OPINION AND THE WAR.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16362, 6 November 1918, Page 8

OPINION AND THE WAR.

NATION'S LOST BRAIN POWER.

(fboh oub own correspondent.) LONDON, September 6. Professor J. A. Lindsay, M.D., at Oxford: — "The loss of life in war is a question not only of quantity, but of quality. The casualties among officers have been exceptionally heavy. The loss to literature, science, politics, and administration have been very grave. The intelligentsia of the nation have fallen in large numbers. The universities have in some cases been practically emptied, with tho inevitable result that the supply of trained intelligence will hereafter tend to run short. Tho nation is spending not only its blood, but its brain, and the latter can only be roplacod much more slowly than tho former. Ono becomes a shade less impatient of tho miserable wasto and wreckage of war when one reflects how tho exigencies of war havo tapped unknown or forgotten . reservoirs of national energy and national working power. "Women will continue many of their present activities after tho war. The wholo question of woman's work _ and woman s sphere will call for revision. The policy of tho open-door and a free career to talent are lines on which the practice of the future must be guidod. "When we come to count up the gains and losses of the war thero can bo little doubtto which side the balance will incline. The | nation will havo lost heavily in man power, in brain power, in capital, and in industrial resources. But there will be some not inconsidorable compensations. The nation will have been through the fire and will, wo hope, emerge from the great ordeal purged of some of its defects. LABOUR AND THE WAR. The Premier, toasting Jlr Samuel Gompers:— . "He is as well known as the Mississippi. " (Laughter.) I think I may claim him almost as a kindred spirit. He was one of the very few peoplo who approved of mo before the war —(laugh.- • ter) —and, therofore, to me his sonco here is doubly welcome. Ho ana I have very largely the 6amo_ ideals. We can say that we are' fighting the same battle, and he and I since tho war came" have forgiven in a truo- Christian spirit the people who were suspicious of us —(laughter)—and we are fully prepared to co-operate with them for tho attainment or ideals we . havo always fought for. I say without hesitation that victory in this war means more to' those who have to get their bread by the sweat *f their brow than it does for any other class. If the class which made war were to succeed the condition of the working classes in Germany would be worse. But not merely that. That domination would sweep beyond the frontiers of Germany and extend to all parts of tho world. That is why we find the leaders of Labour in every country throwing the whole of their strength into the attainment of notary. Our gyests come from a land whose passion for liberty is deep as the ocean that washes its shores, as wide as the great plains of that continent, as reßtless as the mighty sweep of its rivers. That passion for liberty is concentrated in the great offorts which they are making, and amongst those who have assisted in making the effort of America a real one, in bringing the ' working-class population of America to a realisation of the danger to its ideals, none has rendered greater service than Mr Samuel Gompers. "WE CANNOT LOSE—WE WILL WIN." Mr Gompers, in reply: "The President and the people cf the United states are with Gieat Britain and France and Italy and all the Allies in this struggle to the end, and to a victorious end. The Labour movement represents the yearnings of tho masses of the people. I havo been a working boy and a working man, and I have worked at my trade for twentysix years. lam a graduate of the college of hard knocks—(laughter)—and if it is not vain to say so, I have more knowledge than learning. It is my purpose to endeavour to express the best collective thought of the masses of Labour. lam quite willing that the so-called intellectual party and the faddists may enjoy themselves in their salons, leaving others of the working people to work out their destinies as best they can. In the United States of Amerioa wo havo made, by economic and political action, wonaerful strides. I hope the time .will come in Great Britain, France, and Italy, and in conquered Germany f when you will recognise two fundamental laws passed in the United States of America. The first is the freedom not only of the seas, but of the seamen, and tho other is that the labour of the human being .is not a commodity .or an article of commerce. We will give all the manpower and all the wealth and sacrifice we can make in pursuance of this wonderful struggle. lam persuaded and convinced that we dare not lose, we cannot lose, we will win. (Loud cheers.) We who were pacifists before this war were in a twinkle transformed into fighting men, and it is our object to secure peace, so that we may continue in the future to secure the freedom of the world." GREAT ECONOMIC ALLIANCE. Lord Robert Cecil, at the Allied Maritime Transport Gouncii: "If we are to succeed we ipust be prepared to sci'up national piejuaice. national sentiment, and even, I wornd say, national interests. 'lhat is essential if we reajiy uofose to make the best use of tlie bireuy di which we have. ~\\o have not iiad to undergo tuo ordeal of an invasion of our laud by tlie toe. liiat makes ail the moie necessary a pooling of our resources. It our sacrifices are to be in- any degree* equal the only solution is a common .Allied control of all the resources of tho Allies. The principal organisa-. tion which we are pressing is the control of ALied shipping on the one hand and complete examination and control of Allied needs on the other, j and also of Allied ' resources i with Allied shipping which would onor- j mously increase, wnich would make ; overwhelming the economic power of i the Alliance to which wo all belong. If t wo wish to strengthen ourselves against ' the common foe we must continue to enduro hardship, every one of us in the Allied countries. Every saving moans larger armies and an earlier peace. After all, the hardships wo are endur- j :ng are a3 nothing compared to those 1 to which our enemies are subject. An- ! other thing. We should bind our- j selves together to secure the greatest j possible result for our effort. We see : on tho field of battle what magnificent results have followed from a united command. Ido not say it is possible to put the whole economic resources of : tho A!lies under the command of any , ono man, but I do gay if we could only bring togetbor the whole of our economic forces the strength of the Alliance 1 would bo prodigiously increased. There i must be no holding back;-no desire to j withdraw any portion of our economic ! effort. Let us not fail to romembor f this: that the machinery which we are ' building up in time of .war will last, let us hope, beyond the conclusion of the war. This great economic Alliance, and the machinery we are calling into existence in pursuanco of it, may be, j if we are worthy of our calling, turned 1 to the uses of peace. That is surely a | great ideal for which to labour, and I j am satisfied that if we now make uso of our opportunities we shall stuiul forth as the greatest benefactors of mankind and our children's ehildreu. will bless us for the effort which we aro now making, which, if properly direct-

Ed, may-contribute to tho security m* the peace of humanity." INSPIRATION OP THE WAR. ' From a White Paper on Adult Edn. cation (Alas ter of Balliol, chairman) to tho Minister of Reconstruction: "Few can fail to feel the force of inspiration and experionco which is boiug born of tho war, or to recognise the strength of tho now hope with which the people are looking forward to' the future. Tho nation ardently dosires to order its life in accordance with those principles of freedom and justice which led so many of its best sons into the field of battle. A new era has como upon tis. We cannot stand still. Wo cannot return to the old ways the old abuses, the old stupidities. ' As with our international relations, so with the relations of classes and individuals inside our own nation. If they 1 do not henceforth get better thev must needs get worse, and that means moving towards an abyss. It is in our power to mako tho new era ono of such progress as to repay us even for the immeasurable cost, the price in lifo lost, in manhood crippled, and in homes desolated. To allow this spirit to die away unusod would bo a wasto compared with which tho material waste oJf the war wouldbo a little thing. It would be a national sin, unpardonable in tho eyes of posterity. W e hav© awakened to tho splendid qualities that were latent in our people, the rank and file of the common people, who before tho war were often adjudged to bo decadent, to havo lost their patriotism, their religions faith, and their response to leadership; we wero even told thev were physically degenerate. Now we see what potentialities lio in this people, and what a charge lies ou us to give these powers full play. Wo owe it to our dead that they snail not liavo died in vain, but that their sacrifice shall prove to havo created a bettor England for tho future generation."