PATRIOTS BY COMPULSION

NZ Truth, Issue 571, 27 May 1916, Page 8

PATRIOTS BY COMPULSION

Position of Physically Unfit

How Conscientious Non-Combatants

are "Compelled"

The Exemption from Economic Coercion

A correspondent, who signs himself "Weekly Reader," writes inquiring whether those to whom "physically unfit" badges have been issued will be exempt In the event of the Military Service Bill becoming law, or whether all those men who have "offered" themselves will be called up before tho "unfits" are examined a second time? ] The Military Service Bill has not yet i been distributed among tho members of the House, and, that being so, no one, except he be m the confidences of the Cabinet, can say whether the points raised by our correspondent have been anticipated and provided for. If not specifically mentioned m the Bill, confusion is sure to arise owing to the prevailing opinion among • many, that, having been exempted on medical grounds, one is not called upon to offer oneself a second time. "Truth" is of opinion that to allow previously granted exemptions to continus operative would be to ' CREATE ENDLESS CONFUSION and provide an easily negotiable means of evasions. The only business way of carrying through Conscription would be to call on all mon between certain affes. say, 20 years to 45 years, to attest The genuinely physically unfit can have nothing to complain about In that. The Defence authorities are not likely to wantonly go to the expense and trouble of training and outfitting men who they are of opinion will break down before getting to the front It is also a fact that many men have received "physically unfit" badges who have very little wrong with them, and that little a few weeks' training more -than likely would eradicate. It is a notorious fact that many of these men want to go, and j many, after having been . Informed j wherein they were^ considered deficient immediately, and at great pain. and expense to themselves, set about having { the drawbacks removed. ! Up to the time of writing, the proposed Military Service Bill has not been "brought down." There, is much dls- ; satisfaction among members u« the In- : explicable delay m jrettiner copies of the Bill circulated- Even thoso members who have announced their intention of supporting the measure are anxious to obtain early copies, so as to have tlmt< to analyse every clause before finally putting the seal of their indorsement upon an Act so foreign to the genius of British Liberty. But, although Conscription is not the law of tho land, it is erroneous to think that compulsion does not already op- j orate m New Zealand. What about the Munlclpakand County Councils which have dispensed with all single men m ] their employ In order thut they may be "freo to enlist?" What about -Defence j Minister Allen's appeal to employers to "facilitate the enlistment of nou-mar-ried employees?" Are these not MEASURES OF COMPULSION? It would seem, however, that these, and. In addition, the proposed Military Sarvic* Act, will not bo eufnclcnf^to eo&ree. In th« opinion of! Prime. Minister Mossey. That gentleman recently informed a member of tho House that it was his intention to ask Cabinet to consider whether single men of military age ttbouhl not bo debarred from competing for sections opened under tho T.nnrt Act or the Land for Settlement Act ! Twos over thus. Inject the military virus into men holding positions of power of the State, and m all cases the results are tbo same. There are no lengths to which they will not go m order to break tho manhood of tho nation to their desires. They may talk glibly about providing oxemptiona for the genuine conscientious objector, but such exemption is only partial. It exempts from military service. But it doca not prevent tho State and provincial administrative departments nor prlvato employers from redwing work to the man who. on conscientious grounds, has been exempted. It would not remove tho abovo ''disability," which Mr. Massey admits he contemplates having Inserted m the regulations under which ballots for land an* drawn. It would not prevent the INFLICTION OF OTHER INDIGNITIES, such as a denial of aUmlnaion to the oxcrciao of tho rights ot citizenship at local and national elections. Mask It as you may, tho spectre behind the mask Is as forbidding of countenance «," ever. A roao by any other name may Hmoll oh sweet and Conscription, whether enforced by Acts of Parliament, administrative policy, eommwUU ami Industrial coercion, or economic i>r<M«Hure, U» HtlH Conscription — -tho surrender of the conscience and conduct, llio brain and the body to tho executive authority.