CITIZENS OF NOWHERE

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13751, 26 April 1918, Page 2

CITIZENS OF NOWHERE

AN INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD. SHEFFIELD SHOP STEWARDS AND THE WAR. ("Vesatus" in the Sunday Chronicle.) I live in the London area. And our peace by day does not by any means connote moonlight peace. We have have had some 50 air raids over London —three of them last week. They are disturbing sights that banish sleep. And I take my chance with the rest of ph'osophic of being bombed. But I would rather be bombed into annihilation than endorse tha resolution passed by certain shop stewards of Sheffield, which "protests against the continuation of the war for "Imperialistic aims," and threatens that "unless facilities are afforded for ;>r International Conference of [Workers (including Germans), we shall strenu. ously oppose any further attempt to prolong the war." When this gets to the ears of the Kaiser surely he will send Iron Crosses to those shop stewards of Sheffield. The resolution was accompanied by a letter of righteous indignation at my "wicked and biassed attitude" in constantly referring to German atrocities, which only keeps alive the horror and the .hostility. Just ?0 - Let us forget Nurse Cavell and Captain Fryatt and the Lusitania. Let us forget Louvain and the Canadian crucifixion,. Let us forget that the German garrotters designed to garrote British Liberty and enslave the world. I like the phrase, "Your biassed attitude." Think of the wretched, narrow-minded bias and prejudice implied by my objection to murder on sea and land bytorpedo and bomb. The Sheffield s'op steward hasnt been bombed and murdered. So why harp on it? What is desired by these shop stewards is a kind, conciliatory spirit, and peace by negotiation with our comrades, "the German workers." But if the fact that they work is a consecration to the Germans, why should the British ho forgotten. We are not Germans; but we are all here to work. The amiable object of International Brotherhood—especially Brotherhood with Huns—is naturally prejudiced by inconvenient references to sea murder and land murder. The air raids of last week on London, the bomb-drop-ping on a helpless civilian population {inaugurated, like "Sink at sight,' 1 by our German Brothers), resulted in 29 deaths of men, women and children, and 41 injured. But why aggravate asperities by mentioning it? Why display a "biassed attitude" by resenting it? Let us hush it up. Let us affectionately assure the Germans that we really love them very much, and that the fact that there are "workers" in Britain and "workers" in Germany constitutes a sacred bond that unites all in the holy spirit of Christian Fellowship, f Let us assure the Germans, declare onr shop stewards in effect, that all will Iks forgiven and forgotten if they will only kiss us and be friends True, that is a painful story of the eight deToted Red Cross nurses drowned in a shop torpedoed in the Mediterranean. But why bother about Red Cross nurses? They are merely women and not included in the Sheffield category of workers. So don't let any "biassed attitude" about them delay the Brotherhood of Man. But, curiously enough, the same post that brought me the resolution from a section of Sheffield Fhop stewards brought a cheering indication that they represent only themselves—not patriotic Sheffield A sane Yorkshireman there writes: "I wish one of the bombs dropped on London had been dropped on these traitors when they held their pro-German meeting." And certainly a little visitation of that sort might operate in cooling the ardour of Brotherhood towards the Huns. I expressed my hopeless inability to comprehend the state of mind of these Citizens of Nowhere, who, in Canning's words, are Steady patriots of the world alone, The friends of every country but their own.

And here is a letter from an exmerchant seaman at a certain British port. The censorship compels certain omissions, but the facts, without omissions, lie l>efore me:— "A vessel well-known in this port (a.s ) was torpedoed or sunk on thf Bth inst. by "Our German Comrades," and not a British "Comrade" saved. The ship's lifeboat was picked up. and in it was the body of a British "Comrade" who had been shot—not drowned, and the boat was riddled with bullets. What do you think of this act of comradeship? The body and boat were -brought into Dock, and the writer had to deal officially with the widow. Tell your AutocraticDemocratic correspondents that there are a lot of British (not Cosmopolitan) seamen itching to have them for shipmates, and that the one thing a seaman hates to think and to realise is that he is risking his life to feed these Citizens of Nowhere." But let my correspondent be cheered by the fact that British seamen have the reverence and gratitude of all true Uritons, for without their unwavering heroism we should starve. If there is any spark of patriotism or national sentiment in the natures of our inter, nationalists, pro-Germans, and pacifists surery this letter should stir it into flame. I am not yet hopeless of them. And their determination not to strike or to embarrass the Government, not to work against tb»war, but to work for the winning of the war, and to rally to the Flag in the highest oiuse Britons ever fought for would gladden the heart of "Vexatus."