The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1919. AN AMAZING APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 307, 23 September 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1919. AN AMAZING APPEAL

The astonishing assurance with which Labour-Socialist extremists oxpect_ other people to accept them at their own. valuation has never been better illustrated than at a meeting which was held here on Sunday night. It -jvas called to extend a. welcome to Mrc. P. 0. Webb, a former member of Parliament,' who has just been set at liberty after serving a term of imprisonment for refusing to render military service. That some such function would be held was to be expected, New Zealand affords.no exception to the rule that in most communities a certain number of people are always prepared to condemn their own country and to prefer crack-brained fanaticism' to sound patriotism. Such people, happily not a very numerous band in this reasonably happy Dominion, were bound to welcome the opportunity of acclaiming an ex-Parlia-mentarian who set his own •.•■'perverted notions against the interests of his country in an hour of supreme emergency, and refused to perform the simple and obvious duty that was demanded in fair and equitable rotation of every ablebodied man. So far the meetinsr on Sunday night was a normal affair of its Abnormal kind, but it developed ono feature at least that must be railed extraordinary. This was a direct appeal by Mb. Webb to returned soldiers to" support, at the, coining portions, the . faction with which he is associated—the faction whose leading members ardently sympathised with his own queer views in regard to the. war, military service, and other things. No doubt if any playwright had attempted to introduce such an incident into light comedy it would have been ruled out on" the score of extreme improbability, but there is nothing to suggest that Me. Webb considered he was doing anything out of the ordinary, much less that his appeal might be received with disgust by men who are able to look back on an honest record of duty done. Since.returned soldiers represent the whole community, and include in their ranks, men of.all views, it may be that hero and there a handful of them are prepared, in defiance of reason '.and common sense, to make common cause with anti-national extremists who mock at loyalty and patriotism. But even the ex-member for Grey might have been expected to realise that he and those who stand with him have clone all that human beings could do to cut themselves irrevocably apart from the vast majority of the men who loyally did their duty in the war. While the 'spldiers of the Dominion were fighting for their country and at extreme sacrifice defending its liberty and existence. in the only way that was possible, Labour-Socialists of a particular type were doing their utmost to paralyse these efforts and to withhold from our troops the unfailing support the country was in honour •round-to give them. They strove by all means to prevent the enforcement under the Military Service Act of the only fair and democratic method of ensuring a steady flow of reinforcements. * Had they prevailed the soldiers of the Dominion would have been deserted and betrayed, and it is a man who took a prominent part in the campaign of opposition who now appeals to soldiers to give political support to His associates. Surely such- faith in. thp short memory of soldiers, and of the public, was never shown, before. The unblushing assurance of such an appeal would be staggering if it did_ not at the same time afford plain'evidence of an incurable mental kink. _ The real value of the incident is in the prominence it gives to the factors which -make for social advancement in this country and those which stand in the way. No rational man or woman needs to be told that the distempered extremists who did their best to paralyse tho military effort of the Dominion while the war was in progress arc insnired by the narrowest motives and _ outlook. Their agitation, tending always to rampant sectionalism and to the domination of the rest of the community by such" industrial groups as they can most easily influence, finds its appropriate expression and outcome in attacks on general public welfare like that which is now being made by the coal miners. On the other hand the broad ideal of unity and service for national ends lias never yet in the history 'of this country found nobler expression than in the war record of its soldiers. _ Anyone can see that Labour-Socialist tactics make for the destruction of social life. They are the tactics of those who let their country down in its hour of bitterest need, and in other times do what they can to cripplo its efforts to build a better prosperity than it has known. It is as clearly evident that the loyal union of effort which enabled our soldiers to wirj fame and honour on the field of battle is the thing of all others needed to enable this country to correct what is defectives in its social, organisation. When Mb. Webb appealed to returned soldiers to support his associates in the coming elections lie attempted a bolder thing than he knew. He sought, in fact, to bring together the folly from which this country lias most to fear and the force from which it has most to hope. The one big question affecting our future is whether we are capable, as a people of applying in peace the lesson our soldiers learned and applied so well in war. The record of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in all the theatres in which it fought is a grand example

of the truth that renin attain great ends only by acting in loyal unison. rNow that the war if over scores of problems affecting their future welfare and prosperity confront the people of New .Zealand, and La-bour-Socialist extremists have no monopoly of the belief that sweeping changes are called for in the interests of a better social life. The vital condition of successful attack upon these problems is' precisely that of successful attack in war— 'above all things to pursue national instead of sectional aims. The narrow outlook of the Labour-Social-ists, their cranky assertion of class and individual prejudices!, are diametrically opposed k> effective action in any national enterprise because they exclude the possibility of co-operation. On the other hand, if our soldiers are able to impart to the political life of the. Dominion the._ spirit of united endeavour which made them formidable in war, they will far more than compensate for the worst the LabourSocialists are able to do, and confer great and lasting benefits upon their country.