"A PRIVATE IN THE GUARDS"

NZ Truth, Issue 777, 25 September 1920, Page 5

"A PRIVATE IN THE GUARDS "

I I _ — j Stephen Graham's Grim Story A WORK WHICH MOTHERS OF MEN SHOULD STUDY. Murderous Militarism Mercilessly Exposed. The war has produced many things that will be an evil memory for many generations. Yet youth will grow up and fb'rget the sins, trials, and blunders ol: fathers, and so far as the male animal is concerned, the state 'of our earth will be as bad m the year 2000' as it is today. Man, the brute, wilj not tame himself, or restrain his passions; looking- at him m the materialist sense, only one being 1 is^ fitted to civilise man, keep him withTri bounds, and soften the turbulence oC his nature. That one being- is woman. IP WOMAN FA*[LS : — if woman descends to the plane of blood-thirsty, immoral, lying man, then the sooner old doom cracks the better for us all. But there is yet hope for man, because woman can still suffer and because she still retains the grand germ of morality. Whatever the justice of the quarrel may be from time, to time, woman's mission should be one of tenderness, patience, and universal charity. Every man that fights m battle is some mother's son; and the mother who' suppresses her maternal instincts and charity for a rag on a pole or at the behest of capitalist cannibals, that mother has become a she-wolf, and her offspring will fight with tooth and claw as m the days of the savage morning. Such mothers will not save the race, and we could well afford to be without them. The mothers and womeji who rear young men to love liberty and the rights of conscience, who-inculcate m them th,e hiorrovs of war and the folly of hate, who teach them to be men of honor, honesty and fearless truth — such are the mothers we need. We have many of them, but the, world cries out for more. Many women lost or wilfully suppressed the^r finer nature, their spiritual sense, amid the turmoil and inspired hatreds fomented by war: This was not only the case m New Zealand and Britain, but it was equally obvious m Austria, and, apparently more so m Germany. Many women became unsexed. All this is only one of the curses of v/ar, and men who fought and women who nursed are now seeing it all. But the spectacle will afford no abiding lesson unless the mothers of men understand and do the right thing by their boys. War books are, of course, somewhat belated now, and do not afford general interest. Nevertheless the records and utterances of thoughtful men made durincr the awful period of storm and darkness are worth recalling, and m some rare instances will live as classics. We have had the great French book, 'Under Fire," and also the splendid books by the Austrian author of "Men m Battle" — books that throw a lurid sidelight upon the madness of frivolity of certain patriotic women. Women should read such j books, and hand them down, to their children. • Britain has been glutted by .Books' on the war, and a few of them have some lesson for womankind, particularly that terrible book by Stephen Graham — "A PRIVATE IN THE GUARDS." It is written by a soldier about soldiers, but it is a woman's book — a book that has the lesson and the message equally as plain and grim as "Under Fire" .and, "Men m Battle." Mr. Graham show,s that the making of a soldier means the destruction of the individual conscience. Of the recruit's conscience he writes: It may easily turn a man from obedience to his superior ofQcer at a critical moment. It may suggest pity for a wounded enemy or wouldbe enemy prisoner, with whom the army dare not encumber itself. It may cause the hand to waver at a moment it should strike without hesitation. In short, it may whisper m. the soldier's' ear the areatlful mom'tio.n: Thou Shalt Not Kill. It may give hhn sleepless nights and unfit him for duty when, if ..he had i the simple army conscience, which is founded on implicit obedience, he might leave all responsibility on the shoulders of his superior officers, 1 and sleep like a child and awake refreshed — to kill and fear not. The methods employed to "drill m" the army conscience were so terrible that all men — educated and uneducated — were either bent ' or broken. .As Graham puts it: To be struck, to be threatened, to be called indecent names, to be drilled by yourself m front of a squad m order to make a fog.2 of you, to be commanded to do a tiringexercise and continue doing it, whilst the rest of the squad does ! something else; to have your ear spat into, to be marched across parade-ground under escort, to be falsely accused before an officer and silenced when you try to speak m defence — all these things take down-, your . pride, make you feel small, and m some ways fit you to accept the role of cannon fodder on the . battle ground. A good deal of "it could be defended upon grounds of usefulness. But of course it does not make a Christian- army, and it's hell for the poor British soldier.. The work of destroying the free will of healthy manhood' was given to noncommissioned officers. One of those bright specimens of civilization "had a natural malice against educated men." Another, who would never take a German prisoner, would bully the men to share with him thoir parcels from home; another mistook brutality for humor; another who onco hod been religious, had been " tanejit by the war to swear' and kill without mercy; a sixth was sexual iv mad; a seventh was "young, stupid, foul, and given to striking the men." Thus, out of ten of those sergeants and corporn.ls only | three were normal huir.n.n beings. In the barrack room "nearly everyone PLUMPED DOWN TO THE ANIMAL / level." The discipline of the army depended upon oTj'e-ai.nsrle constant threat "to be shot at dawn." Here is a terrible pas-' sage— an rl it has to bo remembered that m all armies the same thing was going on: For offences which ?eem slight er.oi.igti to the civilian intelligence, and irt deed to the civilian m khaki, many were shot; and appalled re^impnts heard, so often the terrifying volley at dawn, and knew that another weaker brother had paid the price of efficiency. Stephen Graham has the ris+it to speak of these thinsrs. as a soldier who went .through the whole war. Again, he says: A good soldier was one who would not take a prisoner. If called on to escort prisoners to the' cage, it could always be justifiable to kill them on tho way 'and, say they tried to escape. Did not so-and-so get a D.C.M. for shooting prisoners? "Thank God, this, battalion has'alwg.ys been 'blessed- with a C.O. who didn't b<?li>vi? m talcing prisoners," says a sergeant. This is quoted only to show what a monster mi!ltav(pm is, and how it mastered th's v/hole of Europe.