The Dominion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1918. AFTER-WAR PROBLEMS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 44, 16 November 1918, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1918. AFTER-WAR PROBLEMS

''As soon as the TJnscehr';..H'and :casts_ tlie rainbow of pcaccl/on/.thcskies" let us bend our energies to the problems of making the nation healthier and better. So said Mn. Lloyd George to an immense gathering in Manchester-jless-. than eight; weeks, ago,. He,..spoke,.as one ivho had a. .'premonition . : that i]x;aee .was neav-. With a nod of:liis headj and with a.'smile oh his-face, he-said:-I "The'news' is gobdj'really good- hot merely in appearance good. I mean really good;.the worst-is over." It was said one reformer of-a past age that his -words were- '-'half battles," and of another that his speech had the arousing influenceof,"five hundred trumpets.'.' Such ■descriptions 'are"true with' regard ; to the speeches of Bi;i tain's:-, great -Premiei;.. Ua t01d..: his Manchester ; audience,' but he spoke really to : tho British Empire, that there;-must!bo no slackening of energy when the day of peace dawned. We had our intarnal evils to grapple with and to. master. \''.'Youlcaiuiot, :I .C'he said, an-Al empire with a C 3 •■■population."'He preached a crusade' against shims, low wages; wretchedness, squalor, .poverty, and misery 'which..disgraced flic"landJjefore tho ws,£''- ' '''You ..cannot,'"-, he •• .said;, "plough the waste lands with writing pens. You cannot sweep away : slums with paint brushes, and you cannot bind the gaping wounds*- of the people with red tape." Mn. Lloyd George wishes no demobilising of the-.-moral• eaergies _of-.- the people wheil hhe ' day of peace ■dawns....-.The,-da>v of.--peace to him means"..-a. renewed -warfare'- 'ag'afhst : manifold.- evils—e'co-fiofnic; l ' physical, ■ political, moral—that hurt the life of the nation and injure the health and happiness of .the people. •The subject-of our after-war--prob-lems so- a-n-estin'gly 'raised by .'.Mk: Lloyd' trEOiiGE- is one.of '.supreme importance; it has niahy side's,' and it makes its appeal for consideration to Parliament. Press, pulpit, to tho world of education,; and : to the world of commerce. The war has wrought .great changes in the map of :Europe. The. despotisms that curs,ed Europe from-the "North Sea to ■ the Black Sea have tumbled into hopeless,,ruin,, and, there will be a great reconstruction . of- .• nations •and ./readjustment- of ?territory. But the war has also wrought changes ..in. the. nations'' of the' Allies,...and.- our. Empire and.'every"-part,, of 'it .'must face .the new. duties-brought before it.by the searching,-.-sifting, and 'testing- orof war, with its stupendous sacrifices of biood and treasure. The' war strained the material, physical,, and moral resources of the Empire to the utmost. We have won the war,, but.we; shall lose the peace if ■ wo igr\ore tho. imperative changes : and .reforms that stare us in tho face, so there must be no slackening of mental, and .moraLcnergy.- -;rThewar has wrought' : a s;: '-great'''moi-al .transformation in the life of our. Dominion and in that of bur Empire. Millions who were living a' life of case, coniplacency, luxury, and moral indifference have'"•■been changed' by} the war.;'.:'and they, have, foiVrid their true life'in; moral earn-, estness and _ in -. service -showing itself in sacrifice. _ If this moral energy lie demobilised and people sink back into the old lifo of ease, luxury, and -slackness.they will .injure themselves and'become a contagion of badness to others. Our soldiers in our camps and our returned soldiers:from acrpss the sea will be demobilised In due time. Demobilisation has its economic problems. The right employment must be found for our" rekirned men',' and 'this will mean difficulty and' dislocation-''ih^tKe:.'..industrial w'6rld : .' Unrest'is'apt'to get ..into, the blood of the soldier, and 'it.'will mean a'struggle to get back "to the quiet humdrum of-:'civic 1 and business jife, m : 6rally Ml earnest'. community wilT'makc'-this struggle; easier. A writer on reconstruction says: "Old truths will need to bo revived—the truths that obedience is not dishonouring,---;that :• liberty, "can" only live in the atmosphere of law, that Jack is as good as his master only when-lie .proves it,-and-not because he says' it, and that ruling and;serying are but two parts of the same-act whose -.name' is dutv." • ' This war has made our Empire' one in a way that it never was before, and the question pi Imperial unity is one of_ the.problems that, must be solved in the near' future. The dominions that have given blood and treasure in this war will have a-voice" in tlie chief'council of the Empire. __The. late Earl of CittiiiEß','in one""ofVth'e. last .things he.' wrote:. .quo'tet!'..a-'gr'eat\Can'adiaiv who said that never again would Canada take up arms unless she had a place in the chief councils of the Empire. There, are endless other phases' of this-'"question', v -such"' : as taxation, education, industry,, commerce, and social reform, in which there must be enlargement and-pro-gress. The war has shown the physical weakness of- the- manhood of tho:Empire.- In our Dominion.' which should be one of the healthiest places in the world, out of 00.000 ofx the First Division 16,000 were classed asp'-permancntly ,-nrjfit: for active service "across'"the" sea." The question of national health, must be faced as it has never been before. The prevailing epidemic which is sweeping over the land has discovered homes that arc a< menace to the inmates and to the Dominion. Our cities have, their -.slums, and'in Auckland a worker/.writes; "We ...have, come, across-. _ ..whole families 'herded together in two rooms,, dovoid'iof any of the-of din-, ary 'tlecenci.es 'tff .life-/ 1 let'alone, its comforts.-' We have' found four, sick' children lying together iii ono wretched bed, with no proper bedding and no food in the house." There is the problem of a decent house for. every family to be faced, .and'tiniess that is faced we are nursing a menace.to health, patriotism, andmorality more deadly than any German menace. Our soldiers did not die on the battlefield to. preserve an Empire of sickly citizens whose homes-were slums. Gajibetta in-1871 rallied, France, broken and bleeding';'and defeated in war* with the cry;'."Work, once more' work, , and-still more work'!'.' . Wc; have come out of tho war" flushed with

victory, but the road of national efficiency.' lies before- usy and- our watchword, must, be'■■" Efficiency, more efficiency,"'.and .still inorc efficiency in every' sphere of life and action !" • Not the efficiency of Geriinan Ktiltur, whose motto was "might is right," but _ that efficiency which .says, that "right is might," and-which is-more enduring ■than the everlasting hills.'