple questions, easy enough even for a person like I am to understand? (1) Is Jlr. Lloyd George's message correctly printed in The Dominion today, asking for all the men we can send? ' . (2) Is Sir James Allen still sheltering behind the fact of doing what the Imperial authorities ask him, instead of sitting back in his chair, for. ten minutes to reflect that the overworked and worried heads in charge of this job in England might be glad of a few brainy suggestions from him as to New Zealand's capabilities, to help in the struggle many people here have felt was still ahead of the Empire? (3) Did Sir James Allen really tell your representative that- men could be sent i more quickly than hia programme provided for now, /but "they would be shprt of training," and, coupled with this, is it true that draft after draft of men called up, and ordered into Trenthom have been put off and put off from one month to the next three or four times? If so, is a politician the man for the control of our little part m helping to save ourselves? Surely, we at least ought to have been getting these men trained, if there were going to be any question of our boys having to go away short of training. Is our final disaster going to bo provided for after it is finally "too late" ? (4) Is it practicable to get a Supreme Court Judge to go over the decisions on exemptions of men called up (if there is the least record of ovidence, which, of course, there must be), ana report as to how this part of the Empire's important work has been done? I do not allege any unfairness, but people are talking, and talk of this kind should be set at rest if Mr. Massey 16 M g r, on aßkin e us all to be united. 1 (o) Could the two columns and a quarter' you wero patriotic enough to find space for in yesterday's Dominion, on German vileness, as set forth in Henry Ward Beecher's old church in Brooklyn, New York, be ordered by War .Regulation to be compulsorily printed in all papers in New Zealand, together with.the rest of these sermons you have promised us, and other matters on the same subject? As you, air, have made such a good start, the Government might consult with The Dominion as to the material selected tor this item of propaganda, with a view of helping our people to realise the modern German, ,as at present governed. The merest glance at any efficient description of how even a detail like the education system of Germany was exactly what was wanted,for war would add to anyone's convictions a s ' to tho absolute thoroughness we are un against. Briefly, 9o per cent, of the German Empire's children are kept in lower schools and taught to be technically efficient, as clerks, artisans, chem- ■ ists, draftsmen, mechanics, farmers, etc. Five per cent., on account of their parents position or wealth,, "o to the'higher schools, to whioh hardly any scholar moves up after the age of ten i from the lower schools. In Germany '• there is no Huxley ladder from the gutter to .the. university. About one ! pupil w 10,000 from the lower : schools gets to a university, i But—and here is the efficient provision—once a given number (five :

per cent, of the boys of school ago) are collected tnrougn wealth or patrician blood into the Higher schools, tnat percompetes on an absolutely ticmocratic plan tor the higher posts u: the Army, the professions, and sc forth, 'the hinaenburgs come to tl« top iiy capacity tor nard work, and U> exniuiting brains that, make menu! work come easy, wider mis limned number of selected controllers Uit other 85 per cent, are taught to be dooiie an<t "do theh duty in thai spnere of life, etc." Ada to this lnniohke discipline the wonderful development or atemiciil mid other applied sciences, useliu lor war work, tnav nave been lostyreu in Germany tor tut last tony years, mid we can easily imagine that we have tc ueal with a dragooned proletariat, as efficient ior all tne lequireiiients of modern war as working men and others can well he, and mat the whole is authoritatively controlled by brains that have had to work to gee to the leading positions. .Not only is the control authoritative—it is "authorised" by the nhole attitude of tho docile dragooned "lower" orders, whusa entire environment has n:ado them exactly .what is wanted for disciplined fighting and industrial armies, Germany sends out exaggerated lubrications of tne inoffensive rioting, because t|m causes our workmen to slack off and 'go on strike. No one admires more than I do the pluck, courage, and natural resource of our brave men, from the top to the newest private, who are now defending us at the front, but let us lecogr.ise that our politicians up to now have hardly given'them a fair chance, either to have learned their war work prior to 1914, or to carry on with the best management from the said politicians since. Can we get up sorao movement to urge more activity and the highest efficiency in our Ministers in charge in New Zealand? I give, in conclusion, two lines from Schiller: "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contest in vain." It is a wonderful line, but the Kaiser might well have thought he was going one betted than tlio gods or Schiller when ho saw 110 adequate readying up for the world war he was preparing. Tho other line of Schiller I would like to commend'to the Government to urgg them to|see that'carelessness does not allow tliam to let even one fair elaim by one returned soldier go unattended to : "The nigger has done his work, the nigger can get. out," Let us think for a moment what this work was. Many nf the liorrors we have had put before us, but many more could bo related, and if we realise, then surely those who have not faced these tortures and risks could be heavily taxed to provide reasonably for those who went through them for us, and were incapacitated thereby. It seems to me the nVlit course for those who want to put the Hun down ii to learn what can lie learned from his method?, hut to t?k» care to eliminate, those • pa-rts w.hirli ha v». rnbhed him of morality. Much c.an be leaded from the German, for a coot) education svstnm, like tlmt Profes'ir Herbert Kisher lias introduced into tlio Houisn of Commons in England, based on what is hest *in Germany, bnt-c-q ran he, taken to guard against, ilit, Rr""t. rif r Vn"an training and journalism whicli have mid" the modern Hun Tor«i than a»v barbarian or *arof all times that we know i f.—l am, etc.,, G.MJi.D. 4 oril. Llovd G A nrw's ws\r ;is received and !, Si' - Junes Allen's statement regoidiui: reinforcements.]