The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1919. IS IT PEACE OR WAR?

Taihape Daily Times, 8 July 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1919. IS IT PEACE OR WAR?

- 1 With which is incorpbrated i “'.TJIe Taihape -Post and Waimarinoi . News.” M _;

Throughout New Zealand, aye, throughout the British Empire, people met last Sunday to -renew their‘ all_egi~a.nee to God,» in thankfulness to Him for the peace following upon victory over those nations that precli[pitated the greatestwar in the Wol‘ "8 history. In his great hiSl3ol'io 3139993 on t.he signing of peace, in the ritis House of Commons, Mr Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister,'§aid:d“Let us rejoice like men who are un er 110 delusion that our troubles. are past ; let ‘ us not waste our“str.e‘ngth' prematurelg in ii htin each other.\” Mr Lloy ‘Georgi ri§dic=uledi'the idea that new peace had come allrjwould go right without effort? No thoughtful person {attended those thanksgiving services without mixed ifievelings, men did not rei joice as though under the delusion» thattheir ‘troubles were past. Thley'r'v'cr.e' truly thankful at havingbeen de-livered from being forced into slavedom "to.-Tthe greatest military curse the world‘'’ha's ' any knowledge of, but they realise that i they have yet; to be saved from amidst ithe .perfect.confil”ien’ce of streams ofl trouble and sorrow, in which they new U stand. The world has yet to be rescued {from the bedizzening crime of commerl cialism, in which the luckiest gamester ,rides away in his limousine, and the : unlucky crawls upon the earth for the lrest of his days. This eaccursed. comgmcrcialism has"resulted in the lucky ; giving banquets to their pet'dogs cost- " ing thousands of pounds, while within [sight "of the banquetting hall are as ‘many thousands -of starving people. ‘Commercialism has torn Illtall down from the pedestal of supremacy over creation in which the'God_ we thank for peace placed him, and has raised up money in it.s place; the image of gold} is everywhere set up. Is ‘this "golden ‘image "something that, nlankind',_,cfa_n , voluntarily and freely worship, orni‘ust_ ia.,.,_.huge military .system_ be up,’ with its lines of bayonets an ‘N batteries“, of big _-guns to, prevent people i from forgettingtlic power of the new 5 god that comniercialism -has set up‘? It }has_ made the -gold ofithe individual ‘the criterion of his worth, ‘influence, land power, and homage must be paid }to it. The most con/Leinptible and the most mean are "transformed by gold in;to paragons of virtue. It sends the bei potted drunkard to Parliament to m:ake aws for the good governance of the ‘people. The unprineipled -trust and ‘combine robbers of the people, those. | who are responsible for the broadcast-1 zmg of.Wallt, poverty, and starvation‘} ‘are, owing to the glitter of their ill-T gotten 250%. fowldlcd. ‘flait-f.el'ed,l ‘and | fawncd upon. instead of being shudder- ! ed. at and shunned as traitors and con- ! splléitols against the human family. It‘ I ren eis governments ana.emlc,:enfeebles : 1‘ ' overnm - E ‘3all_ghls.'fllo fOVOI' of commercialitiri, i ; while it hailrbeen extorting gold from‘ every possi e source i has fail !see. the dritt and di‘y-11:-‘()f into icliligi 3 their administration «has happened up. ion. We‘belleve the huge gatherings or last Sunday prayed more fervgntly ’ for a peaceful solution of the universal troubles ahead than they were thankl fulfor the peace already secured, They gprayed that the peace to come would gnot involve the sacrifice of loved and i dear human life _sueh as that demand. l ed by the Moloch just destriiyed. They idid not minimise the danger 'fo're~ eshadowed in the rumblings of disconl tent of the masses; however much they tried to cast the thought from them, i they had the fact. forced upon them that ‘commercialism was heedlessly continuing to add fuel to the fire; that trusts, combines, and government were madly continuing a course to which disaster is the imly end. Rich and ‘poor realised that their Government was recklessly expensive, ridiculously costly, inhumanly unjust and hopelessly incapable. That while taxation was being levied as it was n,cver levied in the history of the colony, public services had broken down, industry was being ruined, and the pit of black disaster had not yet been fathomed. The word ethics is unknown ‘in Icommercialisiu. b'e-ing lreh

placed by. trickery and gam'l_>li_ng- The spirit has seized upon governnienfsi which are now'vieing;wit.h the most unholy of trusts and combines in extorting something for nofiiing from the people they are elected to protect.’ Well may the words of the British Prime Minister,’ uttered when addressing Parliament after the signatureof the Peace Terms, sink deep into our understandings, for we must not rejoice .OVBl‘ the subjection of Germany like fools} like men under 2. delusion thrat troubles are past, for we have a densely darEell- - future to face. "Let 11S 1105:”-Said Mr Lloyd George to the British Pal~ liament, “waste our strength Prema‘ turely fighting each other.” . ridiculed the ‘idea, the delusion: that now peace was signed all would go right. He appealed to,Pal'liamellt for co-operation in the true, .-the real, spirit of patriotism, as that alone 001115 bring the real? and glorious lt1“i}1111Ph~ ‘fHe most solemnly declared the country must. sink under its burdens unless , the whole resources of the Empire Were brought. into effective use.” To TWP ‘the fruits of victory everyilmana rich‘ as well as poor, -exploiter, as,Well 35 exploited, nlust~ give such strength, good-will and co-operation as he could, Mr Lloyd George made it very apparent .*,h.a.t the dishonest methods of the expmiters could only -end in shame and degradation, in rev‘olution and civil iwar. “Let us not,” he said, “waste _our strength prematurely, in fighting each other.” Are exploiters and 801sheviks harkenin-g to those awfully weighty word? Are we not rushing headlong into the terrible pit. he’ is Warning us against? Is each man "in New" Zealand wholeheartedly throwing in his utmost strength, goodwill, and co-operation in heading oif the onwhrd rush -to the destruction and death Lloyd George so -opportunely can.ltions us against, or are we taking his ‘words as so much hot lair, unworthy of our notice? Is it not .a fact that men, hypnotised by greed, do not see a niulti-headed chartism in their midstthat has no compeer in history? Does ;not British. history renderyundeniable .thq.,fae.t that the conclitipon ,‘of the ,masses_,only aawakens the most per—_ fuiietory _.in,t..e,re_,st, _of‘_ their rulers Pep.‘ plyehave ,ever..ret;'urned no in-atter how 1 severely; they have been ‘put down; ‘they have comc:v,ba.el;_wi:t_li more and still ’mo_re_ «exasperation,-_ and now, in the !midst of our rejoicing over a happy tcrminat.ion of the wwar Mr Lloyd ! George .gives,w‘a_rning of “the Ides of March.” His‘wa.rning is not only -to statesmen and politicians, to trusts and combines, to aiiarchists and men of criminal intent, ‘but’ to every unjust -person, Whether in authority or other“wise. We are stressing‘ the Warning given by -the ‘British "Prime Minister [to the British 'l3arliame«nt., people, and Empire, bec'aus_e we realise with him {that a tragicioutbuvrst of popular senti- ‘ IllGl,lt._¢Elll ,_on_»ly’_be,av,o‘l_.ded, that premaI ture ,wasting_‘=ofA,t_lfle ,E‘mpire"s strength X: in fped,__'fl)7y _tal:inj,g;‘§‘v,ll¢lly to heart the words, 'friailght_,Awith..such _aw_£ul ‘import, ‘he ‘has addressed to us.’ " Will the co- ! operation of all classes in this country be forthcomin'g in securing» the full fruits, of victory our brave soldiers .lm.ve won. or will insatiable greed force us into premature decadence by ' invoking civil war‘? For that is virtulally -the question the British Prime lMi.nister has asked the whole British Empire. ‘ V '