The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1916.

Evening Star, Issue 16079, 3 April 1916, Page 4

The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1916.

There will be little or no sympathy -with President Wilson and Th© World and his Government in the the War. dilemma in which they now find themselves; ■ and this for the quite simple reason that .' the great majority of their troubles and dangers are due to their own perverse neglect of the right and their obstinate persistence in the wrong, A Government, during such a crisis as that in which the civilised world now finds itself, that places the claims of political expediency first and of outraged humanity last was bound eventually to earn, if not to merit, tho contempt of its own countrymen and tho pity or scorn of the outside world. The i unhappy position of the Administration of the United States is almost solely due to' President Wilson's" failure in the first ■ weeks of the war to express officially and publicly the detestation and horfor of the people of the United States against the sack of Belgium and its prolonged accompaniment of satanic infamies. There need have been no question of war unless America so decided; but there was an imperious demand that President Wilson should let it be known on which side he, and therefore his country, stood. To | his own eternal loss he let slip—not thoughtlessly, but deliberately —that unique opportunity, and as though such crimes had never been, he strove to con- : timie friendly relations 'with Germany and her criminal riders. Naturally Germany put her tongue in her cheek and lied to and fooled him to the full. From the hour that the President refused to speak, and vehemently determined to remain neutral, his perplexities have been many and his reputation assailed at home and abroad. Germany has continued her policy of coldblooded murder, of dastardly outrage and diabolical atrocities on land and sea, in the air above and in the waters beneath, and, confident in her stupid belief (for the stupidity of German methods is only excelled by "their savagery) that .along these paths lies her only chance of victory, she will persist in them until beaten to her knees. The veriest tyro in politics could have told Mr Wilson that what Germany has since done is what Germany meant to do. Civilisation is "up against" what is quite accurately, if inadequately, termed a "nation of barbarians," and either the barbarians or civilisation must go under. There neither is, nor can be, anyopening for compromise, or arrangement, or friendship on the old terms. The whole horrible business has to be destroyed root and branch. The danger to which the United States Government have fallen a prey is not confined to America. The attempt to forget or obliterate the moral factor from this world war has been and is being made within the Empire and the Overseas Dominions. And it is presented and propagated in the most cunning of guises. With plain downright traitors of the Clyde striker stamp the community knowhow to deal, and in America the choice that President Wilson was called npon. to make was sufficiently simple to a mind that was aloof from the entanglement of those bewildering written controversies and verbal subtleties in which he appears to delight. But within our own Empire the appeal is more insidiously stated and, therefore, more dangerous. It takes the form of an appeal to our own pockets and self-interests; and, whether stated by a millionaire soap manufacturer or byPress correspondents who sign themselves " Anti-hate," its meaning and spirit are *he same. The Germans are not a nation of barbarians, these people tell us, nor are they our traditional enemies. " Surely the women "and children, the clergy, and the mil- " lions of organised German workers cannot be barbarians? How foolish, how "criminal then not to continue to buy "from them, especially as you will want "to sell to them after the war." In some such cunning form the new German doctrine is being, and will continue to be, preached. To it there is but one answer : it is worthy the source whence it emanates and tho cause it advocates.

The German nation is a " nation of barbarians" from the children, who are taught hatred of England in the schools; the women, who sing (unless they have grown tired) hymns of hate at their dally tasks; the clergymen, who pray that Germany may not deal with too great mildness with her foes; the professors, who aTe urging the cleansing of the German language of all French and British words. Nor are those who speak for it ashamed of the worldwide execration that is theirs; rather do they glory therein, naked and unashamed. Zeppelin bombings G f defenceless towns,' submarine assassinations, so long as they punish "loathsome ..England," these are the deeds that send a thrill of joy throughout the Fatherland. What their" Kaiser is that the people are, and we have yet to meet the sober-minded man or women who does not regard the Kaiser as a criminal lunatic and a common murderer on a wholesale scale. Germans do not, of course, so regard him. But from the British iStandpoint this dees not greatly matter. The important thing is that the Kaiser of Germany sums up and his own person reflects the Gorman Spirit. Professor Gunther, in the course of a recent speech at Munich, said s

Let us rejoice that at the summit of tho empire a man stands who is a personality. In this hard war the Kaiser has risen over himself, he has grown greater, more majestic than ever. . . And the people have drawn nearer to him, because they see that the Kaiser is fighting for them, that he feels and suffers, battles, and is victorious for them. A free nation belongs to the Kaiser, who lias shown that in the moment when all the powers of hell conspire against us, he has rightly understood his people. We who are happily free from both the Kaiser spirit and Kaiser mle know that so far as that spirit can make itself articulate it is the spirit of the nation, and. therefore, as expressed in a thousand nameless atrocities, of a nation of barbarians. America's blunder was that she sought to treat with Germany as one civilised State deals with another. That was her sin, and for it she has not yet atoned. America still halts between two opinions —an impossible attitude whether for individuals of nations. In this war, where the issue is so clear, there can be no neutrality : It is cowardly to remain neutral between right and wrong. It fa cowardly to "remain, neutral in thought and speech" and therefore to fail to uphold right and to condemn wrong. Finally, aiid most important, no nation can ever help forward the cause of international peace and justice until it proves by its actions that it will refuse to be neutral in cases of international wrongdoing and that in acting against the wrongdoer it is merely acting against the wrong, and would at once reverse its action if the wrong were reversed. The words are these of ex:-PresidentK.oose-velt; hut Jheir application is universal.

' The stiggo-tion of tho Young Women'/* Christian. Associations Women Police, of New Zealand that tho Government should appoint women police and women patrols is worthy of early and favorable consideration. The employment of women in police work has really passed the experimental stage in other countries, and gains rapidly in favor and adoption. \ Tho system hits proved notably successful in the United' States of America and Canada, and promises well in the United Kingdom and also in several cities of the Commonwealth of Australia. Experience has convinced even the most pronounced Sceptics that women can he employed most advantageously in certain branches of police Work. It is obvious, of course, that the duties of women police and women patrols muat be rigorously restricted. It would be absurd to suggest that women should bo appointed to maintain Ja.w and order in the vigorous and occasionally rough-and-tumble manner of brawny policemen. Doubtless there are some women who could hold their own even in that sort of Work, but it is not desirable that thoy should be subjected to severe tests. The arguments submitted to the Hon. A. L. Herd man last Friday by a deputation from the Young Women's Christian Association in favor of the appointment of women police and women patrols were decidedly con•yincing, and obviously won the sympathy, if not tho approval, of the Minister, it should be noted particularly that tho deputation emphasised the grave manner in which war conditions in New Zealand have affected the permanent interests' of young women. This phase of the question need not be stressed in detail. It has been obvious to thoughtful people that temptations for young girls have increased considerably since the outbreak of war, and that excitement and otli«;v influences have created a spirit of recklessness. Certain conditions have weakened in numerous cases tho influence of homo associations, which., it must be admitted, has been somewhat iax even in normal times. It i s contended that women police, whose duties would include the. patrolling of places where girls and young women meet temptations, would be able to give kindly advice, and thus render valuable service which cannot be given by policemen. Women police would db in an authoritative position to co-operate with those organisations which aim at the prevention of young folk from drifting into ways that are evil. Effective work has been done in this direction in other countries since the outbreak of war, and certain conditions in New Zealand call for the appointment of women police. It requires no elaborate argument to demonstrate the advantages of having women to inquire into certain cases wherein policomen, no matter how tactful tliey may be, are merely clv.msy intruders. And there is certainly need of the introduction of a system by which sensible women could exercise the office of magistrates in dealing with delicate cases. Under the present system many girls are hardened to the point of defiant indifference by the cruel publicity of judicial procedure. And many immoral vagabonds have escaped corrective punishment through the hesitation of women to suffer the ordeal of giving evidence to men. It is interesting to observe that the At-torney-General has been impressed favorably by the reports he has received as to the employment of women police in America. He made an error, we believe, in stating that he did not think that policewomen in tho United States had power to arrest. They havo power to arrest, but itis not generally exercised, for obvious reasons. They are aided by a very fine system of signalling, and. by ready co-operation from policemen. Tho work of women police is giving satisfaction in the United States. In an interesting communication to a Commissioner for New Zealand at the Panama-Pacific Exposition the General Superintendent of tho Department of Police, city of Chicago, says : There is an appropriation for 30 policewomen, but only 27 are working at the present time. Appointments are made through Civil Service examinations. Their salary is 9CO dollars per annum. We find policewomen to be of valuable service in ascertaining violation of tho laws in restaurants, cafes, public dance halls, railroad depots, etc. ; suppressing the sale of liquor, tobacco, and cigarettes to minors, and locating gambling- devices in candy stores and other places where children of tender years are wont to visit. Their duties do not differ materially from those of policemen, but they can be used to better advantage in procuring evidence in crimes against women and children, which could not very well be secured by male officers. The scope for the employment of women police is fortunately not so great in NewZealand as it is in America, but it is impossible, to argue acceptably that there is no scope here for an advantageous appointment of women to the Police •Force. It is to he hoped that the Government will adopt the system without delay, give it a fair trial at, say, Auckland, and modify the embargo on the enlistment of policemen. Jf women were employed to undertake many of the minor duties of policemen the readjustment of work would enable a number of men to adopt tho greater service of fighting for their country. Many are willing to go to the front, as we know from "information Teceived."