CONSCRIPTION
Maoriland Worker, Volume 6, Issue 251, 8 December 1915, Page 2
About this newspaper
CONSCRIPTION
The statement of Mr. Allen that tho total number of men in New Zealand, of military age is 192,000, is most interesting, for it records in plain figures tho whole extent of our military resources, and measures definitely tho scope and effectiveness of the Conscription policy. It turows into its true perspective the ridiculous mouthings of • our oratorically inflated patriots, who arc incessantly demanding that our quota of reinforcements should bo ' enormously increased, even at tho cost: of conscription, though it bo placing an unbearable and impossible burden | on our resources. [ What, care they, though tho human family bleed to death in fraticidal _ strife! What care they, though weep- j ing wives and helpless offspring mourn!. Provided their greed for gold is satis- i lied by enormous profits, and their i ghoulish hearts aro satiated by their . pounds of flesh. Mew Zealand has offered up ou tho altar of patriotism more men in proportion to her populatiou than any other part of tho Empire; moro than four times Canada's contribution and twico Australia's; but still theso conscript bloodsuckers arc not satisfied unless wo actually bleed tt) death under the hateful knifo of Conscription. Is it so that other parts of the Empire, India., South Africa, Canada, etc., brought under tho emancipation of our freo constitution, at ;;rcat coab of lives and blood, might funk their duty? Is New Zealand to >leed and rlio, so that Canada might i;row rich in tho manufacture of muni-., :ions? If Conscription must como, it nust bo Empire Conscription, on a jopulation basis. Tho Allies have failed, i jecauso up to.tho present, they havo , persisted in working out their own sal- ] •ation, in their own way, to their,nwii : lamnation. They must bo co-ordinated : nd solidilied, and tho Empiro must 1 io organised if wo aro to win. And < rhereas heretofore we hare wasted j j fcrenflth in aroseoutiag little tor * nr* I <
all over the globe, so now wo dissipate energy through lack of cohesion and organised movement. Thcro must nob bo a conscript New Zealand and a free Canada. But, why this cry of Conscription P It is neither demanded by . necessity • nor counselled by reason. . Tboro is a moro vital, an absolutely essential help that must bo forthcoming, if victory is to be assured; viz., munitions; and if our authorities were actuated by gemiirio patriotism, instead of superficial hypocrisy, thoy would endeavour to supply that need. But No! When Russia cries for bread wo give : her a stone —while tho allied armies arc' being sacrificed through lack of muni- ; tkftis, wo, turning a deaf ear to their, necessities, and resting supinely in our' imbecility and criminal negligence, seek I rather to add to their exhaustion by' tho throat of Conscription, instead of' endeavouring' to, relievo it by a bold and effective munition policy. Perhaps becoming afraid of tho rising tide of national indignation, our responsible; authorities sire criminally using the pall of Conscription to cover their multitudo of sins; thus burying their iuconipeteneo liberty in a common grave. They appear, however, to bo firmly determined that if Samson' must fall, our free constitution will' come tumbling down with him. Just as England's munition policy has lamentably failed to keep peace with the magnificent response of volun- ■ tarism, &o has New Zealand ,by her 1 ' invincible "stubbornness to tho urgingsjc of necessity, most dismally failed toj ( even mako an attempt to do her duty. | ■ Sho is hopelessly beaten in initiative j and outdistanced in accomplishment by | State with not one-fourth of her wealth, i population, resources or industrial pos- j labilities; and then cowardly seeking I scapegoat, sho attempts to outweigh < jer criminal guiltiness by tho sacrifico 1 }f our blood. No doubt, taking tho ah- , j lormal swelling of their heada neori-j lencA of brain power, our .ministers ;
! seem quite prepared to lot the horse I wander where, it will, provided, of 'course, that they can still sit in the lucrative saddk , . JJuL tlio democracy j ol" New Zealand must, .sec thai the horse 'docs not- wrinder where ifc will, and I aimlessly (9) drag our own priceless heritage- ol liberty over Hie. precipice of criminal foolishness into the abyss ;of f-'onscriplion nnd national disaster. If wo are to secure a speedy and faivourablo peace, our resources musti bo j applied io the war situation hi tlie orjdor of their importance: money, muni; tioiis, men. But ihis does not please our emotional profitmongcrs; they must I continue to serve our manhood up to j Moloch, with the Russian idea, no | doubt, of oxhaustinjr },j s ammunition. j'J'his brutal, bliistorinjc, blundering I waste of force is useless. To ho effcejtivo it musk he scientifically n])j)liod ■nnd intolligonUy diroc.led. Wo must Might an ononiy with his own,'weapons, ;man to imin; yes, hnt.above nllinunijtioiis with munitions and »un to gun. 'Strategy must ho countered ,by (.strategy, and wo. cannot copo.with organisation by-distinion. Mr. Massoy j proposes to give U.oUU men per month I (provided of course the well doesn't I run dry), but would he not bo giving jinorn effective, if less .spectacular/help ;to tlft Allied cause, by equipping five or jten thousand Russians per 'month, I which ho could easily do by an earnest nnd intelligent utilisation of our industrial resources? Lloyd fjeorgo did not .say Conscription will win tho war; but Jhe .--aid "Victory may rest with the { J side- that is financially <he strongest," J and as the superior organisation of'tho German workshop was tho cause of the Allied disasters, so also j tho superior organisation and ntilisaj tion -of our industrial resources cau .retrieve them." j. "Germany i$ oven forcing victory in i J the. iii'.iuie of nitrate from the very | atmosphere- sho breathes; ennnofc New j Zealand unbosom, her resources in a | moro sacred cause?. Is tho Massoy-i Allen combination making an.endear our to do it? No! juggfing with reason, and compromising with folly, they :*p]nttor about conscription and duty,J ■when everyone is doing their duty but I 'themselves. __, j J If money and munitions are so essou- j tial to victory, why not, then, conscription for (both? If tho possibilities of ithe munitions department are already unequal to the response of voluntarism, why further weaken.our vitality and lessen the chances of victory, by "senselessly overstraining the ono.. and uselessly overtaxing tho , other? Instead of strengthening our weakness we would be but adding to it. The result would be national disaster ;■■ towards which, as Lord Boresford said, we are directly aiming. But what role do our emotional ministers play in the midst of this terrible crisis? Clothed in the feathers of luxury, like moulting geese, and standing nobly on their one leg of conscription upon the glorious summit of their Gibraltar of incompetence they are wildly flapping tho wings of optim-. ism and perpetually quacking about tho glories of patriotism, duty and the Empiro's danger, without, thinking jt ■worth their while to intelligently and effectively come to its aid. They are actually aiding tho enemies of the Empire by their negligence- in tho manufacture of munitions, without-
which victory is impossible. Tho Rus,' siau retreat and the wonderful Eastern ! offensive of Germany has given way to a Serbian campaign, and just as their 1 all-conquering artillery, superior organisation, and incxbanstiblo supplies of munitions, paralysed tho enormous i man superiority of jlussia, so also are ■ tho same- munitions conquering the ! hitherto impregnable and almost in' niporablo mountain fortresses of Serbia ; so also could an intelligent application of tho wheels of industry to our munition weakness do incalculably moro toward-s victory than if wo turned smiling valleys of New Zealand into a wilderness of.-old men, women a,nd children. . Still our leaders do not make a serious attempt to improve tho situation; and casting nsido the only-victorious policy of munitions and victory as unworkable, with tho fools' cry of conscription on their lips, they, like mo/lorn Judas's, .seek rather to. viohito tho sacred precincts of liberty at the cost of defeat. If tho war is genuine, and tho danger common to all, BacriOce should likewise hz made in common, and it would bo tho greatest hypocrisy to conscript tho workers on the ono hand, and to fortify tho rich in a rampart of security and luxury at tho rate of 41 per cent, on tho .other; to forcibly blred the worker white, and to allow, others to nourish themselves, by the huge profits, accumulating from their base exploitation of v great national disaster. A man gets his Hfo from God; his I liberty from nature; his riches, from tho Stato and the labour of his fellowman. Let the State, then, commandeer I what sho produces; but without sacrilege, a man's lifo must remain at the disposal of his conscience. Let us render to Caesar the things that nre Caesar's; BUT TO.GOD THE THINGS TIIAT.AHE GOD'S. 11.. is the. basest .sacrilege to forcibly open tho veins of liberty, to that we might sea) with, its blood tho charter , of: freedom for the."Mammon of iniquity,"' It is the grossest, grovelling cowardice, for the mentally deficient and the physically impotent, to insult 'tho unrivalled sacrifice of the sons of. New Zealand with the, charge of cowardice, and to imperil her cause with national disaster by placing ttfie .revolver of despotism to tho Temple of her Free-, doin; when by tho most patent facts of Jhiatofy, she has outrivallcd all parts of the Empire in the fullncsf of her sacrifice. Men of the Empire., who hnve made it what ifc is to-day; workers, demo-, crnts, lovers, of Freedom and haters of despotism, cast off this foul imputation, on your honour;-resist this atrocious attempt to estrango you from your liberty, while sons and brothers are reddening tho hills of Gallipoli in its defence. We must, never permit this glorious Empire, engendered in the sanctity of freedom —brought forth in tho nobility of patriotism, cherished and nourished by ' tho rod rivers of voluntary sacrifice, and reared to its present glorious state tmder the sun of universal emancipation, to be foully struck down in its hour of trial by'the Juggernaut of military despotism, and '.miod in the Conscript's grave. FOR THOSE WHO TAKE THE SWORD SHALL PERISH BY,THE SWOBD., -.-.-. RECRtJIT.
