The White Ribbon. For God and Home and Humanity. WELLINGTON, SEPT. 18, 1919. TERRITORIAL TRAINING.

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 291, 18 September 1919, Page 9

The White Ribbon. For God and Home and Humanity. WELLINGTON, SEPT. 18, 1919. TERRITORIAL TRAINING.

We arc pleased to note that Sir James Allen informed the House it "as not intended to make any change in the system of Territorial 1 raining before July, 19J0. However diverse the opinions people may hold on this subject, surely all wiil agree that so vital a change as compelling all young men to have four months’ training in camps should not be introduced by the ghost of a Parliament which should have been decently buried two years ago. At the coming election the matter can he threshed out, and the peop’e will have an opportunity of deciding whether the militarism we went to war to kill is to impose it'' yoke upon us. Pertinent questions must be answered. Why, if the dulling of a nrtion into a military machine is the i»e ,t means of defence, did the German machine break down and fail? Did the highly drilled and

disciplined military machine of Germany prove a better defence than the free citizens of our Dominions* Whether military camps arc the best means of physical training is open to grave doubt, but there is no doubt about the fact that their mental and moral value is less than nothing it is a positive evil. It may be said that our youth need discipline, and that military training gives this. We question that statement. Is the passive obedience iriculcated by militarists a good thing? Have not the world’s greatest bene factors, those who have done most for humanity, ever been the rebels, not the passive obeyers? In the last re sort the defence of a nation depends on the morale of its people. Get down to bedrock, and it is always a question of character. Camp training does not build up fine characters. It may not injure the strong charac ter, but alas! there are many weakling, among 11s, and to these the segregation in camps away from the influence of mother and sister speils disaster. The highest form of discipline is self discipline, and our greatest cdu cationalists aim at teaching the child to govern itself. Self-discipline our boys learn in games, sports, and in their classes; they d<» net learn it in camps. There they have the discipline of an outside will forced upon them often an intellectual, finelytempered youth is forced to obey the behests of a comparatively uneducated officer, who never thinks for himself, but does as he is told. We are democrat enough to trust the people, but if we are to have militarism thrust upon us, it must be by the Will of the People, and not by tht Act of a Government representing even when elected -only a minority of the electors.