THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1920. WORK! WORK! WORK!

Wairarapa Age, 27 March 1920, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1920. WORK! WORK! WORK!

Everybody, more or less, is engaged just now in the exhilarating pastime of advising the rest of the community what should be done in order to restore the economic equilibrium of. the world. The housing problem should be solved this way, the land question that, tho cost of living another. Tho newspapers, possibly, are the most oonspicuoas offenders. They are every day producing the most elaborate schemes for the amelioration of the condition of the masses, but are doing little, if anything, to bring these schemes to immediate and successful fruition. But no, the newspapers are not offenders. It is their special privilege and duty to assist the public in arriving at a correct estimation of the national requirements, and, having rendered this assistance, their responsibility ceases. They may exercise a potent influence in tho moulding of national policy, but they have neither the time nor the opportunity for administering that policy, There aro not a few citizens, however, who assume the role of public consora, who give advice on all and every and who then sit idly by and allow the other fellow to carry out the work. At the present critical period in the history of the Dominion, it is generally admitted that the performance of certain duties are essential in order that.we may weather the economic storm, that is lashing so furiously at [our war-scarred barque. The first of jthese duties is that we shall increase' production to such an extent that there will be sufficient *to go round, and that a recession in prices' will be produced. The efforts in. this Dominion cannot completely solve the problem, which is world-wide jn its magnitude and its perplexities. But, if we honestly do our duty as citizens; if we strive by every legitimate means to increase the national output; if we devote ourselves assiduously to work, we shall have gone a considerable distance towards relieving |he economic pressure, and solving the problem of how to live. It is useless to stand at the street corner and declare that the Government should do this, that, and the other. It is the maddest of madness to expect that higher prices for produce, higher wages, and shorter hours are going to provide a remedy. Resolutions of protest, organisation of workers" and producers, threats of a|;rjikes and lock-puts—these arc all the eflervfiscenpe of disorganised society. They a?e of no practical utility in stimulating production. Indeed, they ar,o merely adding fuel to tho fire of national disruption. These are the days of deeds, and not of words. The nations, more than ever before, require to be disciplined. Labour must bo directed into the most essential and profitable channels. The same effort in organisation and self-sacrifice that enabled us to win the war, is essential in order that we shall survive the aftermath of the terrible campaign of blood-letting' and destruction. If starvation and famine are to be averted, wo must individually and collectively abandon piir selfish pursues, and get to work. If wo are to bo worthy of •the victory' our sons have achieved on the -battlefield, if we are to make the world a' better, a brighter, and a happier place' in which to live, wo must stand shoulder io shoulder and work energetically and industriously to achieve pur purpose. The profiteer, the go-slow worker, the man who irpfus.es to do his best, no matter in what spherje of life he is situated, is a shirker and an enemy to the nation. JjPhe slpgan of the future must be, work! work!*work!