POPPY DAY FACTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 99, 30 April 1935, Page 4

POPPY DAY FACTS

.'Sir,—-l.licre has been some guud, bad and indifferent letters in yuur recent columns, but J. think that lor sheer spinelessness the “i’uppy Day” letter of Mr. W. H. Cannau lops the list. Mr. Cannau literally gels down ou his knees in most beseeching and imploring mannei, begging the public lor a few miserable shillings. Ye gods! What have we come to/ Where is the spirit ot 1914-18? We soldiers, .100,000 of us, strong, able-bodied men, can do no better than beg! We who Ju .1914 unflinchingly offered our services, a lot of us never came back, others ciippled for life; most of us went through hell, simply because we believed that we were fighting fc-r those whom we loved dearly. And what of to-day? Here we have the conditions at home even more malignant than war; the enemy which is insidiously but surely eating and gnawing at the vitals of our civilisation. And what-are we doing about it? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Cowards! Cowards, all of us! 1 have just returned from the ex tensive motoring trip of the North Island. The country is looking a pic ture of magnificence; cattle, sheep, bogs, crops, everything that we need in super abundance. Besides, there are thousands of men and women doing nothing, who, if permitted, could and would give us infinitely more of the same things. While over in England there are thousands of workers and their families who require our sur plus of meat, woo! and butter, and who could give us in exchange automobiles, radios, telephones and every conceivable house and farm implement. And yet, both we and they are forced to yearn longingly for each other’s goods, while each side is helplessly watching their own goods rot and rust. And pray, sir, why? Simply because the means of exchange, money (paper tickets) are privately manufactured and are controlled fur the interest of a few people instead of a nation as a whole. Ou my irip 1 have seen appalling miseries in most of gut cities. Children going short of milk, while pigs are literally swimming in the same. Many children are showing signs of rickets and general under-nourishment, while fruit is rotting under the trees’at the same time. People going about ill-clad, while ver-

min are drilling holes through good clothes in packed warehouses. ihis assinine procedure is unnecessary, sir. It is the duty of all soldiers lu pul on their thin King caps and stop this silly farce.' Why should we beg for a lew paltry shillings frum peoplemany of whom can ill affc-rd it—when nature and ingenuity of man have made it possible for all of us to live in comparative comfort. This sir, is our task. It is our sacred duty as soldiers to the ones wc love. Are we men or are we nit wits, to allow our children—the citizens uf to-niurrow io starve, while hundreds of tons of fu-odstull’s are destroyed daily. Wc must get down Io the bottom of this conuuc.ruui, but tnat requires calm, cool and impartial thinking. Surely, comrades, if wu could have braved the living hell of .1914-18, we can stup this human tragedy, which requires but ordinary horse sense. Du not heed that futile argument that our association must not become a political movement? Men who say that usually have an axe to grind. We collect a few miserable shillings on Poppy Day and sit back contented, as though we have achieved something worthwhile. Where as, if every deserving case gets its share, there would not be enough shillings to buy us enough pepper and mustard till the next Poppy Day. We want leaders who are not afraid to face the facts; men who are not satisfied with sitting round and hop ing tnat Messrs. Forbes’ and Coates' circular track to prosperity will by some wonderful magic be transformed into having that oft-repeated corner about which wc hear so much and which we have supposedly turned sc many times; men who prefer the storm and tempest of thought, reasoning and action to tne dead calm of indolence, prejudice and the things-must-surely-pick-up attitude. What shall we say to our children in time to come wher they ask us if we lived in that celebrated crazy age, in which people went short of food, clothing and housing because there was too much food, toe many clothes and houses Will not our children hit the nail on the hear, when they tell us that we all shoulc have been locked up in an insane

asylum. What shall we say to then: when they learn that we were pro pared to d,e against external wa forces, but were entirely indifferent t< malignant economic forces, m<»«* deadly and terrible, than war. am whose subjugation did not require * sacrifice of one single life but the ap plication of a little thinking. Will nut our children rightly term us as physical heroes and mental babe.> and cowards. Wliat are we going to do? Follow Mr. Goodey’s advice and under no circumstances do anything that Will interfere with private juggling of currency, and allow misery, kuarvation and suicides to mount up and engulf the civilisation, or face this thing like men, with the spirit of 1914, the spirit that can and will allow us all to enjoy the comfort, that bountifulness of nature and ingenuity of man’s intellect have made possible. Here ’• one that will not follow Air. Goodey! —I am, etc., ‘‘ONE OF THE BOYS ” Wanganui, Aprii 24, 1935.