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BEAUTIFU
WAR

MEMORIAL

TABLETS OF BRAS:

BRONZE, OR COPPE

EITHER REPOUSS

CAST, CARVED, INCIS
OR ENAMELLED

MARBLE, ALABASTE

GRANITE,

STONE

WOOD TABLETS

CROSSES & MONUMEN

DESIGN No. 15

WILLIAM MORRIS AND COMPAN

(WESTMINSTER) LIMITED

60 TO 66 ROCHESTER ROW, WESTMINSTER, LONDON, S.V

TELEGRAMS:-"MORISITANT,

SOWEST. LONDON"

IN

ΝΟ WAY CONNECTED WITH ANY

OTHER HOUSE O F BUSINESS

How futile look the election cries of a year ago-" Try he Kaiser!""Make Germany pay for the war!" "Demobilize quickly!" Yet these were the trumpery headnes of the victor's programme, though the victory could ave been won with equal ease by a plain statement of the lemental national needs. It is idle to suppose that the great mes of the land have less brain and vision than simple egimental officers who delivered lectures such as the one ated. It can hardly have been that the leading statesmen isregarded the obvious call of the moment for the sake of maginary political exigencies. It is more charitable to elieve that relief from the terrible strain of war brought bout a reaction unfavourable to the process of clear thinking. Two curious cases have recently been quoted in the papers, in each of which workmen in German factories have held meetings and decided out of patriotic motives to work for longer hours at lower wages. If that spirit should permeate Germany, it will absolve her from the necessity of Baltic or Russian adventures and take her again, and deservedly, into the forefront of the nations, especially if her late opponents persist in their present policy.

Thrift is the complement of work. It, too, played its part in the war. The British soldier is notoriously thriftless. In the early months it was said that Belgium could have been paved with unopened bully-beef tins. It was further said that when French troops took over part of the British line they were given no rations for a fortnight, as they might be expected to find enough food there to last for that period in the trenches. Rats battened literally in millions. in the British lines. It was commonly said on the Somme that at night one had only to press an electric torch and one saw a rat. Yet when the Germans fell back towards BulleCourt and the British pursued, not a rat could be found in the German lines, for there were no leavings on which to live. In drink the German was the chief offender. His trenches and lines of retirement were always marked by numberless heaps of empty bottles, representative of all kinds of beer, wines and spirits. Nevertheless, our advantage over the enemy might have been far greater in this respect. The ration allowance of rum issued to all ranks provided amply for the requirements of health, even in the most arduous circumstances..

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Take, again, the cigarette question. We were the principal sufferers, as our stores were inexhaustible. Prior to the war Sir Douglas Haig had succeeded in enforcing an admirable cigarette-discipline upon the troops at Aldershot,

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and had effected thereby a great improvement in their healthi and powers of endurance. No officer or man was permitted to smoke a cigarette on the line of march or during opera tions. The deprivation received acquiescence with a won derful absence of grumbling, owing to the obvious advantages obtained. Unfortunately, as soon as fighting began, every one looked for some acceptable present to send to the heroes of Mons, and ton upon ton of cigarettes was heaped upon them. If they had smoked all day and all night they could not possibly have got through them. In such cir cumstances, cigarette-discipline became impossible, and, indeed, was non-existent throughout the war. This had a twofold effect: the cigarettes required for their carriage considerable additional transport, and as they were smoked at all times and in all places, they proved a constant handicap on the powers of the soldiers.

On the other hand, thrift was nobly expressed in the voluntary and severe rationing to which many old people, unable to help otherwise in the Great Cause, submitted themselves. The compulsory rationing which later ensued, and the splendid system of salvage inaugurated, furnished admirable examples of thrift as exercised by the nation.

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Unless, however, thrift be enjoined in peace, it will certainly not be practised in war. And there can be no better moment than the present for driving home its advan tages, for unless work and thrift can find renewed existence, and that at once, it will be hard indeed to restore the country to normal and satisfactory conditions. The man who saves money increases the amount of money available for starting new industries, and by so doing helps to create more employment. When everyone is saving money and putting it into banks, the latter are able to lend money on easy terms, not only for the development of industry, but also to the Government. Taxation can consequently be lowered, and low taxation and plentiful employment are reflected in reduced prices, which again brings orders from abroad, entailing more trade, more capital, more employment. In whatever form business be conducted by individuals, by great trusts or by co-operative societies-capital is required. A thrifty nation is practically a great co-operative society, providing in itself capital for the expansion of its own industry and all the necessary insurance, without the need of special legislation for employment, minimum wages and old-age pensions.

Thrift, too, like work, has a high moral value, for it entails self-denial, that exercise recognized by all creeds

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as the finest test and stiffener of character. Further, the slow accumulation of wealth by these elemental methods not only brings about a stable financial position, but has a steadying influence on national character. This is evidenced in the Scotchman. Its antithesis is equally evident in the profiteer and the gold-miner, and in the drop from ordinary British standards since the war. An essential requirement of thrift is moderation as to food, drink and tobacco. This not only reduces imports and thus adjusts the balance of trade, but, by bringing health, tends to greater power, greater production, less sickness, fewer I doctors.

Is any of this doctrine taught in the schools? Not a word! Is it inculcated by the national leaders? Only when driven thereto by approaching calamity, brought about by their opportunist actions. It is rarely even preached from the pulpit. Illuminating orations on dark sayings by obscure Hebrews are more popular with the clergy. Yet, as they know, idleness and extravagance lie at the root of all wickedness and all suffering. Their splendid work in the slums is only the dressing of an eruption. The Church should work unremittingly at the causes of the disease, for those causes are destructive of self-respect and of any true religion.

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In summarizing the whole of the above conclusions it may be said that our social fabric stands, not on a false basis, but upon what is tantamount thereto, a basis clearly not acceptable to the nation at large. The people have made up their minds they will no longer tolerate the existing system, and state the fact in no uncertain tones. The Government, busy with a thousand other affairs all requiring immediate attention, has emptied most of the national can of oil upon the troubled waters without effecting any serious improvement in the situation. It has given no lead. The people, therefore, as an expression of their views, decline to work at a time when work-a word more expressive than production" to the ordinary mind is the crying need of the moment. They are turning unsteadily and doubtfully towards nationalization, a system condemned by all the best brains in the country. The Government sees the danger and warns them off, but again has not given them an alternative, and some new system they insist on having. Till it comes they will not buckle to work. The inauguration of some comparatively new system, such as co-operation, provided that the Government and Labour are jointly agreed on the subject, appears to offer the best chance of

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