Why Militarism Must Be Crushed.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 197, 4 August 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

Why Militarism Must Be Crushed.

WORLD'S FOTURE DEPENDENT ON THE ALLiES' VICTORY.

BY SIR LEO CHIOZZA MONEY, .M.P,

For us, wlio have lived to see Armageddon .tile wish is most properly father to the thought when we speak of the European conflagration as a war to end war. We must either make such a determination of the matter as shall rid the Old World of the standing menace of militarism, or be resigned to a new era of war and preparation for war which will pa'e all former human experience. There are well-intentioned jieople among us, some of them having command of certain printing presses, who either openly or covertly are seeking for peace at any price. It would be well it' they considered what that price might be. The opening years of the twentieth century witnessed an unparalleled advance in the application of scientific methods to every human problem. The world began to discard the pettifogging sca'e of measurements which the men of the nineteenth century applied to their activities. The economic advantages going with work on a maximum scale of output began to be perceived. New ideas came rapidly into practical applicaton where, in the nineteenth century, they hung fire for a generation.

Thus in the nineteenth century such a simple invention as the incandescent gas-mantle came very slowly into employment, whereas in the twentieth c entury two such remarkable inventions as wireless telegraphy and the reroplane developed so swiftly as to cause lvvo'utionary changes within a decade. It has most unfortunately to be added that in the United Kingdom the rate of acceleration in progress was least marked owing to our traditional dislike of new conceptions. What has this to do with peace and war? The answer to this question is of profound importance. Because wc have entered upon an era of big scale production and rapid development, it matters immeasurably to civilisation than ever before whether peace or war reigns among men. Because science is coming into its own't matters everything whether the magnificent inventions which are now the c onnnon property of mankind should bo devoted on the one hand to tho increase of wealth, the reconstruction of the material framework of society, the preservation and prolongation of life, and the multiplication of rational means of happiness, or, on the other luind, to the piling up and use of weapons of offence and defence, the destruction of life, and the proliferation of misery and distress.

That is the issue which stands nakedly before us. We may remind ourselves of what change in scale means as applied to warfare by recalling the number of soldiers who fought at Waterloo 100 years ago. The allied troops commanded by Wellington were 68,000 in all, and to those tho United Kingdom contributed fewer than 30,000._ Napoleon opposed them with perhaps 75,000 men. fo-day wo fight in fortified lines that stretch across continents and demand the service and sacrifice of millions of men. And in the material of war tho change is even more remarkable than in regard to the numbers of men at arms. On the material side war has passed into what may Ho called the factory stage, in which death is dealt out on a largo scale by machinery, just as standardised parts are made on a large scalo for the purposes of peace.

STTIX BLIND. Whereas, in the owning years ol the nineteenth century, all the countries of all the world produced only »t few hundred thousand tons of iron in a year, we have reached a period in which we find Germany 'in a™ l #'* month of war making nearly i.MXt.UUU tons of steel for conversion into the apparatus of war. ]t is just because we had tailed tuny to adapt ourselves m peace to the new scale of world affairs that this war has proved so hard a trial for us. Indeed, in the opening years of the twcntiot.i century we narrowly escaped the loss of sea* power because so many wellmeaning people faded to grasp the tact that Germanv was beginning to app.y to naval affairs tluo large-scale conceptions which she had already applied to industrial affairs. The German bid for supremacy neatly succeeded, and it was overcome n spite of the sullen opposition of the majority of the members of tlv presentHouse of Commons, many of whom fondly be'ieved that our very sma 1 armament works were the eat est in the world, "supplying," as it was put with comical earnestness, ' all the world with arms." It needed the red realities of war to awaken these gentlenicii of small coin eption to the tact that we rt ore children in these matters. it has to be added that for the mosr, part thev are still blind to realities blind to'the real magnitude of ths war; blind to what war will mean alter this war, if war is stiil to ho. Th« new engineering and the new chemistry have added enormously to the terrors of warfare, and created possibilities which give every man and woman a now interest in the preservation of poacio. War is ceasing to be a thing in uln<-h n certain number of able-bodied men go out to encounter others ot their kind w'liile the majority of the people of a nation remain in safety at home. We are reverting to the am-ient copcept'on of war as affecting everyone, and as bringing the possibility of (.oath and disaster to , n \vrv househo d. Aerial and under-sea navigation has in a few yen's, and while vet invent ions are in their infancy, led to the Vutchcring of thousand* ofnon-com Intent men. women, and 'hi dren. 1! \\ [nil to stav tVse hovr d d-vh.pments the warfare of another yem-at'on w'JI ' ■, thini' in "'"''l' "" AV '" C;n ° the -a-, ;, i vhh'i <;•; comni-rc" . p !i and .0 wh'i-h no in'aild . ' nr <ur r n<"< Wo''V of whatever kind ... l in -vevf.- I'mf from fp ■- r.l » 'P 1, ""Hl'" fr.ni '"'nl ......-:i,V do l -! rii' t'on. , < ,-un-d it' ' f r """.i th-so <. shoi;l 1 Miir.. 1.1 r< I r d' l rev r p.nro-vrh d;..t i - notion l .' new 11 r sun, will have to make preparation*

against possjble war oil a scale and jf o kind which will dwarf all former efforts.

Whereas, even at the very end of the nineteenth century, bv spending u]>on tho Navy about one-fourth of what wo fpent on beer w e could make our shores inviolate and our security absolute, we have now to face the coming of a time when, if the menace of^war is to continue, a. large proportion of the woa'th, which means the work, of the nation will be needed to give it not absolute but reasonable securitv.

I am not speaking in term* which have application to one jaation alone. These issues arc world issues, and tliev concern the comfort, safety, and happiness of ail civilisation. They matter as much to the citizens of America, who st'll falsely feel themselves to be mere spectators of an Old Work! conflagration, as to ourselves, who are now actually at war. In fighting the warmakers we are in a new and greatly enlarged sense fighting the battle of civilisation.

What is there of hope for mankind in view of the direful possibilities of which 1 have spoken ? This: that wo have allied. in a pack, for the overthrow of a md'itary despotism, nations which number something approaching one-half ot all the world's people. The Allies count, in the 450 millions of tlie Russian Empire, the 140 millions of France and Italy and their colonies, nearly 800 millions, to say nothing of tho Belgians, the Portuguese, the Japanese, th.o Servians, and the Montenegrins. To break by this alliance the military power of the Central Empires and to create a rule of peace among the victors —a rule which they will have power to extend over the whole of the Old World —is the aim to keep steadily before us. We n,eed not be perturbed by its dimensions, but rather encouraged to believe that this century o r largo doings may witness the largest treaty of peace ever made by men. AMERICA'S PLACE.

Americans are increasingly realising tho truth that no 'part of'the world can in those days afaord to be indifferent to tho of any other part. It is not the case tAat while Europe is in flames Americans can alford to be onlookers, viewing; the sufferings or other nations with more or less of emotion, and supplying ; them 'with food and munitions with more or less of profit.

The United States lias even now to enlarge her armaments. It will be impossible for her in the future to avoict enormous warlike preparations if the issue of the European conflict is either obverse to the Allies or ends in what some people call a stalemate, but which I prefer to call a truce. America has the liveliest interest in preventing the recurrence of a conflict which even now, with submarine and aerial warfare : .i its infancy, imperils the lives and wealth of neutrals. 1 should like to think of a dcterminc.ton which would add to the great European pact, with its 800 mil'ions of people, tho 100 millions of the United States, and w'.th them, perhaps, the greater part of the 70 millions of the Latin Americas. Such a combination could hold the peace of the world in its hands, and enable all men to devote their energies not to destroying and thwarting each other's efforts, but to that eternal contest with Nature which w.o call civilisation.

Man has conquered tho world in which he lives. All that he lias succeeded in doing is to wring from its reluctant natural forces a poor living for a very small proportion of the white races, and what in a comparative sense we term riches for a number of families so small as to be quite inconsiderable. This in spite of the magnificent inventions which characterised the nineteenth century, and to which the twentieth century has already added so L'l'eat an endowment. What has stood in the way of a greater command ..t the world and its materials? Always .the explanation is to In found in the undor-eniploymeiit of known moans of creating an abundant supply of commodities. In that underemployment war and preparation for war are factors which must be eliminated before man can advance to his proper kingdom. IiULE OF PEACE.

The Inited States of America, to whose Government is committed one of the largest and richest areas oi the world, cannot afford to view with complacency the new factors of warfare which will 'make it impossible tor netto avoid the creation of gigantic armaments if tins war ends in anything but tho complete overthrow ot niilitarsm. Tho adequate defence ol the Inited States against the new warfare, exeicised upon ibt fcea.es ot the twentiethcentury engineering, is a thing which the imagination boggles at. Against the direful prospect ot a continuance of war and armed peace, let us picture the results of the bright alternative. Given such a rule of peace as in tlieso words I have dared to write of, the possibilities of human development in the twentieth century are for practical purposes unlimited. Let it be considered what we have made of engineer ny in this country in a brief peiiod of '22 months because wo have been put to it by the exigencies of war. It would <■oolll to the unthinking that a nutae e has been accomplished. Thing* made of iron and steel have been uiiiUipli d ns never before in this country. It is no miracle, however. AMiat has been • ill h v iuse we a''o at war. might have been dime, but was not clone, while wo were at peace. It is not that our power to produ e has 'Town, jt is simply tliat latent power lias Urn utilised. In actual Piact.ic i »• 'vis b.vt. shown how in a verv t'ttlo while labour can he organised. in spit.- of the Withdrawal Irom work of rrii'lioiis ol men, to mii'-li gieater purpose. What, th-.i. miirht not be clone if e rule «•!' o-a- c. comb tied wHii tin- t riuin.it-on to inale th. best oi !>liO\vn illveilt'oils, s,"l I'-eeouY e'.lei gies io ere-ito woaVa lor tbe community— t" I,i-, -.1 (hint's for the pr"servat : on and » t .-,int-nance of life : n-io'el of for the d -trlie te '.I of our best men J . "Duly Express.