The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1919. BUILDING THE NEW WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1919. BUILDING THE NEW WORLD.

In his recent message to the people of Britain, Mr Lloyd George has given expression to views that should strike home with force and conviction. He stands, as it were, between the conditions which operated in the old world and those which must prevail in the new, or as Carlyle would have put it "at the confluence of the everlasting nay and the everlasting yea." Prom that point of vantage he has made a terse survey <#f what the past has brought forth, and the vista the future should present. Between these two eras has been the greatest, the most terrible and the most criminal war in the history of nations, in which "millions of gallant young men have fought for the new world and hundreds of thousands have died to establish it." To all seriously minded people there can be no escape from the responsibilities that rest on the governments and peoples in honoring the promises given to those who fought for liberty, truth, freedom and justice. The roar of artillery and the din of combat have died away, but the impelling purpose remains as a sacred heritage of duty on the part of the victors, otherwise the sacrifices made will have been vain and profitless. If there be no uplifting of humanity to a higher and far better plane as the result of the war it will be a lasting blot on civilisation and progress. Such a calamity is unthinkable. There must be a place in the sun for all, better conditions of life, a real conception of what is due to our neighbor. The lurid picture drawn by the British Premier of the old world—the pre-war period—bears no trace of exaggeration. Those who are acquainted with the conditions of existence of the masses will recognise its,accuracy, and blush with shame that such a state of affairs was allowed to exist; that "myriads of honest workers—men and women—purchased nothing better than squalor, penury, anxiety, and wretchedness"; that they lived in a_ world "scarred by slums and disgraced by sweating; where unemployment brought despair into multitudes of humble homes, and where, side by side with want, was the waste' of the inexhaustible riches of the earth—partly through ignorance and lack of forethought and partly through entrenched selfishness." This is a scathing indictment, to which, however, Britain must plead guilty. Is it to be woridoved' that the seeds of enmity and disaffection should germinate under such conditions? Rather would it be a marvel if the brotherhood of sacrifice and service on the field of war did not create an upheaval of vast dimensions in the transition period that has now been entered upon. After the struggle to I maintain the principle of right as i opposed to that of might it is only I, natural that those who have been' gag, Aged should .consider

that they, too, have rights which have been unattainable, and it will require the wisest, most sympathetic and far-seeing statesmanship to readjust tiie position of the masses so that a square deal may be theirs and life become in the new world well worth living. Hence the solemnity of Mr Lloyd George's warning that a renewal of the lease of the old world will be a betrayal of the heroic dead, and stamp the nation as guilty of the greatest perfidy, besides storing up retribution now and hereafter. Let the old world with its ignorance, wretchedness and callousness pass out of existence, to make way for the new era of opportunity and advancement wherein work will be the supreme factor—work on just terms—and conditions of life made so attractive as to promote happiness and contentment. Just, at present the yeast of unrest is working strongly. It is the rebound of the human elastic that precedes normality, though not until labor has its just reward can Ave expect normality to be reached. There is no place for idleness in the new world when it is rebuilt. It must not be expected that the renovation will be effected by the wave of a magician's wand. Naturally the process must be slow; no progress at all until the foundations are laid ou sound and just lines so that all may build for the common good.- "It should," says Mr Lloyd George, "be the sublime duty of all, without thought of partisanship, to help in building up a new world, where labor will have its just reward and idleness alone will suffer from want" —a noble sentiment that should forcibly appeal to all classes. There is too great a tendency to view problems from only one side, but it is obvious that if the classes are to traverse parallel lines they will never converge. Only by the recognition that all sections of the community have their rights and that no one section can stand alone will it be possible to reap the full fruits of the war and inaugurate lasting peace. The basic principle of political economy is the greatest good for the greatest number. There must be give and take if tyranny is to be avoided, and the tacties of the footpad must be eliminated from industrial methods. There is something particularly inspiring in the principle of universal co-operation, and it is by that means alone the new world can be built.