THOUGHTS OF LEADERS

Otago Witness, Issue 3398, 30 April 1919, Page 37

THOUGHTS OF LEADERS

SOME STRIKING SPEECHES;

(JTmou Odb Own Covbkspokdxkt ) LONDON, March 7. Mr Lloyd George, at the Joint Indu* trial Congress: • I should not bo a bit surprised if this, old country—not for the first time—should be the land that will aavo civilisation Jtt more senses than one. And I should lik» you to do it. But it will only save civilisation if all classes feel that civilisation her* is on the basis of justice and fair play tq all classes. There must be a sense of confidence in the minds of all classes, that they are getting what is right and what is Just from the community, and the appeaj whioh I am going to make to you to-day; is this —you are really a Peace Congress. You are settling the future of this country! but you may do more than that —you may bo settling the future of civilisation. Yotk may be making a model for civilisation, whioh all lands will turn to and say, " Lei us follow Britain." It is not the first tim* that Britain has given the principle upon, which liberty and democratic government have been settled in other lands. I want you to do something here that all lands id their despair will turn once more to Britain and say, " See how they have settled; things there; they have settled things ther« in such a way that justice has been don* to all classes; ail classes are contented, grievances have been removed, wrongs have been redressed, and a new country has been built up. Let us foiiow the example of that little island in the sea once more.' - I want you to approach this in that spirit. Civilisation, unless we try and savo ity together, may be .precipitated and shafe* tered into atoms. It would not be ihm firsts time it has happened in the history of the world that great civilisations have beea; destroyed, and you have to build up from the bottom again. I want Britain to sav* it this time, and it cannot savo" it by th« triumph of any one class. .■■; It can onljr save it by the triumph of justice and fair/ play to all classes alike. That is the spirit in which I want you to, approach these' great problems in front of you. The world has run ghort of things, and there will bo great demands made upon the people of this country. There is a fear in the mind* of the workers that if. there is increased productivity, somehow or other that will lead to unemployment. If \vft coins together, and come together quickly, I be* lieve there is an area of great prosperity before this land. But lam sure you will not get it unless we establish better relations among ourselves. Having donf that, and having made everybody feel thai when prosperity comes everybody will" hav» a share in it, that the sunshine will n< be kept, as I ventured to say ence, to on* field, and somehow or other you manage to get nothing but shade in the other, but that the sun's rays will cover the. whole land and enter the workman's cottage aar well as ' the employer's house —see thai everybody gets a share in it—and I am- certain that you will get this land into suchf a condition of happiness and contentment that it has never seen, and it will be * model to the whole world, and it will b» said once for all, "Thank God that He planted this island in the sea to lead the world along the path of civilisation."—* (Cheers.) TO KILL INTRIGUE.

President Wilson, on the eve of hi» second trip to Europe: Intrigue cannot stand publicity, and If the League of Nations were nothing but * great debating Society it would kill intrigue; it is one of the agreements of this covenant that it is the friendly right of every nation member of the league to call atten-* t:on to anything that it thinks will disturb the peace of the world, no matter wher« that thing is occurring. Germany wouldl never have gone to war if she had permitted the world to discuss the aggression upon Serbia for a single week. The British Foreign Office pleaded that there might hi a day or two of delay, so that representatives of the nations of Europe could i get together and discuss the possibilities of settlement. Germany did not dare to permit days of discussion. You know what' happened. So soon as the world realised, that an outlaw Was at large the nation* began one by one to draw together againsf her. We know for a certaintv that if Ger* many had thought for a moment that Great' Britain would go in with France and Ru*s sia she would never have undertaken th« enterprise, and the League of Nations ig meant as a, notice to all outlaw nation* that not only Great Britain, but the United States and the rest of the world, will go in to check enterprises of that sort And sa the League of Nations is nothing more nor less than the covenant that the world will always maintain in these standards which i£ has now vindicated by some of the most precious blood ever spilt. Europe is a bit sick at heart at this very moment, because it sees that statesmen hav« had no vision and that the only vision haa been the vision of the people-. Those whai suffer see.' Those against whom wrong ii wrought know how desirable is the of the righteous. Nations that have long" been under the heel of the Austrian, that have long cowered before the German, that have long suffered the indescribable agoniei of being governed by the Turk, have called out to the_ world, eeneration after genera-* tion, for justice, liberation, and succour, and no Cabinet in the world has heara them. Private organisations, the pitying hearts of philanthropic men and women have poured out their treasure in order td relieve these sufferings, but no nation has said to the nations responsible: " You musK stop; this_ thing is intolerable, and we wflj not permit it." And the vision has been with the people. My friends, I wish yotf would reflect upon this proposition: th» vision as to what is necessary for great reforms has seldom coma from the top in the 1 nations of the world. It has come from the need and aspiration and self-assertion of great bodies of men who mean to be free.