OPINION AND THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 59, 7 September 1917, Page 11

OPINION AND THE WAR

THOUGHTS OF LEADERS

GENEROSITY OF NEW ZEALAND

(FROM OUR OWH CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 26th. June;

Mr. Balfour, at the Mansion House, moving the adoption of the report of the second annual meeting of the National Committee for Relief in Belgium:

"I think it is a most striking and impressive document. There -are two special cases of liberal subscriptions which move me greatly. The most touching is the contribution by children to children— by the children, of tha Empire, whether here or overseas, to the unhappy children of Belgium still under the heel of the oppressor. The other is the extraordinary contribution made by one of our Dominions—New Zealand (Cheers.) Where all have been so generous it seems invidious and unnecessary ibo single out aay particular case. Yet.it is one of the most striking ithings fax my experience, at all events, that a community should subscribe nearly 10» a head—men, women, arid children—of the whole population to ifche cause of a country removed from ithem by half the circuit of the globe, whose sufferings tßey can read about, but cannot witness, who are. not, as'we are, m the very neighbourhood of the. scene , of outrage and tragedy, but who can' only judge of it through the eyes and ears of a sympathetic- imagination. I think it is most remarkable proof, not merely of the generosity of New Zealand, btrt of the manner in which it has been found possible, throughout the whole world, for people to - feel, not. merely an. abstract sympathy, bufc a real living emotion in the. face of distant tragedies which can by no possibility touch themselves."

CO-WORKERS FOR CIVILISATION.

Mr. Balfour, at the House of Commons: "The American community know the.sacrifices /that we, have made, for nearly three years m the cause of worldfreedom ; they sympathise with the cause for which those sacrifices have been' undertaken, and when the moment came in which they felt bound to show on which side, they stood they welcomed any, opportunity of manifesting their deep, moral and' spiritual agreement with the policy which is being_ pursued by their present Allies on i this side of the Atlantic. That is the real significance of the mission of which I was the head. That is the great result which it has had —a result the 'value, of which cannot be measured by its effects on this war, great as those effects\are going to be, but which will, I hope, outlast in the history of the world the life of even the youngest of thpee'whom lam addressing. I regard this mission not as the cause but as an indication of one of the mbst beneficent developments of international relations which has ever occurred in the history of the world. Most alliances, as students of history know, are based on a temporary agreement of aim between nations who join together each for its. own purpose, and whose alliance lasts only to long a« the same end benefits both. With the occasion such alliances vanish, leaving behind friendly or unfriendly reflections, it may be, but not .anything which is necessary for a permanent basis of long and faithful co-operation. I believe that as co-operation in this war between Great Britain^ and the United- States is not based tvpon the fact tliat either has something to get out of the war for herself, but is based on a deep congruity and harmony of moral feelings and ideals—, aa that is its origin, so also will be its history, and that it will endure as long as our two nations are content to pursue fhese great ideals; and I pray God that may be for ever." v BLACKMAIL.

Lord Rhondda, the jiew\Food Controller : ■ .

"I am empowered, should I find" it necessary, to take over the food supplies of the country and to adopt strong measures to check all speculation in the necessaries of life. The man who seeks to. profit by the necessities of his country at this hour of her peril, and when thousands are cheerfully making the supreme sacrifice in the cause of liberty, is nobbing short of a blackmailei', and must be treated as such. My first effort will be directed towards securing a reduction, in tho price of bread. This I consider to be. tho urgent need of the moment. I intend to be as fair as the conditions of war will permit, but frankly my sympathies are with the consumer. In view of the fact that I have accepted the position of Food Controller only at the pressing request of the Prime Minister, I feel I am entitled to claim the whole-hearted, support of the public, of Parliament, and of the press. I ami sanguine that with such support it will be found practicable to effect reductions in the price of the necessaries of life, but without it any efforts on my part in that direction will be of no avail."

TERRITORIALS PRAISED. ,

Viscount French, on behalf of a war* emergency fund: .

"It is not like the Army which we possessed just before the war—that grand army with which we began the war, small though it was. That was a professional army—an army of trained soldiers, each officer and man of which had been brought up to. fighting. They understood it was their business to die for their country, if necessary, and they had every opportunity of making provision for, those they had'left behind. Nor is it like those great Continental, armies belonging to countries whose sons knew from their earliest understanding that they were by duty and in law bound to give at least two or three years o£ their lives to military service and training. They knew exactly what was before them, and' all kinds of societies existed for the benefit of those who were left behind. Everything .was prepared. Just consider the difference. No such army as that we now possess was ever dreamed of or thrpught of for a moment. The neces-. sity, for it came upon us like a. bolt from the blue. The nation in its sudden, unexpected danger called upon her sons to rally .round tlie flag, and you all know the magnificent answer they gave to that call. The first call was made upon that magnificent Territorial Army which, was got up purely for home defence, 'fhose men gave up everything, and cams forward without having made any sort of preparation for the future. I have often throught of what a terrible sacrifice it was for these men to, be. called upon to make. When I was in command in France I talked to those men with their terribly depleted ranks, and gaps, and I could hardly find voice to say a word to them, as I felt so strongfy the wonderful, patriotic sacrifice those men had made.". .. .

THE BABY-KILLERS.

The-Marquis-of Orefee, chairman of the L.C.C.:— „

"The massacre of these little ones will awake different reflections in '. different minds. My thought is this : What, when the calm judgment-of history sums up the case against our enemies, one i indictment will be found graver than all the rcat? Germany has been inspired by greed of conquest; she has attacked unoffending neighbours^, she has torn up trontNys and broken her plighted word. Hiatory' will condemn, but history haa

sorrowfully known these things before. Therefore, the fatal and unanswerable charge against Germany will be this: That, whereas, for hundreds of years, at any rate since the wars of religion closed 270 years ago, there has been a gradual endeavour to make the horrors of war less horrible and to impart .as much as may be of humanity into what could never be humane, in this war Germany, of set purpose, has put the clock back and has lowered the standard, making an actual pride of brutality and murder, directed against helpless civilians by sea and on land. What is cold rejection of the better way and the choice of the baser way, the deliberate quenching of the spiritual in man's nature which the Bible calls blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, beyond pardon in this world or another. Thus before the' bar of history Germany will be arraigned and judged."

BRITISH WAR ORGANISATION.

Signor Orlando, Italian Minister of the Interior. ,

"Nothing of what England is preparing in this war by her gigantic activity, by her formidable power, could surprise me after what I saw on my recent journey to London. When, during the journey from Paris to Boulogne, I parsed through the part occupied by the' British, before my admiring arid astonished eyes there passed the encampments and tents 01 the British troops. There were villages, or, rather, whole cities of huts or tente, which seemed endless. Near them one saw vast fields for military exercises, with trenches, wire entanglements? hedges, targets, immense places for games, and picturesque wooden constructions for officers or for divine service. The whole life of a people at fever heat was expressed there. Indeed, it; was the youngest, most cheerful, and best part of a great and admirable people. Then I had the logiqal idea of th« colossal effort, and the gigantic work going on in the navy yards, factories, and barracks of Great Britain,, a. work which, only a few years ago the human mind could not have conceived or even dreamed of. A prodigy of technical preparation, but also, and not less valuable, strength of soul . and virtue of men. - These are remembrances which in themselves are vague arid slight, yet they are sufficient to give me that realisation of the British . effort, which ' 1 already imagined to be great, but the reality has . surpassed my imagination. We feel that we love the noble British soldiers, just as if they were our brothers, even like our own sons."

SOUTH AFRICA'S PROBLEM. General Botha, at Robertson, Cape Colony :—■ - :

"South Africa's future depends upon the co-operation of the two white races. Two streams in South Africa there, cannot and must not be. .' Now' we hear of Republican propaganda. Do the people want to cut adrift? Why do they raise these matters under present difficulties? Would it not have been far more honest, to have said at Vereeniging, that as soon as possible they desired to create a new. Republic? South Africa is our fatherland and our heirloom. We would indeed be weak and miserable if we did not stand in the first place for our Fatherland, but I believe in maintaining the link between South Africa and Great Britain. Yon cannot destroy this link without a bloody civil war. All this talk of liberty sounds very well, but you cannot create a Republic unless the two races agree. And is it possible that Englishmen in South Africa will havo a Republic? You will do nothing but arouse suspicion by talk like this. If jpeople go on so talking you will never make this a great country. If it did come to war we should be killing off each other, and in the, end 1 somebody else would walk away with the spoils and sit on top of us.; People are playing with fire. Let me wain "them that it is very easy to start a fire, but very difficult to ex-, tiiiguish the flames. Let. us cease this nonsense, and fit ourselves for future days —for the days after the war, when we' shall be called on to settle all kinds of problems." . . , ■

A BISHOP'S FEARS.

The Bishop of Peterborough, in. St. Paul's Cathedral':

"One grave question of the future, possibly of .the near-.future, is the ideas of marriage which will prevail. It is possible' that the holy estate, will be attacked in a way we have never known; ■we may be confronted by efforts of many people, in view of the present unprecedented situation. . One of the tragedies of the war is that the wholesale destruction of young manhood in-the war will have the effect, that many; thousands of girls will never know the joy of motherhood. What is to be the equivalent of munition and other work? Where are the forces that/have been generated to find their outlet? Some scope there must be for the surpassing energy the war has, brought forth. To that problem th« Clrarch must find the answer, and not * mere routine answer." . ■

DANGERS OF STARVATION

Captain Bathurst, M.P.: "The Germans'no longer look to. military operations for decisive' victory, but to the disappearance of. revolution-shat-tered Russia from the war, and especially to the efficacy of.their submarine warfare in bringing about the starvation of Great Britain. Neither eventuality could leave us wholly free, from anxiety, but-' whereas the former ivas mainly a matter for the Russian people and largely out of our hands, the latter we have absolutely in our own hands. Germany cannot starve us. ■ The danger is lest we shall starve ourselves. There is no diminution of submarine activity. Let there be no mistake about that. 'If we mean to win the war our response must bo threefold—greater' production, smaller consumption, and, above all, careful conservation of food. Every ship that can possibly be utilised in carrying grain to the country during the last two months has ■been utilised; but, apart from the growing shortage of ships, that cannot continue without serious risk to the future supply both of munitions and of raw materials indispensable to Britaeh industry." , ■