OPINION AND THE WAR.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15669, 6 June 1916, Page 8

OPINION AND THE WAR.

thoughts of leaders. NEW LAMPS OF DEVOTION. (FROM OCT. OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, April 21. Lord Bryee (opening at Chester Royal Infirmary, a theatre in memory of Lieut. W. G. C. Gladstone): — "Saddest among the many sadnesses of this war is the death of the young. One of the most famous men of antiquity, in pronouncing a funeral oration over his Athenian fellow-citizens killed in war, and paying a tribute to their valour shown on behalf of their country, said: —'When the young men are taken out of the city spring is taken out of the year.' "Springtime is the time of hope and promise, when the seed is sown which is presently to ripen. When the young men are taken away our hearts are sore for the next generation. How many leaders of character and intellectual gifts, how many thinkers, writers and artists, how many men fitted to promote the prosperity of the country in industry and commerce, how many, of those we shall miss, and how much poorer the next generation will be. Never was there a time when so many of our best and noblest young men have gone from us willingly, because they felt it to lie their duty, and never was 'here a time when parents lftive shown such a noble example of uncomplaining patience under a loss tiie greatest that any loss can l>c. We mai' well feel oroud not only for the children, but for the parents in these times that th'ey have willingly givpn their children. They have borne their loss with Chris.iian dignity and patience. The old spirit of devotion is alive again in Great Britain. It is again the old England of ancestral fame. Some have thought that England has degenerated, but never has England shown herself worthier of the greatest traditions of her greatest days. An England that can do this is an worth fighting for. Is not that the thought that thrills in all our breasts? Lgt us who remain bo worthy of these who have gone. Let us whb remain be worthy o«' the country that can rear such children. They have revealed to us the soul of the nation, the inner spirit and life which is what counts in the nation. _It is by_its soul far more than by its wealth or its prosperity, or its material strength that a nation lives, and while the soul of England lives England will maintain her greatness. Lot us remember those young heroes who have_ fro no forth from us not altogether with sorrow, but also with a sort of solemn thankfulness to God who has strengthened them to do their duty, thankfulness to them who have strengthened and helnod us nil by tho way thev have done" their duty. Not in vain have they given their lives ior_ their country, for their country which is fighting for a cause to which honour and justice called her, a cause as righteous as any nation has ever sustained. The memories of those young heroes will., for us and for those who conip after, shine like the lights of the world, lights that will burn for ever set up around the altar of patriotism and of duty." PSYCHOLOGICAL PROTECTION. Mi- ,1. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., at thc { Lnion of Democratic Control:— "The intention of a very considerable number of people in this country' is that the Paris Conference should ba the beginning of % new economic policy for this country. The general assumption is that the Conference shall establish a sort of Zollverein of the Allies. That is a very absurd idea. We are going to have protection imposed in such a way that it is going to be a continuation or the present war in Eurooe, and it ip because the Union—formed for tho -purpose of establishing a permanent peace in Europe—sees that the economic policy now suggested is going to make a permanent peace impossible that it is compelled to consider this question. After the war a psychological protection will be inevitable; there will be a sentimental objection to dealing with Germany, but if the nsychoJocrv of th ? people were translated into legislation we will encourage the mferiorJy equipped economic interests, and as the interests come down the tariff wall will rr Q „p. A political fonti of protection to enable the revolutionised industries to ret back upon a peace footing will mean protection riveted for ever. whereas if wc leave it to the nsrchological agencies wp: will get the right amount to begin with, and as efficien«v coes no the wall will come down. We "can sain nothing by an economic war. but will simply enable tho inilitarv classes of Germany to stav\-> off internal disruption and appeal to a united people. Such a wa/.- will mean more armaments, more hatred, more nermanent fear; all the seeds that, always Produce war as a harvest will be sown broadcast over Germany and ourselves. Can it l»e contended that an economic war will really punish Germany? On the contrary, wo tv ill punish ourselves. It will not be Germany that will destrov us : it will be the neutrals—the countries that have not. dissiratod their wealth, but have laid wealth hv at our expense."

AMERICA'S OUTLOOK. Mr Bonar Law, to the ''Pittsburg Dispatch" : — "I believe the great bulk of American sentiment favours the cause for which we arc fighting. This favourable sentiment. in my opinion cannot be interpreted as due altogether to sympathy for Great Britarx. Nevertheless, that is important. The people of the two great English-sneaking races nrc, perhaps, so closely allied in many ways that points of disagreement, and even of jealousy, are very natural, but, during the past tweniv years I have noticed a marked decrease of such unfortunate influences in the United States. But the main reason why 1 am convinced that America fundamentally is on our side is, that I am sure j the people there feel as strongly as we I do that" a victory for Germany would mean the downfall of established forms of political life, .and of ideals accepted and" revered in your own country as surely as in ours. Conceptions of justice, convictions of are the same in the United States as in England. I am sure that a victory for Germany over the Allies would very surely mean that yon, too, would be struggling for your lives before many years had passed, for Germany's frequently avowed and entirely frank ambition has been for more than European domination, it has been for world domination. A victory for the Allies, upon the other hand, would mean for "America that she could go on developing in peace the national and natural ideals of the groat _ people which has been evolving within your boundaries with tl;e_ certainty that what she may achieve in material, social, scientific, and industrial advance might be retained, and that her progress could be continuous. I America realises how completely this is a batt'e of democracy against autocracy. Some dav you may have to fight again, though God forbid that this should be the ease. If vou are forced to fight it will not be a fight for gains throucrh war, but for the risht to peace and everything neace means to progress and to morals. The victory of Germany in this struggle might very well brins that dav nearer to you than at present most of your preat thinkers are willing' to pdmit." Ocii FRIENDS THE SPANIARDS. Lord Burnham, at a luncheon to the Spanish journalists:— "Englishmen ought in the future to teach more in their schools »ur) to

laugh more in their trades: for. ncx * to English, Spanish is the greatest language of international commerce, taking the wide world as a whole. It is a great reproach to British seats oi learning, and not loss to British Cnam~ hers of Commerce, that this state of things should continue. The interests of the Empire are opposed to this sort of antiquated insularity. The newspaper Press is a great international organisation. The war has tanght many things, and among others that internationalism is a dangerous creed if _it means that wo are not to distinguish between our friends and our enemies, between those who-~wish us well and those who "lay in wait to destroy us and our possessions. Our newspaper Press lias been too much the dune of idealogues. to use Napolrvjn's words. After the war we shall still have ideals, but thpy will ro>t on the solid foundations of proved friendship rather than on the shifting sands of sentimental cosmopolitanism. Our quests have come hero as friends to see how we a.re. proving ourselves in mind, body, and estate in this war, waged for the rescue of European civilisation from the black terror of Prussia. I hope they will not bo disappointed. Wr move slowly, but the mobilisation of the Empire is nearly completed, and our mobilised Empire is, I believe, the strongest and toughest thing on earth." NO MEDALS FOR FARRIERS. Lord Selborne, to the East Suffolk Women's Agricultural Committee:— "The war has to be won in England on the farm and in the factories, just as much as in the snips and in the trenches. Last year Lord Kitchener helped the farmei-s with military labour to a certain extent, and the Secretaiy •of State for War is more anxious than ever to help them in this coming season because he knows that, great as were the farmers' difficulties last year, they are far greater now. When all is said and done, the real relief to agriculture at this time must be from women. There are still farmers who are sceptical as to the value of woman's work, hut in the thousands of instances in which through the length and breadth of the land women are being employed on farms, I do not know of one single ease of complete failure. . 1 rejoice tliat it is not the general custom for mir women to be regularly employed on farms except at harvest time. I have no wish that the women should compote with the men. I should regard such competition as a social calamity, and noth g that I do in this war will have any such idea as that women hereafter should continue to compete with men. I ask no woman to work for a farmer who is not prepared to pay her a fair wage, and there ought to"be no limit to what a woman can earn if she proves she can dp as good work as man. Wages have greatly risen during the war. I thank God for it, and hope we shall never see again the rates of wn n, ~s which existed in some agricultural districts before the war. My call is to the women who sit at home at ease, who have always had the smile of fortune on them, who have never known hardship, who have never known what it is for a husband to be out of work. On these the responsibility is laid of setting their poorer sisters an example. _ Let those who have done nothing with the 'talents' for the possession of which they must ansrwor, take their less fortunate sisters by the hand and work side by side for England. I know there will be no mention in despatches, and no military cross for tho farmer, but 'Not once or twice in our rough island story, the path of duty was tile way to glory!' "