NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 107, 30 January 1919, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

A good deal of curiosity has been felt by many people ae to what would bs recognised as the_ date on which the war ended. Quite a lot of things hinge on the time to be decided on. For instance, we have in this country industrial agreements and awards in_ which provisions exist for the period of the war or for some fixed term beyond the ending of the w, The importance of fixing definitely some date which would nave a legal recognition led to the matter being referred to a Select Committee of the House of Commons, which has. now recommended the adoption of the date of the ratification of the Peace Treaty. Assuming that this proposal is generally adopted, the end of the.war period may still be quite a long way off.

British and foreign seamen (other than fchoso of enemy countries) are organising a great demonstration in London -which promises to impressively support the demand for justice on the ex-Kaiser. Nothing, in the circumstances, could be more appropriate, for the murder of more than seventeen thousand British non-combatants at sea, and many thousands of other nations, is one of the most abominable of the long list of crimes for which the dethroned Hohenzollern is responsible and must be called to account if elementary justice is to be satisfied. According to their international organiser, Captain Tupper, the seamen are'prepared if necessary to "walk out on the seven seas" rather than see justice baulked, but it is hardly likely that they will be forced to take any such extreme action. The British Government is explicitly pledged to bring the ex-Kaiser to trial, and there is no doubt that Franco will whole-h&artedly support this course and that it is supported also by an overwhelming body of public opinion in the United States and in Allied countries generally. Indeed it is recognised, not in Allied countries only; but in not a few neutral countries, that to permit tho ex-Kaiser to escape would establish the vile doctrine that crime need only be committed on a sufficient soale of magnitude and atrocity to make those who commit it immune from punishment.. Tho fate of the man upon , whom responsibility for the war as well as for many ghastly crimes largely centres is at most deferred. Nevertheless, the seamen will find very wide support in their determination to give all possible force and emphasis to the just demand for retribution.

Considerations which are often ignored by organised Labour and always to its cosi were given duo emphasis by Mr.. J. R. Clynes a day or two ago when he urged British workers to frame their demands with an eye to the inevitable results in other occupations and upon the. whole community. The fact which organised Labour must realise and grasp if it is 'to attain the goal of its desires is that an attempt to exploit the community by pressing extravagant demands is not only antisocial but is ultimately suicidal as well from the standpoint of those who make it. Labour in fact is not' really organised, but disorganised, when it seeks to enforce unreasonable and extravagant demands. If it were efficiently organised its demands would be framed with due regard to the fact that no section can for any great length of time profit unjustly at the expense of th,e general community. The extent to which the strikes now in progress in Great Britain are identified with a failure of efficient organisation appears conspicuously in trie fact, mentioned to-day, that in every case they have been declared by shop committees, against the advice of the trade union leaders.