The Dominion. SATUEDAY, APRIL 23, 1910. PEACE MOVEMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 799, 23 April 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. SATUEDAY, APRIL 23, 1910. PEACE MOVEMENTS.

The era of peace—peace among classes and among nations—seemsdestined for a. future- that, as yet, appears to bo remote and dim. Arbitration 'societies and peace so-cieties-have been at work for many generations; ; and ■ large sections of the general public are probably unaware of. their existence. Those bodies are increasing in membership and extending their activities.' But, somehow, they fail to appeal to the masses of the people. Is/it because the great bulk of the public realise that, however praiseworthy the 1 motives of peace societies are, the time for. tho laying down of arms has not yet arrived? Certainly, there are ■ few-signs■ of peace, at the pre- ■ .sent'. time. ,Every country that claims tobe civilised is busy, some feverishly, busy, preparing for wari by. land and: by. sea. The great Powers.are building Dreadnoughts, and super-Dreadnoughts, terrible in their . range and- destructiveness:'. Turkey isvto hayei a.-new': navy and' Great Britain will provide the ships 1 and train the;officers: Greece—"'tis living Greece no more"—though protected by tho -Powers, clamours for more ships and moro. men: Japan, China, the South American republics —all seem- looking forward., to, an approaching day of trial and of conflict. The great self-governing Dominions of the British Empire are strengthening their defences: Australia and Canada are to have fleets of their owe.- Compulsory military training has been ordained by law in our own Dominion, as in Austra- , lia and in Canada. United South Africa will doubtless come into line with the other oversea Dominions at an early period in its history. All these great and flourishing provinces of ■ the Empire—New Zealand not excepted—should soon be able to place powerful armies in the fieldhorse, artillery, infantry—to - - protect their respective shores from invasion. In Great Britain, Mr. Haldane's territorial system- and Lord Fisheb's naval reforms have but two main objects in view: ensuring the country's_ safety from , attack and retaining impregnable the supremacy of the Navy. ■. ■ ' ' ■■"..■ In. no period known to. history, were the preparations for international wars in a more complete form than they are at the present time Peace societies and congresses seem to have borne little, fruit indeed. At the launching of one of Australia's destroyers the other day, Sir George H. Reid, the Commonwealth's High Commissioner, said that, , , regarding the beginning of their Navy, all political parties in. Australia held identical views. "The world's desire for peace was never greater," he truly said, "yet it was strange that, the stronger the, statesman's professions of peace, the more extravagant and mad became the pace of naval preparations." The secret of this marvellous discrepancy, Sir George thought, was that the nations were on the brink of great events which would throw the world into' some dreadful catastrophe, or cause a terrific strain on its resources that would hasten a general understanding. "The fortunes of ( the Motherland and her Dominions," ho continued., ''are inseparably intertwined. ■' The people of Australia have no intention of seeking military or naval adventure: they would be far more delighted if their warships were scrapped without firing a shot in anger." In statelier language the same idea waa expressed last year by one more august than the Commonwealth's High Commissioner. His Majesty, Kino Edward, when the Emperor and Empress of Russia visited England, spoke of the fleet assembled to greet the Royal visitors, saying: "I am glad that you should have /had. an opportunity of seeing perhaps the most powerful and largest fleet that has ever assembled, but I trust that your Majesty will never look upon these ships as symbols of , war, but on the contrary, as a protection to our coasts and commerce, and above all, for upholding the interests of peace. Here we have restated in terms the familiar axiom: to secure peace be prepared for war. . Manifestly, all the activities of all the peace societies in the world must remain futilo while nations continue to arm, every year displaying their additional prodigious power. Within the last decade the cause of international peace has had the of different new sociolbgi-

cal and political organisations. These, as yet, are of no great proportions numerically, though the claim is advanced that they are rapidly leavening the mass of European opinion. Socialism and Labour, in the larger and older countries, would seem te- oppose armaments; in new countries, where the population is small and intelligent, and where the need for defence is apparent, different views prevail. Mr. Eamsay Mac Donald, M.P., describes the Labour party as standing for the new diplomacy of direct contact with the peoples of other

States. Mr. Keir Hardie, at the recent Labour Congress at Newport, spoke of tho day when organised democracy would make war impossible. Now we have Mr. Maurice Hewlett, the novelist, telling the working men that, by virtue of suffrage reforms and the Ballot Act, fchey_ are masters of England. Organised, combined, clear as to what they are entitled to, they could get their desires by their votes. "' But, he added, they must bo united or they would get nothing. Wars, the working men could bid cease by the weapon of the general strike. Other societies and individuals have also anti-war as their watchword. All are unanimous that what is necessary for the now age to appear is that democracy shall be organised and combined and, as Mr. Hewlett would permit them, "clear as to what they arc entitled to." But history provides little encouragement for those who believe in a normal democracy, or any other class, ever being, entirely united and acting together harmoniously. New Zealand, for instance, gives no sign of social degrees crystallising into political classes, each class apart and distinct from the other. The Home elections sufficiently emphasised the fact- that ■the working classes thero may vote for the peerage, the aristocracy and .for measures of a decidedly conserva-. tive character. With regard-to international co-operation Socialists and others overlook the tremendous, gulfs that separate the working men of different nations. Illiteracy and superstition are yet rampant in several countries of Europe. Combination at Home with co-operation abroad is hdt yet within the realms of the possible.