THOUGHTS OF LEADERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17690, 30 July 1919, Page 8

THOUGHTS OF LEADERS

SPEECHES OF THE WEEK. (FBOM OUB OWK COEEESPOfTDENT.) LONDON, June 14. Lord Monlton, Director-general of Explosives, in tho Rede lecture at Cambridge: Tho jvar from which we are just emerg-. ing has involved by far the greater part of the civilised -world. It has been waged not only on land and sea, but in tho air and unaer the •water. All tho fighting forces of tho nations engaged in it nave been put into the field until the man-power remaining >has been barely sufficient to do the work necessary to support the actual combatant. "Womon have been dragged into the work almost as universally as men. The demands for materials have in many cases fax exceeded the resources of tho nations involved, if not of the whole world itself. It has cost the lives of millions and condemned more to face the strugglo of life, sick and maimed. It has left the nations burdened with debts recognised in thousands of millions of pounds. So overwhelming has been tho strain of it that, now- that it is over, the c very reaction shakes and threatens to disintegrate the foundations of civilisation. I reminding you ;• of theso things not as bearing upon the choice that as a nation we made in entering into tho' conllict. Not all these disastrous consequences oan make us regret that choice. Gigantic as must evidently bo the cost, it was not for us to count it. From the first it was clear that the future of the whole world- was at stake, that the conflict was between world dominion and liberty, and tho memory of our past and the hopes of our future combined to make our path clear. But my object is not to dwell on these matters, but to impress upon you that tho choice once made tho issue became one of such surpassing importance that.it inevitably called into action all the powers, known or latent, of those engaged in the struggle. There was one overmastering lesson to be derived from the contemplation of all that science had done in the war. She had mado mankind too formidable a being to be permitted to have recourse to it. The uncontrolled indulgence either on the part of a nation or of an individual in the exercise of the powers thai, science had plaoed within his roacli i was: too directly fatal to civilisation itself. ! It was easy to criticise the League of Nations and to point out tho difficulties, and impossibilities, with which it was faced, but let us never forget that some combined action of that type was an im- . perative. necessity. GERMAJNTY'S ABJECT SURRENDER. , Sir Douglaa Haig, at the Mercer's Company:— . - We rejoice with our comrades of tho sister service in tho great and unparalleled "triumph that but lately was ours. If any ■ of them felt regret that the end came, as it did, without a. last fight, the army did not share with them. that regret, for while there oould be no doubt upon the -utter completeness-, of our victory, or upon the supreme credit it reflected upon us, the army 'was glad- that it and the country were spared unnecessary loss. After all, with us in the array events at the last followed much the' same course, and did so because of our deliberate choice. It would have been possible after the great culminating defeat inflicted on the enemy on tbe Sambre on November 4, 1318, and the following days to refuse to grant tho armistice tho enemy sought for, and instead to press forward with what speed the state of our cpmmunications would have let us. To have done so, however, would have meant further loss of life, the destruction of property, and expenditure of money, while it could not have rendered Germany more _ helpless militarily _ than she was to-day, with her army dissolved, her guns, transport, and aeroplanes surrendered, and the crossings of the Rhine held by tho Allies. If wo should have to go to' Berlin we oould do so far more easily now than could have been done last November. Anyone who to-day thought that the armistice was granted too soon failed to appreciate either the conditions in whidh ■war-was fought in these days of armies of millions equipped with many thousands of machine-guns, vast artilleries, etc., or the completeness of the surrender Germany made when sho_ took the only terms of armistice the Allies were prepared to grant her. The surrender of tho German fleet was not moro abject, more complete, or more irrevocable. We are now within sight of peace, which will, we hope, last for many years, and already the bulk of their great citizen armies have returned, or are returning. to civil life. ORDERED DEMOCRACY Mr J. A. Seddon, chairman of the Gone-, ral Council of tho National Democ&rtio and Labour Party:— » Two tilings are essential to the - realisation of the progress we seek —the, declaration of a principle and its incarnation in •- action. . The . principle underlying our programme recognises the people—not a section, however powerful—but all classes forming the • nation. _ The sovereignty of selfishness spells despotism or pnarchy. The sovereignty of democratic rule must transform social wrongs and conform to the undying elements-in human nature —love of country, liberty, association, the family, and personal rights,—otherwise it has neither value not meaning.—(Cheers.) Revolution in a democratic State is tho apex of insanity,, the reflex of weakness, and the instrument of intellectual and self-seeking bullies. We stand resolute and immovable against the Bolshevist madness of Russia, or their would-be imitators here. —(Cheers.) Equally we seek to resist and destroy the social cancer of undeserved poverty-, the blight of undeveloped childhood, whether of mind or;-body, the gaunt spectre of old age in want tlirough ill-requited toil and the paganism that made Britain's one god the millionaire.—(Cheers). No democratic party can live by negations; it must be construc- • tive or perish. Its policy is something more than the labour idea—class and mass, —wire-pulled by intellectual dyspeptics, moral nypoehondriacs, and political dipto- ' maniacs. I apprehend the mighty burdens that have fallen upon thi£ and unborn generation's, and yet contact with erstwhile opponent-i, politicia. is, and employers give me hope that out of the awful catastrophe a -new spirit has come upon the world. Many of the best employers recognise the immense sordidness of the industrial system as : .;;t existed before the war. It is for the

toiler,-, to say to thoss hitherto their opponents : "Com.;. ' let us reason together, arid in doing so we shall pool our common intelligence and hopes and beliefs in building up a world -which stands ready for recreation." —(Cheers.) :duty of the universities. Sir Auckland Geddes, at Glasgow University Club: The universities during. the last four years have shown lhat wit him their walls ■were the men whom the nation required to eniU>le it to vvin the war. Both by land and sea the universities., through their nrofessors, have contributed more to victory than any other organised part of the community.

Strange movements are in the world, the object of which is to •overthrow society and reform the social organisation. In some places this force has broken through. the crust, and whole nations are in the grip of forces that are destroying the entire social structure. The leaders of these movements are • not in many cases university men, and the result is extremely dangerous to society. At the back of all these movements is an emotion of humanity with which all human , beings must, sympathise. Til is emotion :;s determined that the people shall havo better conditions than their grandfathers had. Properly led, it will do much for humanity, bat. wrongfully led, will plunge the world back into the Dark Ages. The danger is that there are so few mem who havo had a university training who are helpino- to bear the burden of leadership. The danger arises from tho fact, that, the leaders have never had tho whole of life presented trthe'fn as tho univrrsily .-done would present it. ■ The men of the universities are the pilots to steer the ship of State through the storms o; war. I oo many men who have the right to speak are dumb, and dumbness now means disaster to-morrow. I do not exaggerate when I eay that at this moment Europe is noised on the crest of a great wav-e that in racing towards the rooks, and if we cannot get the ship of Europe out of that wave beforo she strilces then nothing but physical death awaits many millions of Europeans. Are tho men of the _ universities really trying to rise to •010 height of their opportunity? Are they really trying to steer the popular emotion , into the channels which loud into safety? At • a time of great, peril tho universities rose to the situation, and now in a position of oo less danger I do not see yet that they are rising to the heigitt of their opportunity and of their duty. I -would bo false to the best interest, of the country jf I lot this opportunity pass without sayin-g that you arr» diroctly responsible for the pilotage of this land.' nnd I .earnestly appeal +3 you for just help. A JUST PEACE.. . Tho Earl of Beading, proposing "The World's Peace,"The world longs for a peace of justice, a peace that it is entitled to, a poaco that will giyo security to the future. Germany has yet apparently a les9on to learn. Wo cannot accept her orotestaiians at their face value,—(" Hear, liear.") Wo must see whether (ho heart • of her people baa changed, and wo cannot at this moment say thai that is so. Whenever peace is declared I believe thai the fir.it thought that will io tho Hands

of men will be, "Thank God, the dead have not fallen in vain." —(Cheers.) We are now on tho verge of a new era in tho world's ,civilisation. We arc expecting peace; wo desire a peace by assent; wo are determined to have the peaeo that we want. Tho whole world has beeu in a cataclysm. The very surface of the' world in many parts has been changed. Tiie channels of industry have beert diverted from peace to war. and now we are engaged in the difficult task of redivert-ing them from war to peace. All these, problems require wisdom 4 and patience. There is a new departure—the League of Nations Convention. I believe that this oonveucion marks a great now era for the world, a desire to settle national disputes by the urbitramemt of reason and justieo instead of by armies marcliing against each other. That in itself is a great event. It may prove a potent and effective force for the maintenance of the world's peace. Whether it does so or not depends not so much upon the representatives of the people assembled in Paris as upon tie peoples themselves. We must bo ready to back it up, to maintain it, to support it, to make iteffective, so that in the end it may do that which its most ardent advocates wish.