The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1940. War Effort Drive

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23003, 24 April 1940, Page 8

The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1940. War Effort Drive

It was stimulating to see the response made by the business and sporting community of Christchurch to the appeal made by the Christchurch Recruiting Committee at the meeting called in the Chamber of Commerce Hall on Monday evening. The Recruiting Committee is dismayed by the comparatively poor response made in Canterbury both to the recruiting campaign and to the appeal for patriotic funds. It was natural, perhaps, that a greater emphasis was placed on recruiting than on the war effort of the remainder of the community; but if the older men are to expect a faster rate of enlistment from the younger.. ones they will first have to set the example themselves and prove practically the sincerity of their own enthusiasm for the war effort. Some of the suggestions advanced by speakers in discussion at Monday’s meeting were eminently sound; it would be better if others had never been put forward and it is to be hoped that it is the last that will be heard of them. Among the latter is the Nazi-like suggestion that employers should let fit men with no genuine reason for not signing up understand that they will lose their jobs if they do not. It should be understood that enlistment is a purely personal problem for every man himself to solve. The reasons a man might withhold for not joining up might be personal and important reasons that he would not care to discuss even With his employer. Equally dangerous and even more obnoxious is the suggestion that children in the schools should go home and ask their brothers why they had not signed Up. This foolish and cruel proposal eould ’only have been made under stress of emotional excitement, Sound common sen' > dictated the suggestion that an appeal should be made to intellect as well as to emotion. No intelligent oung New Zealander is likely to be swayed by abuse such as was indulged in by some of the speakers. It should be realised first and last that the psychological effect of that kind of appeal is more likely to be reactionary than beneficial. Moreover, if recruiting speeches are to be made they should be made only by men who have themselves been under fire, by men who have themselves joined the forces, or by the leaders in our national life. No man, even of these, has the right to taunt others with cowardice. Young New Zealanders are not cowards; they are not, as Mr H. G. Livingstone dubbed some of them, “skulking irresponslblesthey would not be of the blood of their fathers if they Were. This kind of loose and thoughtless talk will do real and permanent harm to the recruiting cause; and there she rid be no moiv of it. Thoughtful persons will realise that young New Zealanders have been brought Up In B different environ* ment from that of their fathers. They believed, as their fathers believed, that the last war Was a war to end war and that they would never be called Upon to make the sacrifices that their fathers made. Disillusionment has come almost suddenly. They have to readjust their minds to hew and Unexpected responsibilities. They have to finish the job that they thought their fathers had finished and to realise that the responsibility will not end with victory and peace but will continue until the liberties of all the peoples of the World have been restored, One speaker at Monday's meet* Ing truly said that “ marching feet are the “greatest recruiting agent there ever has been “or will be.” Let that be allied to the voice of the soldiers themselves. Let young men who have enlisted tell their friends who have net why they have dene so. Encourage youth to appeal to youth and explain the issues in language that youth can understand. It Is for the elder men—men who have seen service and know its dangers and hardships and also its magnificent cemr.*deship-=to advise and organise; youth must do the rest el its own volition, not, while the voluntary system lasts, under threat or taunt. Ear men who are past the age when they can take an active part there is a task to be done. Let them do it with ali their might, If Canterbury is lagging behind other parts of New Zealand in patriot effort, the responsibility is as much the responsibility of the elder men as It is of youth. Let the elder men, by their example, fire youth to emulation, remembering that the cause is freedom and the sacrifice and the effort are Worth it.