The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1920. MILITARISM AND TRUSTS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3531, 20 July 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1920. MILITARISM AND TRUSTS.

With which is incorporated "The Taihape Post and Waiinarino News.'V

' Ten years ago the Prime Minister of Britain stated at a Guildhall meeting that, "The most tragic paradox of our time is that in almost every country one of the most prominent topics of Parliamentary debate is the enormous expenditure upon armaments. We all admit the evil. We all deplore it. Each country by itself is helpless to arrest the progress of armaments.' It is true even to-day; despite the disarmament of Germany and the Bringing hack of the British military system to voluntaryism there is still a mad rush for armaments evident in localities where there was little semblance of the tragic paradox te n years ago. Like the whirl upwards of cost of living and wages, the cost of armaments and the burden of taxation press upon the people of the world by continuing to whirl upwards. War infection has got into the blood of nations which hitherto showed little or no sign of the cancer of militarism. EVery little community under separate government must have its standing army, and between trusts which dominate industrial life, and armies which make domination of peoples complete, it seems that the great Armageddon is yet in the future. The oppression of armies and trusts is as certain to induce the resentment it invites, and as it is world-wide so must the resentment be world wide. The distressing feature of it being that it will be internecine as well as international. Here are two vicious circles—not one. No single country dare reduce its armaments, and no single businessman dare reduce his prices, for are not his prices fixed for him by the trust vampire from whom alone he can purchase? The most alarming aspect of the tragic paradox is that trusts and combines dominate governments and are thereby also the advocates and builders up of armaments; they are the creators of the tragic paradox. Where profiteering goes on unchecked and excuses are made for it, there is found side by side with it the armament fever. It is notable that where a selfish party has the reins of government a big standing army is insisted upon against, all opposition. It must be that profiteers and exploiters have a mortal dread of the retribution that invariably follows crime, and they build up an army that is as likely to destroy its makers as it is those it was intended to keep in subjugation. The disposition of the masses is peaceful, but the disposition of the trusts and combines that dominate governments is not peaceful, therefore no genial politcal atmosphere can diffuse itself and pervade the trust and military* ridden countries of the world. In the land which orginated trusts, and which to-day is the most trust-ridden there is found a mania for building up armies and navies. The United States has for many years been building ships of war at a greater rate than Germany, and is now feverishly pushing on its insane building programme, while Germany has made its exit as a naval power. Japan is also rushing up an naval establishment, and it is well understood that these navies are not being built up for the benefit of the masses of the people in either country, for the people's dispositions are peaceful. I They do not desire war; it is the people who suffer by war while trusts and combines grow indecently rich on war, and so they will have war, and will dominate governments so that they can periodically organise wars for their own special benefit. It is quite a proper question to ask why a section of American politics is opposed to a League of Nations that is to prevent war. That section of Americans tell the world they do not wish to be embroiled in European and Asiatic wars, and yet they give themselves the lie direct by being the very section of Americans who are most insistent on the rapid construction of i a great navy and the building up of' a great military system. What is their naval and military establishments for but to wage war? Worships are not for Americans to take pleasure trips, or armies for the creation of unprecedent military displays just for pure amusement: of the American people. Trusts and Combines of America do not want permanent peace, neither do trusts and combines in New Zealand want permanent peace, hence government will insist upon keeping up a defence system I which is ridiculously beyond what: taxpayers fn' this. little country can | afford. Trusts are no less wartihe'

organisations than armies and navies; they are inseparable because they are virtually one. It is admitted by leaders in the British Parliament;, in fact it has been openly stated that trusts and combines are doing much more effective work in Bolsbevising the world than it is possible for Russians to do with all their armies, money and propaganda. Trusts are preparing the popular mind for the acceptance of Bolshevism and for that degree of internationalism which Is sapping- the patriotism loyalty to country and love of home that the masses have long hesitated to sacrifice. Trusts and militarists have left no other weapon 4 ready to the popular hand but that of internationalism. The growth of internatlionalism is fully understood in Br tain where all political parties are searching for means of giving the people what they are entitled to in a more acceptable way than labour leaders are proposing. In New Zealand trusts and combines and their friends in Parliament -—the militarist section—are blind to a widespread internationalist sentiment. By taxation, by an insane militarism, by currency and land value inflation; by a bewildering perpetually increas ng cost of living; by a houselessness that is already intolerable, and. finally, by a callousness to all the hardship and suffering that follow as a natural corollary militarists, trusts. combines and profiteers generally have converted the masses 'Of this young land to internationalism. They are wallowing in their ill-gotten riches and do not notice the danger that is overshadowing them. Governments have for years been talking peace and yet military preparations go On increasing. It is nothing more than an insane squandering of public moneys for an unproductive purpose, and there is lack of resources- for' social and political work. Millions are unquestiouly spent in keeping up a ridiculous military establishment in this Dominion, but when Government is duty bound to assist returned soldiers into civil life, to find land for their settlement, it cannot spare the money. Labour in New Zealand as well as in Br tain has come to the determination that internationalism is the only trustworthy guarantee of the world's peace. Their hope in the League of Nations is killed by the rushing up of armaments and military systems in the United States, in British dependencies and in other countries. It is "The most tragic paradox of our time," exclaimed Mr Asquith, and all - the people of the earth excepting trusts and combines, shout concurrence. Labour parliamentarians are seeking to link up working class representation in all parliaments of the world. If war threatens, these repre- : sentatives are bound to do their utmost to prevent war. An organisat on is to bring about' an understanding between all labour parties for concerted action. This is roughly what was proposed at the Socialist Conference of Copenhagen, a decade ago. and it very briefly indicates what the working classes are doing to prevent outbreaks of war. On the other hand what are all other polit cat parties combined doing to . prevent wars? What is the Government of this Dominion doing towards the establishment of universal permanent peace? If the upkeep of a positively silly, ludicruously large defence establishment is an augury of a desire for peace, then the Government wants peace, but let t be noted that Mr Masse'y has expressed his want of faith in the League of Nations. Ofcourse, trusts,, combines and militarists generally will oppose the League; they are interested in wars; it is by wars they rapidly become millionaires wh le the masses of the people in opposing countries are massacring each other i n millions. We are discussing the question purely from humane considerations; it is not to any country's credit that a more determined and defin te stand is not taken to win back the masses from an. internationalism that will involve the passing of patriotism and loyalty to country, and tend to wean people from a home love in a search for that which will require centuries to make mankind reasonably capable of, even if it is not a quest for that which is unnatural, therefore unattainable.