[OOV]|
This question is [OOV]| agitating the minds of the whole community today. [OOV]| At the beginning of the war, Mr Fisher promised [OOV]| the last man and the last shilling. About the need [OOV]| of parting with the former there has been little [OOV]| difference of opinion. Only Mr Watt has publicly [OOV]| stated that even the responsibilities of [OOV]| fatherhood (in his own case) are a sufficient [OOV]| reason for hesitation on the part of men of [OOV]| military age to go to the front.
Thousands
[OOV]| of other men have responded to the call to
[OOV]|
[OOV]|
though they must leave their wives and
[OOV]| children to exist upon the Government pensions.
[OOV]| But when it comes to the shilling, a very
[OOV]| different spirit is displayed. At the Town Hall
[OOV]| celebration of the anniversary of Britain's
[OOV]| declaration of war upon Germany, the audience
[OOV]| applauded uproariously the references to the
[OOV]| virtue of dying for Australia, but received in
[OOV]| frigid silence Mr Elmslie's praise of a much more
[OOV]| difficult duty, namely, that of paying for their
[OOV]| country.
The
[OOV]| inevitable widow, behind whose skirts the
[OOV]| exploiter hides himself, has been dragged
[OOV]| shrieking into the arena, and those who believe
[OOV]| that, as the war has necessitated enormous
[OOV]| expenditure upon destruction, the economies of the
[OOV]| future shall be effected in luxuries, and not in
[OOV]| necessities, are condemned as
[OOV]|
This state of affairs, [OOV]|
The B-'s are, no [OOV]| doubt, leading citizens of Australia. They [OOV]| contribute to the gaiety of the nation. Their [OOV]| handsome clothes brighten our streets, their [OOV]| well-fed bodies are pleasanter to look at than those of [OOV]| the half-starved inhabitants of Carlton or [OOV]| Richmond. Their well-appointed houses in the [OOV]| suburbs are more creditable to British [OOV]| civilisation than those we find in Abbotsford or [OOV]| Brunswick. The young people, products of the good [OOV]| public schools and the University, whose lives [OOV]| have fallen in pleasant places, have, in addition [OOV]| to the snobbery and prejudices of their class, the [OOV]| charm which belongs to well-fed, leisured, [OOV]| educated English people. If they have talents of [OOV]| any sort, they are developed by careful training, [OOV]| and whatever money, skill and care can do to make [OOV]| the best of them is done. As they are released [OOV]| from severe physical labour, they have the time to [OOV]| study literature, art and music, and they know how [OOV]| to play, an almost forgotten art amongst their [OOV]| poorer fellow-citizens.
But when all this [OOV]| is granted to the B-s they are luxuries ~~ we can [OOV]| do without them. Mr B- delights our eyes in his [OOV]| smart boots and creaseless suit. He would be no [OOV]| beauty dresses like his gardener, but his tailor [OOV]| might be employed in making khaki uniforms for men [OOV]| at the front, or trousers for the little State [OOV]| School pupils whose legs must be kept warm, if [OOV]| they are to march in Britain's next campaign [OOV]| against the murderous ~~ (well, we don't know [OOV]| who).
The chauffeur, instead of driving Mrs [OOV]| B- to the patriotic meeting, could be steering a [OOV]| motor lorry, laden with potatoes and cabbages, for [OOV]| the little stomachs of the prospective bullet [OOV]| stopper, good, wholesome vegetables grown on our [OOV]| Women's Farm at Mordialloc by the B-s' late cook [OOV]| and lady's maid.
In these hard times we [OOV]| cannot afford to produce luxuries. We are wanting [OOV]| food and clothes for thousands of people most [OOV]| desperately. If people need bread, what sense is [OOV]| there in producing cigars and champagne, or when [OOV]| stocks are so depleted that the national assets in [OOV]| the shape of growing children are being reduced by [OOV]| sheer starvation, how can we, as sane people, [OOV]| believe that it is right to withdraw able-bodied [OOV]| men and women from productive industry to wait [OOV]| upon the wealthy in any capacity?
[OOV]|
Even if the possessors of incomes over 1500 pounds [OOV]| were given that sum as the minimum, the amount of [OOV]| 34,677,468 pounds would be in the hands of the [OOV]| Government. Not even
But there is no reason why any [OOV]| persons should be left in the enjoyment of 1500 pounds a [OOV]| year in such times as these. In many homes little [OOV]| Australian citizens are entering upon their [OOV]| earthly career without even the provision of their [OOV]| first garments having been made. The W.P.A. [OOV]| maternity boxes will no longer meet the needs of [OOV]| the increasing British population. Children, [OOV]| ragged and barefoot, are picking crusts out of the [OOV]| refuse tins, homes are stripped of furniture, men [OOV]| and women are fainting with hunger. And withal the [OOV]| earth is only waiting for human labour upon it to [OOV]| fulfil all our wants abundantly.
It is [OOV]| time, therefore, for strict economy, and the way [OOV]| to effect it is to put the people on to rations, [OOV]| and to use the surplus capital in building up the [OOV]| country to be the worthy home of a great Imperial [OOV]| race.
If
[OOV]|
Other Suggestions.
[OOV]|There are large numbers of people who believe [OOV]| in the war and will not work for peace. Yet from [OOV]| physical disabilities or family ties, or because [OOV]| their business necessitates it, they cannot go to [OOV]| the front. They must want to do something to show [OOV]| their appreciation of those who have laid down [OOV]| their lives for their country, or who are [OOV]| preparing to do so.
We suggest a plan to [OOV]| them which will show their sincerity, their [OOV]| generosity and their pure love of country. When [OOV]| our soldiers fall on the field, we know they count [OOV]| their lives worthless beside their country's good [OOV]| and that they regret nothing but leaving their [OOV]| dear ones to mourn their loss.
How happy a [OOV]| young man would be who, facing death bravely, knew [OOV]| that his fellow citizens would play their debt to [OOV]| his father and mother by raising them to [OOV]| affluence.
In all our suburbs there are [OOV]| well-to-do elderly couples who have no sons to [OOV]| send to the front, and who must regret it. Our [OOV]| plan is that they shall make over half their [OOV]| incomes to the fathers and mothers of the fallen [OOV]| heroes who are in poor circumstances.
Large [OOV]| numbers of our soldiers are married men. They are [OOV]| dying to save their country from Prussian [OOV]| militarism. Their young children are left to the [OOV]| mercy of a not too kindly world. Surely the rich [OOV]| men who are too old or too stout, or too blind, to [OOV]| serve under arms, will not leave those children to [OOV]| be brought up and educated upon the 5/- a week, [OOV]| which ceases when the child is 16. There are [OOV]| schools where the best possible education is [OOV]| given, and universities which fit young men and [OOV]| women to take a foremost place in life. The [OOV]| fathers of the children who attend these schools [OOV]| have in most cases not gone to the war. We suggest [OOV]| that they, therefore, withdraw their children from [OOV]| attendance there and send them to the State [OOV]| Schools, where the cheapest education is given, [OOV]| and pay, instead, for the maintenance of the [OOV]| soldiers' children.
The universities should [OOV]| be reserved for young men who have returned from [OOV]| the front, if they care to attend, and the richer [OOV]| citizens should be requested to maintain the [OOV]| students or be compelled to do so.
Now is [OOV]| the time for the patriots to act. Let them show [OOV]| their appreciation, in some tangible form of those [OOV]| who have preserved our national existence and our [OOV]| liberties from the iron heel of Germany.