THE H.B. TRIBUNE. MONDAY, NOV. 6th., 1916. THE ORDEAL OF WOMANHOOD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 275, 6 November 1916, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. MONDAY, NOV. 6th., 1916. THE ORDEAL OF WOMANHOOD

The facilities which the oversea British Dominions have afforded for those in comparatively humble walks in life to acquire a university education, such as has fitted many of them to occupy professorial chairs in the colleges from which they graduated, have resulted in the" humanities taking a much more prominent place than previously in the higher halls of education. These younger professors have not forgotten their origin, and are still stirred by sympathy with the classes from which they sprung, and are full of the true spirit of democracy. They recognise the advantages that they have enjoyed are not meant merely to constitute them vehicles, for imparting purely academic knowledge to others, but that they have also a duty to the general body of the people. It has been noteworthy that, both in the recruiting campaigns after volunteers, and also in the recent discussion of the merits and demerits of a system of compulsory service, quite a number of Australian professors have taken a forward part. Among these is Professor D. A. Welsh, of Sydney University. Whether he comes within the category of colonial-bred professors or not we cannot say, but his contributions to the discussion of popular war questions have been eminently democratic, and instinct with human sympathies. The last of’ his articles that has come under our notice bears the heading which we have here adopted, and in it he treats of woman’s part in the war, and makes an appeal to the women of Australia to recognise their duty as have those of the Motherland. “In the days before the war,” he writes, “when rhe cry, 'Votes for women,’ was most insistent in Britain, one of the arguments against it was that the vote of the women might decide the issue of peace or war, although women had no part in the waging of war. But one of the disillusionment* of the great war has been the revelation of the combatant value of womanhood. In Britain many women do men’s work setting men free to fight. But they do much more. A great army of women is mobilised for the making of munitions and for other war work. Britain has been transformed into one huge arsenal, and her women have made that possible. Thousands of -women are fighting for the land they love, and for the men they love, by taking as necessary a part in the war as the men who are fighting for them. Never again can it be said that women must not vote because they cannot fight for their country.” He then goes on to remind the women of Australia that, while those of Britain have devoted themselves to a wholly unexpected exhibition of physical capacity for unaccustomed work, and have thrown themselves body and soul in affording aid to their fighting men, they have also learned what it is that- btoh are fighting for, and know that it _ is. worth while. The women of Britain have shown by their sacrificial actions that they are entitled to vote. It devolved on the women of Australia to show in some like way they were worthy of the privilege which had already been spontaneously conferred upon them by their mankind. How far they have justified themselves cannot be known until some analysis of the sadly disappointing referendum voting is placed before

Of the professor's presentation of the case for compulsory service little more need be here said than that he emphasizes the fact that the women of Australia were being almost as directly as the women of France defended from the outrages of the Huns by the men fighting on the fields of France and Flanders. To those men, and to all, the soldiers of the Allied Nations. Australian women are indebted for protection, just as assuredly as if the war were on Australia’s own coasts. And this is a fact that all women who are called upon to make the sacrifice involved in parting -with their menfolk must try to realise. The repetition in any part of the British dominions of such crimes against women as have been committed by the Germans in France and Belgium could only be prevented by successfully fighting the Huns where they are now held —or by the humiliating disgrace of surrender to their demands. On the question of the respective systems, of voluntarism and compulsion, Professor Welsh says: “Voluntary service is most ennobling—to the volunteer. But think for a moment of its effect on those who do not volunteer. Those who are fit and free to serve, and do not offer, rank as the moral bankrupts of the community. If they are allowed to shirk, while their comrades accept the great adventure, they w’ill become more and more insensitive to the call of honour and duty. The race will be impoverished in two respects—it will have been unnecessarily extravagant with its best men, and it will have hastened the deterioration ol its worst. But compulsion will fail on the moral weakling like a cold douche, and brace him up. When selfishness, with a dash of cowardliness, is the only thing that holds a man back, compulsion would be his salvation. With his character developed and strengthened in the great school of war, he will have reason to be grateful to his country for making him a man at last.” War, it is said, does not make heroes, it only reveals them. To every man, to every woman, there comes a critical time in life when the character formed throughout the uneventful years is put to a sudden, inescap-. able test. The great war- has prov-! ed our men to be a race of heroes,! ready to make the great decision in ■ a flash. Compulsion in France and Britain has not killed the fine qualities of their fighting men, their elan, their camaraderie, their energy, their persistent determination, or any other of the qualities that go to make an effective soldier. Women must dismiss from their minds the idea that military service is degrading to a man when it is compulsory. The conscript armies of the great free nations encourage that real independence of the soldier which is. in no way inconsistent with true, discipline. i

On Saturday last we made some comment on the disadvantage under which the British Empire labours through neglect to adopt a decimal system of coinage and of weights and measures, in place of the disorderly and unrelated “tables” which we now use- Since then, looking through recently received English files, we find that this matter was made the subject of serious discussion at the last annual meeting of the British Association which was held at Newcastle. The question was introduced by Dr. G. B. Hunter, who, dealing with the subject from the point of commercial competition, particularly in the period following the war, urged that to obtain openings for British goods we must use the metric system. If the reform were adopted he estimated that a year of the school period which was now wasted in this country in teaching our arithmetic would be saved, and there would also be a great saving in bookkeeping and clerical work. Dr. Hunter, who, despite his academic title, is the head of a large shipping concern, tells us that in shipbuilding Britain has long used the decimal system, for all calculations, and that without it the success which has been attained would have been well-nigh impossible. Another speaker said that Britain could not move in the matter except in association with America and the Colonies; but still another declared, what is without doubt quite true, that America, Australia and New Zealand were waiting for the Old Country to take the lead. The chairman, Professor A. W. Kirkaldy, suggested that the AngloSaxon world should come together and try to effect the reform at once. In view of the mutual commercial preferences among the Allies which are foreshadowed, it would, we fancy, be better still if some uniformity were established throughout all their territories. The matter is one that is of very much greater importance than most people realise, and it is good to know that this Great War is likely to prompt practical reform in this as in so many other directions. . The drawback’s under which British foreign trade suffers through our present methods can be appreciated only by those engaged in it.

Whatever differences of opinion may be entertained with regard to the national sympathies of the United States with one side or the other in the issue of the Great War, we may depend with complete confidence on the New York money market to reflect the conclusions that have been reached by American financiers as to the eventual outcome. What the neutral countries and financiers think of the “credit” of the German Empire may be seen from the foreign exchanges for marks, the New York price for four marks having fallen at the end of the week to only 69j cents, the normal peace exchange being 95| cents. At the beginning of the year is was 771} cents, and after a “slump” in ihe early months to 71} it revived again to the same figure in May, but recently has again dwindled lower than ever. In the case of Germany we are really entitled to take this depreciation to what may be regarded as merely a “nominal” value as a gauge of national credit, because there is no trade worth mentioning for it to be caused strictly by an adverse commercial balance. In the year ended June 30th the American exports to Great Britain and her Allies, payment for which had to be carried by the pound sterling, amounted to 64.8 per cent, of the whole American trade, but. the exports to Germany and Austria only to .001 per cent.

But this is not all. While the German mark continues thus to depreciate, the Russian rouble is making a notable recovery in value. Owing to the blocking of the convenient channels for Russian produce reaching the world’s markets, and to large Russian drawings upon America and Japan for war material the rouble had also fallen very low’ upon foreign exchanges. For practically the whole of this year, up to September, the rate of exchange had made 150 roubles the equivalent of £lO, the normal peace exchange being 95. In the first fortnight of September the exchange rate improved so rapidly in favour of Russia that it reached the point where 135 roubles were accepted as the equivalent of £lO. The entry of Rumania into the war, and sanguine expectations of certain consequences, economic and other, in the East of Europe, were considered to be at the bottom of the movement, which seemed to be the result of active speculative buying, especially from American quarters. The New York Financial Correspondent of the London “Times” drew’ attention some months ago to the strong impression created in American business circles by the reports brought back from Russia by the American Trade Commissioners as to the prospects there for economic exploitation after the war, and it was not matter of surprise to find that in such quarters the buying of roubles a present values w r as thought a remunerative form of “preparedness.” But, at the same time, the improved value of the rouble was undoubtedly a barometric indication of increased American confidence in the cause of the Allies. As to Great Britain’s position, cables received during last week told us that New York was showing a preference for British commercial paper over British gold, with which the American market had been glutted. Perhaps “British gold” is too narrow a term, for the Entente Powers have now virtually pooled all their gold, and France was really and substantially the biggest contributor to the common fund..

Air. Stanley Washburn, the American war correspondent, who, during the present war, has been a regular contributor to the London “Times,” has been with 'one or other of the Russian armies almost continuously since the first outbreak of hostilities. He is therefore well qualified to institute comparisons between the Russian forces which originally entered upon the war and those which are now engaged in it, and it is reassuring to know that he considers the later levies as being, if anything superior both in morale, physique and efficiency, to the earlier. “On seeing the soldiers who are now fighting in the Russian [Army,” be writes, “one cannot but compare them with the prisoners taken from the latest German formations. I suppose that among the men I saw’ there w’ere not a dozen who .were in the first line of the Russian Army, or, for that matter, had been in training, when the war broke out. Certainly there was not a single Reservist. These men had been called up since the beginning of the war. They have proved again and again that in every 7 respect they are quite the equal of the first line. When one adds to this the fact that their officers have had experience ot war which the early leaders lacked,

one feels that these regiments are far superior in every respect to those that turned out in 1914.” On the other hand, he says that “the German prisoners that one sees now are for the most part either very young men or men who have been called from old reserve formations.” In conclusion, he adds that, on the particular front where he was then placed, the fighting was intensely bitter between the Russians and the Germans. The persistent report that, explosive bullets were being used by the enemy had greatly inflamed the Russian soldiers, and during the recent fighting very few prisoners had been taken on either side.

The renewal of the Italian offensive on the Isonzo front is proving to be no flash-in-t.he-pan, but a movement of prime importance. The reports through to-day make this doubly clear, and show that our Allies have made notable gains not only in mere area, which is very far from inconsiderable, but in strategic positions also. The results of the fighting indicate a. marked ascendency on the part of the Italians who maintain the initiative and are badly disconcerting the enemy by furious and successful night attacks. In appraising the Italian achievements we must always remember that General Cadorna is operating in an area, that lends itself eminently well to a defensive warfare. The Carso is described as a “low, wind-swept tableland, strewn with limestone boulders, seamed with frequent and deep fissures, and covered with rough scrub and great masses of scree.” The rapid advance of the Italians is therefore all the more to be admired, especially when we consider that the Austrians have had ample time to turn favourable natural features to the best advantage. But, when measuring the distance to Trieste, we should not think of the air-line of twelve or fourteen miles, but of the many natural difficulties that still have to be overcome. The Italians, however, have met with such remarkable initial success, that they will be encouraged to sustained efforts in order to secure the greatest possible benefits while the good weather lasts.