WOMEN AND WAR.

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 46, 24 July 1915, Page 2

WOMEN AND WAR.

The "Ifiifireme ■ Sacrifice

IT lias been decided that men who have presented : themselves as recruits for the army in New Zealand,- but who have not been accepted, shall be .presented with &n official document,, so that they may show it in proof of their desire to go to war.. It is a. kind idea, and! one is glad that it is to be done. It is an official recognition that the man who holds the paper would, make sacrifice of his life if his life -were worth having. The soldier is %t GaJlipoli because his mother bore him,, and it is she who makes the supreme-sacrifice, she who bore the burden.in- the first place, and she who above all suffers by war. The point.is hardly.ever stressed. Men in war time are counted as spokes-in a wheel, .or baits' oi .a machine. The men of all listtjions cheerfully throw themselves -inraSsihe because it is natural-fowlliem to fight.• > It is customary,, but tfot in times of*greatNational stress for the mothers to git®; their sons to the Empire. There 'is no public Roll of Honour for women. .;••■■.

The suggestion then is that mothers who >have had a son killed in action be dleooirated as if in very truth they hadi done the greater part. Women cannot be compensated in any way whatever for the 3oss of a son, but it is certain that mothers would wea-r with pride and treasure for ever a tangible proof of their sacrifice. It has been suggested that there should be a distinction between the decorations given to a mother who has lost a son killed in action and a mother who has had a son wounded in the great fight. Such decorations would establish a British precedent,■ and would recognise for the first time in history the real place of women in war. Women in New Zealand have, since the possible effect of the war

has Wen realised, showji the keenest possible desire bo help in the conduct of. the war. But the State has utterly failed to realise to what degree women could aid if they were properly organised. Nearly all the. splendid activities in which New Zealand lias been engaged have been spasmodic or organised by , private: people. Thousands of women have ; worked splendidly, quite apart from the sacrifice of their sore, their husbands and their sweethearts, but there has been, as everyone is aware, a great deal. of honest but useless endeavour. The necessity of national organisation of both women and men is not over yet, and the person who believes that the sacrifices of mothers will not much longer be necessary is a weakly optimist of the twiri-yoair-thumbs order. The political idea is to blunder through and make mistakes for the blunders. It has much willing material without knowing how to use it. And in any case, •organisation of all available human resources in New Zealand is of less political consequence than organisation of a few dozen men to hang on to a few dozen seats and a few miserable personal privileges.

The. women who have not sent sons to the. war are being protected by the sons of the women who have made the supreme sacrifice. To be '"the joyful mother of children", is the acme of a normal woman's desire and to'lose their children in the flush -of their youth is the most poignant grief expressible by humanity. The sentiment of discriminating between the man who is willing to fight and the man who is willing for the other fellow to fight for. him srioiuld go further aaid be' expressed in regard to the women. You may have seen on a recent day some mothers joyfully welcoming shattered sons, but the demonstration was for the shattered sons; and not for the mothers. You may have thought on this occasion (which is to be so often repeated) of the hundreds of sorrowing mothers in New Zealand who will not meet their sons ever again and whose grief is sacredi, solitary and permanent. Time heals most Wounds. In the coturse of nature the sorrowing mothers of dead soldiers mil want to talk of their boys. Tihey will reconsiinuct in loving thought the minutest details of their infancy, their childhood and their manhood. They will take a sad pride—a healing pleasure—in these recollections.

National recognition of the supreme sacrifice of women—the mothers of soldiers—will increase the pride the mothers have in their sore. If it were possible to call on every adult parson in. New Zealand tomorrow to subscribe: to- a fund - to decorate tlhe motlher® of soldiers killed or wounded in action, it would touch the hearts and the pockets of the people. Just as the decorations won by soldiers in the field! become priceless heirlooms so would the decorations won in. the home of tih'e mothers be precious to the mothers of the people-who-"are -to follow. Here is am opportunity for a politician who is capable of seeing the heart behind tlie • vote,' Whose feeV inigs rise superior to the petty mechanics of the daily show and' who is able to urderstand the genesis of soldiers. At the present time- nothing on eartli is so important as the fighting man—except his mother, for: there could ■be no fighting men but for the mothers. And- perhaps the State may recognise .the simple truism and cfco as has been suggested/. •■.•■■■■.. . ■■.