“SHIRKERS ”

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9174, 14 October 1915, Page 7

“SHIRKERS ”

EVERY MAN’S DUTY TO GIVE OF HIS BEST FOR HIS COUNTRY (By “Wage-Earner.”) Some time age, in /our cable nows, you published an opinion of H. G-. Wells reading thus: In a State where the workers have been taught to road and write, the , nationalisation of capital must precede the nationalisation of flesh and blood. Now is not the time to debate this. This is not the hour for argument. Today all our manhood mUsrt get ready to go to the front. The shirker has got to be sorted out. In spite of Mr Allen’S opinion to the contrary, he is fairly numerous. Capital is _ just as bad a shirker as the able-bodied man who won't enlist. The Government method of drawing on wealth by taxation is just about as vigorous towards the successful prosecution of the war 'as the proposed ; national registration of men. , ■ - WHEN VOLUNTARISM FAILS. The voluntary contribution of money to patriotic purposes is hdt Calculated to inspire enlistment. The statement of tbe Mayor, concerning the second hospital ship is not creditable. The attitude of moneyed men at the outset proves my contention. “If four others will give a hundred pounds, then I will give a like amount” was a characteristic stand. Suppose every fit man put a similar condition on ibis services, how would duf patriotism appear, and, remember, he risks all f :' Some* men of means have given little. Or nothing at all. The men who thus make a condition of their gift standardise oil the method of the Conventicle or the Kirk, when the hard-headed man Who makes a business asset of' - religion doesii’t want to get saddled with too much of the Ohurob debt. If a man’s religious zeal is a matter of bargaining, then you can safely write it down os “Nix.” Patriotism on the same standard deserves the same , comment. If you honestly believe in your Church or your country, what the other fellow does ■cuts no ice. And if the worker who has been taught .to read .and Write, sums up’ such contributions ivs a carefullyconsidered calculation of a* portion of wet profits, then ho might have season for not shewing alacrity in contributing his flesh and blood.

But' to the credit of this country’s manhood the spontaneous offer, of men at; the outset showed that there was a purer spring of patriotism among the people than among the moneyed class. After - the enormous figures or the meal; hill paid by the Imperial Government, the trifling voluntary dontributidn appealed fori by the Mayor for the proper care or wounded volunteers seems ungrateful or worse. NAPOLEON’S TAUNT REVIVED. ISome (Of (the squatters .gave a splendid example .'both in men and money, but the; trading community does not figure too; gallantly. The Merchants’ Association of New Zealand does not appear to have covered itself with glory in /rushing to the country’s assistance., At the outbreak of the war the most valuable aid that could have .been-rendered the; obstinate Defence Minister would have befen a few volunteers experienced- in the grocery and provision trade to cope With the commissariat problems - of our expeditionary . forces- But so far as the worker, who has been taught to read. end write, CoUld :■ discern, the ignorance of the Minister and of the ordinary departmental Officer seemed a providential dispensation to augment the settler’s profit. Hence arose the scandals, and the system of canteening the camps at present in vogue is inept if it does not belong to the same category. • A concrete' instance of how volunteering is chilled, I can give from personal knowledge. A successful business which had made a small fortune for its owners, came into possession by the Ordinary way of inheritance to a family of hoys of military age and fitness. They did not deem ■it necessary' to volunteer. Seen the youth of the neighbourhood began _to make comparisons, and a decided disinclination to enlist was visible. Men of military age .with a Stake in the country should be tho first to enlist. If they fail and the. men whose .property and business are being protected allow it to become public, that they won’t volunteer first aid to tho wounded, then the voluntary . system is in serious jeopardy. THVBELP OR COUNTRY: WHICH? But before the war can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, the “larger vision” must become more patent to the public. Revenge is a good inciter, Tho barbarous— atrocities , and tho [devilish mothocß of our enemies make the hot bleed of youth boil. But-the faith in what the Empire stands for towards humanity, and belief in our destiny is the real staying power. Have wo forgotten it? I think we only want to bo-reminded of it a little more frequently and cogently by press, pulpit, and platform. “For yourself or for the Empire?” is the question for our manhood to-day, and the best reply I can recall is from the pen of Charlotte Perkins Stetson in her P ° em A MAN MUST LIVE!

A man must live. Wo justify _,, , Low shift and trick to treason, high. A little vote for a little gold. To a whole Senate bought and sold By that self-evident reply. But is it so? Pray, tell me why Life at such cost you have to buy. In what religion were you told A man must lire? There are times whan a man must die. Imagine for a tattle cry, _ Front soldiers with a sword to hold, From soldiers with a flag unrolled. This coward’s whine, this liar's lie, A man must live.

We can’t wait to -awaken the wealthy shirker to a sense of his duty, but we must not forget him. The crumpled form of a dead New Zealander on the hills of Gallipoli will be "a milestone on the road” (vide your leader of the 9th inst.) that will not in this generation bo laid down in vain. “Greater love no man hath, than that ho lay down his life for another,” is the slogan for to-day, and when the great war is won ana the county taken, the true and the spurious patriot will bo more easily discerned,' and “This nation under God shall have a new birth of Freedom” bought and paid for at the highest price.