Full text of "Addresses"

See other formats

ADDRESSES

DELIVERED BEFORE

THE CANADIAN CLUB

OF MONTREAL

MONTREAL

SEASON
1915-1916

ADDRESSES f(

DELIVERED BEFORE ^

THE CANADIAN CLUB

OF MONTREAL

MONTREAL

SEASON
1915-1916

MfcCS

PREFACE

A LTHOUGH practically all the addresses in this volume are
•^ *• of necessity on the subject of the war, a glance at the list
of titles is sufficient evidence of the many-sided interest of the
past session.

Our speakers have dealt little with the causes of the war.
Most of them are closely concerned, personally and nationally,
in its record from day to day. From first-hand glimpses of its
realities, heroic or sordid, from intimate revelations of the heart
of one or another of our allies, our speakers have ranged through
some of the urgent problems raised by the war, to some hints of
policy which may lead to wise reconstruction.

Behind them all, through very different personalities, glows
the certainty of the righteousness of our cause and its ultimate
triumph. And all of them, in very different ways, strengthened
our undying resolve first to win, and then from victory to draw
some profit not unworthy of its cost.

J. A. DALE.

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE '. . 3

SECRETARY'S REPORT __ 6

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE q

CANADIAN TRADE AND FINANCE DURING THE WAR, Hon.
Sir W. T. White (Minister of Finance) 1 1

LABOR AND THE WAR, Prof. Harold J. Laski (of McGill

University) 25

IRELAND'S ATTITUDE TO THE WAR, Dr. Herbert L. Stewart
(Prof, of Philosophy, Dalhousie University, Halifax) .... 33

THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN
CONNECTION WITH THE WAR, The Hon. R. H. Brand,
C.M.G 43

EXPERIENCES AT THE FRONT, Brigadier-General F. S.

Meighen 51

INDIA'S SHARE IN THE WAR, Rustom Rustomjee (Editor

of the Oriental Review) 65

A GLIMPSE OF THE WAR, Major the Rev. Dr. Bruce Taylor. . . 73
EMPLOYMENT OF ARTILLERY, Lt.-Col. J. J. Creelman 83

THE PLIGHT OF MONTENEGRO, Captain A. V. Seferovitch
(Consul-General of Montenegro, New York) QI

THE PATRIOTIC FUND, His Royal Highness the Governor

General and Sir Herbert Ames 101

RUSSIA AND HER COMMERCIAL FUTURE WITH REFERENCE
TO THE WEST, Dr. J. Dyneley Prince (Professor of
Slavonic Languages in Columbia University, New

York)

TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND OUR RETURNING SOLDIERS,

F. H. Sexton (Principal Nova Scotia Technical School) . . 121

•.

CONTENTS

PAGE

AMERICAN FEELING IN THE WAR, Dr. Louis Livingston

Seaman 1 29

NATIONAL PARLIAMENT; A NEW BASIS OF REPRESEN-
TATION, John H. Humphreys (General Secretary of the
Proportional Representation League) 141

Is WAR CURELESS? Rabbi Stephen S. Wise 151

PRUSSIAN DIPLOMACY, Dr. C. W. Colby (of McGill

University) 165

ITALY'S POSITION IN THE WAR, Dr. Bruno Roselli (Adelphi
College, Brooklyn) 1 69

ENGLISH WOMEN'S WORK IN THE WAR, The Hon. Mrs.

Bertrand Russell 181

WITH THE CANADIAN BOYS OVERSEAS, The Rev. George
Adam (London, England) 191

THE WORK OF THE SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITALS IN
FRANCE AND SERBIA, Miss Kathleen Burke (Organizing
Secretary of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for
Foreign Service) iqq

WITH THE HARVARD SURGICAL UNIT IN FRANCE, Dr. W. T.
Grenfell (Founder and Superintendent of the Labrador
Mission) 213

Eleventh Annual Report of the Canadian
Club of Montreal

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN: —

I have the honour to present the Eleventh Annual Report
of the Club.

The membership of the Club now stands at seventeen
hundred and seven, of whom, so far as can be ascertained, one
hundred and thirty-five are on Active Service.

The average, attendance of members at luncheons was three
hundred and seventy-three — a slight decrease from last year's
average of three hundred and ninety-one, but easily explainable.

Twenty regular meetings were held during the year. The
subjects of the addresses were all but one the present War in its
various aspects. So far as it was possible speakers were obtained
to deal with the situations of the various Allied Countries en-
gaged.

In advance of the regular Season the Club gave its auspices
to a public meeting on the anniversary of the declaration of War.
The meeting was to have been held under the auspices of the
McGill Graduates' Society acting on behalf of The Central
Committee for National Patriotic Organizations. The Executive
of that Society being dispersed at the time the Canadian Club
was appealed to to take up the work of organizing the meeting
and providing the speakers. It was very fortunate in obtaining
as speakers the present Sir Thos. White and the Hon. R.
Lemieux, to whom the Club has been more than once indebted,
and the meeting that was addressed by them was probably one
of the largest public meetings ever held in the Dominion.

Recognition should here be given to the Grenadier Guards
Band, whose services were given for half the usual charge.

Reference may be made to the fact that for the first time
ordinary meetings of the Club have been addressed by ladies,
to the Club's great appreciation.

The Club records its great appreciation for the help given
by the General Secretary at Ottawa, as well as by the Ottawa
Canadian Club, which has so often co-operated with us.

The whole respectfully submitted.

WARWICK CHIPMAN,

Honorary Secretary.

Officers and Executive Committee of the
Canadian Club of Montreal

V V V

President —

V ice-Presidents - -

lion-Secretary

Hon-Treasurer - -

Literary Correspondent -

Asst. Sec -Treasurer -

OFFICERS

- ROBT. W. REFORD

W. M. BIRKS, DE GASPE BEAUBIEN
W. F. CHIPMAN

- WALTER MOLSON
PROF. J. A. DALE

R. H. KENNEDY, 179 St. James Street

V V

COMMITTEE

M. D. BARCLAY
GEO. F. BENSON
T. K. DICKINSON
Jos. DAOUST

A. S. EWING
J. M. R. FAIRBAIRN
C. A. HODGSON
C. W. TINLING

DEAN F. D. ADAMS, Past Pres.

PAST PRESIDENTS

1905 - - - - A. R. MCMASTER

1906 PIERRE BEULLAC

1907 W. H. D. MILLER

1908 - - - - E. EDWIN HOWARD

1909 - - - - E. FABRE SURVEYER, K.C.

1910 - JAS. S. BRIERLEY

1911 GEORGE LYMAN

1912 - - - R. L. H. EWING

1913 - - - - A. R. DOBLE

1914 - - - - DEAN F. D. ADAMS

(Tuesday, November 2nd, 19/5)

CANADIAN TRADE AND FINANCE
DURING THE WAR

By THE HON. SIR W. T. WHITE

I ESTEEM it a very great honor to be present at your opening
luncheon. The Prime Minister would have been glad to
accept the invitation which was extended to him, but it seemed
at the time that his engagements would not permit. I desire to
assure you that men in public life appreciate very highly the
Canadian Club as a means or agency not only for informing, but
for forming and testing public opinion throughout Canada.
Personally I cannot conceive of a more representative audience
than I have before me to-day.

By the choice of your Committee, I am to speak on the sub-
ject of Canadian Trade and Commerce during the War. It is a
formidable subject. If I attempted to deal with it exhaustively
I feel sure that more than the subject would be exhausted before
I concluded, so I shall deal only with certain of its outstanding
and salient aspects. Adopting a figure of speech, I shall keep
to the plains and the mountains and the rivers, and shall not
descend into the valleys and glens, nor explore the rivulets and
creeks.

Now, there are certain aspects of the economic condition
of Canada at the date of the outbreak of the war to which I de-
sire at the outset to direct specially your attention, because they
are basic and fundamental to what I have to say upon this sub-
ject. You will remember that about a year ago, when I had
the honor to address you, I referred to the fact that Canada had
been a borrowing country. I told you that, for the six months
preceding the outbreak of the war, Canada, and by Canada I do

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

not mean the Dominion Government, but Canada as a whole,
had been borrowing at the rate of about one million dollars per
day. Canada borrowed in international markets about two
hundred million dollars for the six months immediately preceding
August of last year. Prior to that Canada had been borrowing
at the rate of two or three hundred million dollars per year,
principally in the London market. The proceeds of those loans
had gone into the construction of railway and other enterprises
throughout Canada, and had furnished the money for the capital
expenditures of Governments, Dominion, Provincial and Muni-
cipal. I said then, as I say now, that there is nothing objection-
able in borrowing, provided the borrowing is for productive pur-
poses. If a manufacturer borrows a large sum of money and
establishes with it a plant which will earn him not only interest
on the money but a margin, he has gained by his borrowing and,
therefore, in so far as the borrowing to which I have referred
was productive in character, in so far as it added to the produc-
tivity of the Dominion, to that extent it was not detrimental,
but fruitful, and in the interest of the Dominion.

There is another matter to which I next desire to draw your
attention, and that is the so-called adverse balance of trade which
Canada had experienced for some years prior to the outbreak
of the war. For the fiscal year of 1913, Canada's so-called adverse
balance of trade was about three hundred million dollars. For
the fiscal year of 1914, it was one hundred and eighty million
dollars, and for the six months ended September 30, 1914, that is
to say, at the end of the month immediately following the out-
break of the war, the adverse trade balance of Canada was forty-
five million dollars. Now, there is another matter usually over-
looked in considering the question of Canada's external indebted-
ness, and that is an invisible but a very important factor — the
interest which Canada as a nation owes, and is obliged to pay
annually upon her past indebtedness. That annual interest has
been computed at from one hundred and twenty-five to one
hundred and forty million dollars per annum; so that you will
bear in mind that in addition to the trade balance — the adverse
trade balance to which I have referred — there was an invisible
balance against Canada to the amount of, say, one hundred and
forty million dollars. Then, at the time of the outbreak of the
war, there were many short-date obligations maturing in London

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

)bligations of Governments, Dominion, Provincial and Muni-
cipal, and of railway and other corporations. You may remem-
ber that from 1913 onward, because this war was casting its
shadow before, interest rates had stiffened, and it was difficult
to issue permanent loans. The result was a great deal of short-
date borrowing, and Canada at the outbreak of the war found
herself in the position of having many short-date obligations
maturing in London for which those who originally issued them
had intended to provide by funding operations.

That, in a general way, Mr. President, was the position of
Canada on the occasion of the outbreak of the war. Now, you
will gather from the statement which I have made that there
was a very heavy trade balance against Canada, greatly increased
by this invisible factor of interest, and that Canada was con-
fronted also with large obligations maturing abroad.

If the war had not broken out, the situation would have
been taken care of by the issue of further loans. I told you be-
fore that the way we met our borrowings in London in the past
was by fresh borrowing, that is to say, when a note came due
we renewed the note. Of course it did not quite take that form,
because for the purpose of dealing with the matter of inter-
national balances you take into consideration fresh borrowing
for all purposes; but, generally speaking, the way Canada took
care of her heavy adverse balances during the past few years
was by issuing loans, or put it in a way better understood, by the
selling of securities. If we sell commodities to the amount of
our imports there is no adverse balance of trade against us, but
if our exports fall very short, as I have shown they did, of our
imports, then the way to offset the adverse trade balance is to
effect loans. Take, for instance, the Anglo-French loan recently
floated in New York. The object of that loan was to redress to
a certain extent the adverse balance of trade existing against
Great Britain and Europe. Great Britain and Europe could
not hope to sell commodities to the United States to the extent
necessary to redress the balance of trade, therefore, the next
best thing was to sell securities. When the war broke out
Canada's borrowings in London, upon which she would ordin-
arily have relied to redress the adverse trade balance and take
care of the obligations to which I have referred, were automatic-
ally cut off. The British Government promptly took possession

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

of the London market. Permission was given to issue some
Treasury bills and effect some renewals, but, generally speaking,
Canada was deprived of her financial mainstay. Therefore,
we had to meet the situation which I have described in other
ways. Now, I am sure it is a subject-matter of congratulation
to you all, as Canadians, that the situation has been met, and
that after one year of war Canada's economic condition, her
financial and commercial condition, is better than it was at the
outbreak of the war. How has that been accomplished? There
were many agencies at work. I shall touch on a few only. In
the first place, the public, understanding the necessity, com-
menced to economize. When you economize, you do two things,
you consume less yourself and you have more to sell to others.
Our imports began to diminish, and our exports to increase, as
a result of economy continued throughout the year by the Can-
adian people. Then the instinct of the Canadian people was
also sound in this, that they realized that the way to meet the
situation was by increased production. You will remember last
year I gave you a slogan here, which I repeat now; it was "Pro-
duction, production and again production." By the way, the
press passed it on to the west that I had given as a slogan, "Pro-
tection, protection and again protection." What I said was "Pro-
duction, production and again production," and I asked the
people of Canada to sow, plant and raise everything they could
in order that we might greatly increase our exports. The people
did it, and this year Canada ha,s the greatest crop, by far, in all
her history. I believe it is a conservative estimate to say that
Canada's agricultural production this year is at least two hundred
million dollars more valuable than it was the year before. That
is real wealth, not book values, real wealth taken from the soil,
which is the source of all wealth.

I have stated that by economy on the part of the people our
exports have increased and our imports diminished. We have
greatly added to our exports by increased production, and this
is still going on most satisfactorily. In addition to that we have
received from the Imperial and other allied Governments large
orders in Canada for supplies of all kinds, and for shells and
other munitions of war. You saw a statement the other day
given out by Mr. Thomas, in which he said that orders to the
amount of some five hundred million dollars were being placed

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

in Canada for munitions. We have recently been paying out
over twenty million dollars a month for munitions, that is at
the rate of two hundred and fifty million dollars per year, and
according to the statement this is to be increased. All that pro-
duction will enter into the figures of our exports for the coming
year, so now you will see what has happened and is happening,
in connection with the trade situation. The annual adverse
trade balance to which I have referred has not only been wiped
out, but at the present time the trade balance is favorable to
Canada. Remember my statement, that for the six months
ended September 30, 1914, the adverse trade balance was forty-
five million dollars. I informed myself as to the figures before
leaving Ottawa, for the six months of the present year, ended
on September 30, 1915, and instead of an unfavorable balance
of forty-five million dollars as in 1914, there was a favorable
trade balance of sixty-four millions for the six months ended
September 30, 1915, or one hundred million dollars to the good
in one year.

Now, while that process went on, and has been going on
most satisfactorily, so far as that aspect of our trade is concerned,
the process was not rapid enough to have prevented the necessity
for gold exports to pay the adverse balance existing against us
from time to time during the first year of the war, and to pay
the invisible balance to which I referred of interest owing by the
Dominion of Canada upon its past indebtedness. The question
then arises, how was it that Canada was not obliged to export
gold. With the adverse balance which existed, and with this
one hundred and forty million dollars which had to be paid for
past indebtedness, how is it that Canada did not lose her gold?
because as a matter of fact Canada has not lost her gold, but has
increased her gold. That is a very gratifying statement to those
who realize the significance of the matter of gold conservation.
There were several ways by which gold exports were avoided.
In the first place we redressed the balance of trade to the extent
that we borrowed outside of the Dominion of Canada. I pointed
out to you that you can redress the balance of trade by increas-
ing your exports, or if you cannot do that, by selling your
securities abroad. You remember that there was very consider-
able Canadian borrowing during the early part, and in fact dur-
ing the whole of the first year of the war, in the United States.

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

Municipalities, provinces and some corporations were able to sell
their securities in the United States to a very large aggregate
amount. To the extent that those securities were sold outside
of Canada, to that extent the adverse trade balance was re-
dressed. The Dominion Government was a heavy borrower last
year. I saw that with regard to these factors I have mentioned,
if gold exports from Canada were to be avoided, the Dominion
should borrow as much money as it could outside of the Dom-
inion of Canada. That was, I believe, an absolutely sound
policy. We had not only the situation which I have described
to meet, the question of the redressing of Canada's adverse trade
balance, but we also had to make provision to meet the duty
which devolved upon us as a member of the Empire to provide
the war expenditure that would enable Canada to do her duty
in the mighty conflict confronting the Empire. From the be-
ginning there was no question that Canada would do her very
utmost. No question arose as to the cost; it was no time to
count the cost in dollars and cents when the ideals for which the
British Empire has stood, and always will stand, were at stake.
The Government and people of Canada were at one in this,
that to the extent of our power Canada should put forth her best
efforts, and should raise, equip and send forward her sons to do
their part with the other nations of the Empire in the great strug-
gle for the freedom of the world. Therefore, the Dominion Gov-
ernment borrowed large sums of money outside of Canada. It
was perfectly clear that if the Dominion Government had at-
tempted to borrow within Canada the money required for rais-
ing and maintaining and sending forward our troops, and had
refrained from borrowing outside, two things would have hap-
pened. In the first place gold exports could not have been
avoided, as they were; and in the second place, the army which
Canada would have sent forward would have been much smaller
than has been the case. Therefore, the policy was perfectly
clear that the Dominion Government should borrow, in the cir-
cumstances, outside of Canada, as much money as was needed
for its purposes; in order that to that extent it might redress the
trade balance, and meet, nationally speaking, the obligations
to which I have referred, and find the expenditure for the send-
ing forward of Canada's army. Since the war broke out, the
Dominion of Canada has borrowed no less a total than one

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

hundred and ninety-eight million dollars in Great Britain and
the United States. And what has been the effect of this policy?
Gold exports have been avoided; our gold supplies have been
conserved, because by selling securities outside we have helped
to redress the trade balance and furnish the money which was
necessary to take care of these maturing interest obligations.
I am speaking now from the standpoint of exchange. I do not
mean that the money was appropriated to the payment of any
specific interest or obligation. It will probably surprise you to
learn that out of over one hundred and fifteen million dollars
borrowed up to September last from the Imperial treasury for
the purpose of carrying on this war, approximately one hundred
million dollars of the amount has been spent here in Canada.
Speaking from the standpoint of exchange, if we borrowed the
money outside of Canada it would have little effect upon the ex-
change situation to which I have referred. As a result of the
borrowings I have mentioned, and the fact that so large a por-
tion was spent in Canada, the trade balance has been redressed,
gold exports have been avoided, and I may tell you that to-day
the Dominion Government and the banks of Canada have gold
reserves exceeding by over twenty-five million dollars the gold
reserves which Canada had at the outset of the war.

At the outbreak of the war Canada undertook to raise, equip
and send forward twenty thousand men ; and the men came, in-
spired by the loftiest patriotism, from all parts of the Dominion,
to Valcartier. When the troop ships sailed there were no less
than 33,000 Canadians on board.

We have been a non-military nation, utterly unprepared
for war, and at the time it seemed to me that Canada was making
a considerable effort in sending thirty-three thousand men to
the front, and doing it so expeditiously. We had no adequate
conception of our own strength, or of the desperate character
of the struggle in which the world was engaged; but when the
33,000 men grew to 50,000, and the 50,000 to 100,000, and the
100,000 to 150,000 men, and now to 1 70,000 men under arms, and
the call has gone out for 250,000 men, we began to realize the
power of Canada, and the magnitude of the struggle in which
we are participating as belligerents.

I repeat that Canada has never counted the cost, and will
never count the cost of sending forth men, and if I refer to the

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

cost it is only for the purpose of bringing before you the financial
situation, and the measures necessary to meet it, with respect
to which I have an announcement to make to-day. I have al-
ways thought that I would much rather make announcements
to Canadian Clubs than to Parliament, because there is no oppo-
sition in the Canadian Clubs. It would be an ideal way for
Ministers to present their measures. It would be an ideal way
from the standpoint of the Government. Whether it would be
ideal from the public standpoint is another matter.

It costs Canada, because we are a democracy, and we are
tender, and rightly tender, towards our soldiers, a great deal
more per man than it does the European nations, to place the
flower of the youth of this country in the battle line ; and so it
should. I never see them drilling, parading, marching, without
feeling that there is a " Canadianism " in their faces, a quality
of high intelligence and patriotism, that is most inspiring. I do
not believe that this world can show a finer body of men, men
of finer mental and moral quality than those men who are going
forward to do their duty in the cause of Canada and the Empire.

You can estimate one thousand dollars per man to raise, drill,
equip and maintain — a thousand dollars per man per annum for
Canadian citizen soldiers. The expenditure, therefore, which Can-
ada had to face for sending forward 33,000 men is $33,000,000
per annum; for sending 150,000 men, $150,000,000 per annum;
and now with the call that has gone forth, we may look forward
to an expenditure of from $200,000,000 to $250,000,000 per an-
num for the 250,000 soldiers who will be under arms. As I
stated to you, on account of the adverse balance of trade and
the obligations of Canada maturing abroad, and the invisible
balance I have referred to of interest payments, it was indispens-
ably necessary that Canada should borrow not only for her capital
expenditure, but for her war expenditure, outside of Canada,
until the situation should have changed. I informed you that
the situation had changed, and instead of Canada having an
adverse trade balance, she now has a favorable one. The time
has now come when Canadians — and I know the people will
nobly respond to the call — when Canadians, in addition to send-
ing forward the men, should endeavor to provide the Government
with a portion of the money represented by our war expenditure.
We should do that from a spirit of national pride, that Canada

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

can not only send men, but can raise money as well; we not
only have the men, but we have the money and the wealth
and the resources behind us. Then, there is a further question,
a business question. The exchange situation has radically and
profoundly changed since last year. Last year the exchanges
were all in favor of Great Britain, and if you were paying money
in London, you had to pay a heavy premium. That is now
changed, and if you want to bring money out of London, you
get only about $4.60 for what is the equivalent of $4.86 and two-
thirds, or a difference of 5%. Supposing I have balances in Lon-
don. The question is, how am I going to get them out to Canada,
because our war expenditures are principally in Canada. Only
by paying as high as 5%, and exchange has gone up more than
5% during the past year. That is to say, for five million dol-
lars I would have to pay $250,000 to bring the money out here.
Therefore, it is desirable that Canadians should bear a part,
not by any means the whole, but a part of our war expenditures
in Canada, and therefore I announced a short time ago that the
Dominion Government would bring on a Canadian patriotic
domestic war loan, to which the people of Canada would be
asked to contribute. In other words, I have borrowed outside
to date, until the situation is completely restored, and then I ask
the people of Canada to help by subscribing to a Canadian
national war loan. It is my intention, therefore, and this is the
important announcement that I desire to make to-day, to bring
on a Canadian domestic war loan about the end of the present
month. Its terms will be reasonably attractive, and I have in
mind at present the principle of instalment payments, and I ask
the business institutions of Canada, and the people of Canada,
to prepare themselves to do their share in participating in this
loan, when it is officially announced. I mean officially announced
as to terms and as to price, and let me say this: the amount,
price and terms of the loan will, necessarily and properly, not
be made public until the prospectus is published. Any state-
ment as to the amount of the loan, as to the terms of payment,
or as to the price, unless officially announced by the Dominion
Government, is premature, unauthorized and wholly conjec-
tural. I may say that His Royal Highness the Governor-General,
who has always taken a deep interest in Canada's finance —
as indeed in all our affairs — has most graciously expressed

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

his desire to subscribe to this loan, and his name will head
the list.

Now, Mr. President, the economic outlook for Canada is
excellent. No question arises in my mind as to the improve-
ment in general business throughout Canada, with the crops we
have, and the manufacturing activity everywhere manifest.
The financing of the war will devolve upon the Government, and
therefore, for the reasons that I have given, I propose to ask
the Canadian people to assist us to some extent, and as I stated,
I know they will nobly respond. This war may last a consider-
able time. I do not think my opinion on that point is more
valuable than yours, and therefore I shall hazard no guess; but
I think it well on general principles to be prepared for a pro-
longed struggle, and if it should terminate in a shorter period,
we shall be agreeably surprised. If we calculate that the struggle
may be long, then we shall take well in advance those measures
which are necessary in order that we may continue to do our
part, as the great struggle continues and develops. For the
people of Canada I say the duty is still — because modern war is
made not only with men and with munitions, but also with
money and resources — for all those who cannot go to the
front to put forth their best efforts to increase the production
and wealth of the country; because this war, in my opinion, is
going to be won by superior resources, and the superior resources
are unquestionably on the side of the allies. Apart from the
question of financing the huge sums which we must find to do
our part in this war — apart from that, Canada, if she increases
her production proportionately to what she has done this year,
will be able easily to sustain the burden of the war. If she can
finance, and she can, then the question which arises is that of
paying the rapidly increasing interest on an expanding public
debt; but when you set off against the interest payments an in-
creased production of one, two or three hundred million dollars
per year, the economic position becomes clear. If on the one
hand you produce, say, three hundred million dollars of new
wealth, and on the other hand you pay out fifteen million dol-
lars in interest, I do not need to tell you, as business men, of the
advantage, and how the country is going to get on. You will
get on well, because you are increasing your production to such
an extent; so that for those who do not go to the front, I would

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

say, give to all the causes, the Patriotic Fund, the Red Cross,
all the others, continually give, patriotically and generously, and
on an increasing scale, because our army is increasing, and above
all, work, produce more, in order that the country may continue
to grow stronger for whatever lies before it. I believe the people
of Canada will do that, and therefore, that we shall continue to
do our share, and more than our share — this is no time to con-
sider shares; we must put forth the maximum effort.

Just a few words about the war itself. I did not believe
when the war broke out that it would be a short war, although,
as I said, I do not think anybody's opinion on that point is of
very much value. The factors entering into the problem are too
numerous for any human mind to grasp, and make an inference
that would be sound, or hazard a guess that would be likely to
be realized. I believe it will be a fairly long war, because under
conditions of modern warfare it is not possible to bring off those
decisive engagements which used to decide the fate of an army
or an empire. Here we have war on an unprecedented scale.
Twenty-five million men or more under arms in Europe, in lines
extending from the North Sea to Switzerland; from the Baltic
Sea down beyond the Carpathians, locked in a death grapple. I
believe that the war will be determined by a wearing-down pro-
cess, by the process of attrition, and that the belligerents having
the greatest resources in men, in munitions and in wealth will
win. The Allies are superior in resources to the enemy, and I
believe that in time, by a slow and remorseless process of attri-
tion, that they will gradually wear them down. We see it now
only from one side. From the very beginning Germany has
seemed to me to be like a great fortress from which she makes
sallies, but she is and has been under siege from the beginning,
is really on the defensive, and will be until the end; and if we
keep on, as we shall keep on, there is only one end in view.
Germany must collapse.

Britain's part in the war has been a great and noble and, to
me, a most wonderful part. I doubt if it is realized what a part
Great Britain played in this war, and how she has upheld all her
ancient traditions, those traditions under which she became the
world's champion against tyranny in Europe. Great Britain has
stood forth again in the part of saving the world, because the
British fleet since the outbreak of this war has verily saved the

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

world. We take it all as a matter of course. The seven seas
are clear of enemy ships of the second naval power in the world,
the second naval power with her ships blockaded in the Kiel
Canal, unable to venture out; twenty-five enemy cruisers in-
tended to destroy British commerce at the outset of the war, and
not one of them that has not been sunk or interned.

Let us not overlook our Allies. The battle of the Marne was
the greatest battle ever fought in the history of the world, under
one of the greatest commanders that history has ever known,
General Joffre; nor do I know of greater qualities of mind, of
military skill, of profound strategy, than those displayed by the
Commander-in-Chief of the allied forces, the great forces of
France, the small but wonderfully valiant and powerful army of
England, when he ordered his forces to retreat and to continue
to retreat to the confines of Paris, and then taking his stand with
a fresh army on his left and on his centre, said: "This is the time
to take the offensive, and every Frenchman must advance or die
where he stands," and the French and the English did advance,
under their great chief, and in the four days' battle that followed
they defeated the Germans, and Germany has been on the de-
fensive ever since. Mr. Chairman, I say that Great Britain's
exploits in this war have been in accordance with the highest
traditions of her great and glorious history. In clearing the seas
the British navy has again saved the world; and as to the army
which she has organized, and the Dominions of the Empire have
organized, instead of being critical, I say that to me it is a most
marvellous thing that Britain has been able to organize and
equip an army of three million men. You cannot expect men
to perform miracles, to improvise armies, and yet it seems to me
that is precisely what has been done. The British authorities
have raised a great army, a splendid fighting organization. They
have really wrought a miracle. Remember Great Britain never
expected to put an army of more than 200,000 men into Europe.
Their plants, their arsenals were all equipped on that scale, and
here, in one year, they have been able to raise and equip an
army of three million men. To me it is a most wonderful per-
formance.

Now, I am frankly an optimist with regard to this war. My
heart is saddened by the carnage, but I never allow myself to
doubt the result. It is not an empty optimism, but an optimism

Canadian Trade and Finance During the War

founded, to me, upon the plainest consideration of reason and
of fact. This war, as I have said, will be won by attrition, and
it will, therefore, be won by the belligerent having the greatest
resources. We have the greatest resources, and we have the
will to persist. I have a profound belief, an invincible confi-
dence, an almost religious faith in the high destiny of the British
Empire, and in addition to the material considerations which
would be a basis for the faith that is in me — the immense re-
sources of the allies, the far-reaching power of Great Britain,
speaking from the standpoint of material strength — there is
another and a higher reason why I believe that we shall emerge
from this conflict victorious. It is this: that the British Empire,
to say nothing of the other nations, and I should like to say
much for them, stands for certain ideals with which I do not
believe this world is ready to part, and therefore the moral forces
of the universe are fighting on the side of the allies. Some
people may say, but how long can they hold out? The answer
is that they can hold out a great deal longer than the enemy.

Mr. President, the way may be long, it may be arduous,
but there can be only one ending to this war, and I think that
the statesmen of the allied powers, the statesmen of Russia and
of France and of Italy and Japan, the statesmen of England and
the statesmen of the Dominions as participants in this war, will
see to it that the conflict is not a draw. This war, Mr. President,
must be fought to a finish. If not it will be renewed again at
intervals over this century. Diplomacy will not lose what has
been won by the sword, and the allies will not hold their hands nor
conclude any peace that does not involve the utter destruction of
the Prussian oligarchy, and the militarism which is its expression.

(November 75, 79/5")

LABOR AND THE WAR

By PROF, HAROLD J. LASKI

A PERSON, England, is fighting another person, Germany.
What do we mean by England ? What is the main dream
which animates us in this hour ? Surely if the dream is anything it
is to make that person, England, a unity, to make it one and indi-
visible. The person, England, that is fighting, is one to which all
of us are attached. It is composed of a variety of classes — working
men, employers, parasites and others. This nation to which we
belong finds itself fundamentally at a disharmony. It finds that
what the nation means to the employing classes it does not mean
to the working classes, and accordingly certain accusations of a
lack of patriotism are quite freely bandied about in one part of
the community and another against the working classes as mis-
understanding the fundamentals of the situation. Now to me
that is a very interesting accusation. It is an accusation that,
with your permission, I propose to examine in some of its essentials.
I want, first of all, to ask a plain question. In time of peace can
it be laid down as a fundamental proposition that the interests
of capital are the interests of labor? Does anyone who attempts
to read, who can understand the industrial situation, not merely
in Great Britain but in any part of the world, does anyone who
can view the industrial situation, pretend for a single moment
that capital and labor, in times of peace, are themselves in har-
mony? As a matter of fact, is not the disharmony between them
the one fact of which we have evidence at the present time ? We
are at war, and the existence of the nation is threatened. It
should be realized by statesmen that the one problem that con-
fronts them, if they are to get a harmonious nation, is to take

Labor and the War

out from amongst us the seeds of discord, to unite capital and
labor. What has been done to that end ?

We have had, as I have said, a vehement outcry against
labor. It has been said that the workers have been drinking.
The ingenious Mr. Lloyd George has been very happily at work in
a variety of ways in regard to that particular accusation. It is
of the greater interest because it has been denied by Mr. Asquith
in a speech at Newcastle. Between Mr. Lloyd George and Mr.
Asquith it is not for humble people like myself to make a choice.
I leave it to the abler intellects who adorn the press of Lord
Northcliffe. But the thing that has to be borne in mind when
anyone tries to understand and explain these accusations against
labor is one quite definite fact, and that is, that while the price
index of the Board of Trade that represents the cost of living,
in July, 1914, was 100, in 1915 it was 132. That is to say,
that the cost of living of the working classes in Great Britain
had increased one-third. Now you know as well as I know that in
Great Britain, in normal times, one-third of the population live
on the verge of starvation — not a happy condition for any great
nation to enjoy, if enjoy it can; and it seems to me that if you
want to bind the working classes to the state in the time of crisis,
the one thing you have to assure to them is a reasonable standard
of living, to assure them the means to maintain themselves in a
condition of physiological efficiency. Assuming therefore that
the cost of living has increased, one thing that you must do if
you want to go forward as a unit is so to increase the wage that
you pay to your workers as to make them able to meet the changed
conditions on equal terms. Now what has been done to that end ?
They have in some industries been given about i % of the profits
that have been made by the great employers out of this war.
Take the great railway companies in England, for example. When
the workers on the average need eight shillings more per week
they give them three shillings, and expect them to be satisfied
with the new condition of affairs. The tramway workers in Lon-
don go on strike. The London County Council assume the right
to dictate to these men how they shall enlist, when they shall
enlist and the terms upon which they shall enlist. Do you imagine
for a single moment that any great employer would consent to
be dictated to as to the terms on which he shall enlist? You have
a political democracy in England. It is useless to attempt to

Labor and the War

make the working classes support the state in the same sense as
the employing classes are willing to support the state, unless you
make that state one and indivisible, by making it the organ of
the working classes as you have made it the organ of the employers.

Let us take this accusation of drink. Where is the drinking
found, and who are the accusers? The accusers are certain
Government factory inspectors, certain employers, and Mr.
Lloyd George. With Mr. Lloyd George I have dealt so far as
any one can deal with that gentleman. With the employers I
would only point out that if you had to draw up a brief in defense
of Great Britain's conduct in this war you would not ask Admiral
von Tirpitz to give you the facts, and in the same way, if you
want to draw up a brief in relation to the working classes it is
not to the employers, at present their natural enemies, that you
would go for information. A report of the Government Factory
Inspector for the Clyde District states that there has been no
increase in drinking from the beginning of the war. What is
more interesting than that fact is that when in order to stop the
supposed increase of drinking, the valiant Mr. Lloyd George
undertakes a crusade against the liquor interests, one snap of
the brewers' fingers is enough to send him scurrying helter-skelter
back to Downing Street. A courageous individual indeed ! What
interests me still more is the condition of things in the shipyards.
You may not know that the boiler-maker when engaged in his
operations, at the end of a day's work is likely to get wet through,
so that when he returns home the essential thing is that provision
shall be made for him to dry himself, so as not to have to go wet
through to his home. You would think that the employer, inter-
ested in keeping him in a state of physiological efficiency, would
provide some kind of bathroom in which it would be possible for
him to wash and dry himself. The bathroom that is at the dis-
posal of the boiler maker until just previous to the war, was the
nearest public house. Now you throw that responsibility on the
worker. You give him the choice of possible pneumonia on the
one hand and beer and a fire by which to dry himself on the other.
Personally I should make the choice of the public house and beer.
I think most of us are human enough to do the same.

Another thing that stands out in the situation is this. Mr.
Asquith asks the trade unions, the employees, to put on one side
their regulations for the course of the war. This is an important

Labor and the War

request, because those regulations represent the work of one hun-
dred years fighting on the part of the trade unions. It is therefore
necessary to give the trade unions guarantees that at the end of
the war you will put back into operation the thing for which they
have fought and worked. What are the guarantees that are
offered. The word of Mr. Lloyd George, an agreement signed by
certain employers in certain industries who belong to an employers'
organization. Now when the distress comes after the war the
employers state that they are in no position, because of the con-
dition of their industry, to resume work on the ordinary terms,
what is to be done? Can you not picture a deputation of trade
unionists going to Mr. Lloyd George, and that gentleman,
with his usual ease, throwing up his hands and asking: "But
what can I do? Of course there were guarantees and I will do
the best I can, but you must be patient," and meantime, the em-
ploying class will take advantage, as always they do take advan-
tage of the condition in which the workers will stand after the
war.

Then take the employment of women and children. Now
all of you who know anything of the condition of industries in
Great Britain will be aware that women and children are used
systematically in Great Britain to help the employer to compete
in the open market. Since the commencement of this war a great
deal has been done to replace the men who have gone to the front
by women and even by children. It does not matter that our
future is threatened, that those children will be uneducated,
undeveloped people, and therefore unable to become responsible
members of the state. What does matter is that labor shall be
as cheap as possible; but labor so bought cheap is labor indeed
bought dear. But what we have to consider is not the condition
of the working classes now but their condition, as responsible
citizens, now and henceforth. If you make an industry dependent
on the employment of cheap labor, you make it parasitic, you make
the laboring classes pay the piper for your capitalists. If the
capitalist is unable, without cheap labor, to compete outside the
greater part of the community in which he lives, he should make
the sacrifice, not the laboring classes. It is a difficult thing no
doubt for the capitalist to sacrifice a profit of five, six, twenty-five
thousand dollars per year, but it is a much more difficult thing
to sacrifice threepence a day out of an average wage of 23 to 25

Labor and the War

shillings a week. Threepence to a working man means far more
than five pounds to a rich man. I wish that the Minister
of Munitions for Great Britain would try to bear that in
mind.

You remember that the thing to do in a great war is to
make labor feel your good will. You have got to make labor
believe that you have at heart the same interests as they have,
you have got to make the working people realize that the England
you envision is the one they envision. There does not seem to
me evidence that that thing has been done. Take for example
the matter of relief to dependents of the soldiers who have gone
to the front. It is said by Mr. Lloyd George that everything has
been done for the soldiers and the wives of the soldiers, that could
be reasonably expected. A happy statement, characteristic of
his light-hear tedness. What did happen? As a matter of fact
at the beginning of the war, did the Government take over, as
it should have taken over, the work of providing for the dependents
of the soldiers ? No. It creates a thing called the Prince of Wales
fund, towards which charitably disposed people can contribute
if they choose. It does not get to work until the distress has been
acute. Then it lends about half its funds to Canada, a strange
way of relieving the distress among the dependents of its soldiers,
and finally winds up by a vast series of charity mongers prying
into the houses of the poor, asking the most absurd questions and
laying down the most unfeasible rules of conduct, and then wonder-
ing why resentment is shown and why there are protests of the
most vehement kind. Do you not understand that the laboring
classes are also men and women, characterized as much as we are
by the ordinary foibles of humanity? Mr. Lloyd George does not
seem to think so. He seems to think that by Welsh witchery he
can make them turn to do what he wills. Then when you pass
an Act of Parliament, called the Munitions Act, forbidding strikes,
and Welsh miners go on strike, he throws up his hands and says
they lack patriotism. When an average dividend of between -20
and 30% is being made by the coal owners of South Wales and
when an average wage is being made by the worker that does not
begin to cope with the conditions of life in South Wales for the
miners, I say that strike is natural and justifiable, and is made
in the interests of the community. It is not the working classes
that must retrench. They have not got sufficient income to re-

Labor and the War

trench, and to ask them to do so is a travesty on the facts you have
to confront.

Let us turn to another and even more important point of
view. The whole trend of trade unionism in the last thirty-five
years has been to demand, in industry, a share of control. They
say to the employers of labor that they do not own industry.
That industry is not run for the benefit of the few. It is a certain
phase of national activity by which a nation gets its livelihood.
From the workers' standpoint your interest in industry is a sort
of trusteeship which you must hold for the nation as a whole.
You are not there for what you can put into your pocket. If
I went into the question of the way in which munitions have been
turned out in Great Britain, and it is no happier story in Canada,
if you went into this question since the beginning of the war you
would find man after man stating that he was doing it as a matter
of "hard and cold business." This term was used by a leader of
Canadian finance. The interests of the nation are at stake.
The manufacturers of munitions do it as a matter of hard, cold
business. How is it possible for the working class to believe that
his interest in this war is the same as that of his employer? Does
it not look to him as though the state is an engine to be manipu-
lated at the will of the employing class? It seems to me that unless
the state keeps a tight hand on the condition of industry that
state of mind must occur. And then, at a certain point in the
history of the war retired colonels on half pay begin to write to
the papers, (usually the grandmother of our ancestral ideas, the
Spectator, and other such periodicals), to the effect that if labor
wont work it must be forced to work ; that there must be conscrip-
tion. We must have a conscript army, five million or seven
millions big. Haven't these gentlemen any imagination? They
evidently don't stop to consider how industry can be carried on
if you draw five or seven millions of men from their specified work,
from the manufacture of products, of the things which keep the
country going, and they find to their amazement that the Annual
Congress of Miners expressed their determination to oppose con-
scription if it is put into force. May I remind you of a little
incident which took place in the history of British politics before
August 1914, when the British Army refused, in terms of one of
its most distinguished members, to do "the dirty work of the
Liberal cabinet in regard to Ulster" ? It has not refused to do

Labor and the War

the equally "dirty work" of shooting down miners in Tonypandy.
I can see no difference between strikers and the men of Ulster,
and I say that the treatment meted out by the army to one must
be meted out to the other if democracy is to mean anything at
all. You would use the army in time of strike at the call of the
capitalist, and your working man sees and he draws his own con-
conclusion — the inevitable conclusion that the army is a tool
in the hands of the governing classes. He does not belong to
the governing classes, and in a war he concludes that he is merely
playing the game of the great capitalists, that in taking part in
the war he gives them a superior weapon to make use of against
his class at the close of the war.

Surely it is a bigger and a better thing to regard the workers
as part of the nation. You want to take them into partnership.
You want to show them that you understand that they have
to share in the gain as well as the toil, and only under those con-
ditions can the world become fair. You must realize that they are
a part of the nation as well as yourselves ; that they are animated
by the same hopes, desires and ambitions as you are. The out-
look in Great Britain in regard to labor seems to me as serious
as it can well be. You must inevitably face the fact that there is
going to be acute distress at the end of the war. What steps is
the Government going to take to meet this? It is summed up in
the admirable aphorism: "Cultivate the faculty of patient expec-
tancy." And your workers will say: "We have cultivated that
faculty so long that we have got tired of it." They will ask that
labor shall no longer be regarded as a commodity, the cheapest
in the game. They ask that beneath the laborer you see the human
being, that beneath the laborer you see a palpitating soul that
can be made use of in the community. What I object to is the
talk that the laboring classes differ fundamentally from ourselves.
You remember what Richard Baxter said when he saw a beggar on
the street? "There, but for the grace of God, goes Richard
Baxter." Surely it is well to bear in mind when you examine the
careers of our Canadian millionaires, for instance, and study their
lives, that it might well be said of the workers, "There, but for
the grace of God and possibly a little influence at Ottawa, goes
one of our Canadian millionaires." Take the working man into
your confidence. While we have a political democracy in England
and Canada we must have an industrial democracy as well.

Labor and the War

Now we have an oligarchy of a few great men who control
the whole of our industry. They control it ably, I grant
you. They are men whom I would like to see in the
service of the state, but that does not mean that they shall
take the state and use it as a juggler would use balls. It means
that you have got to go to the trade unions and recognize that
they, with you, must run industry, and only on those terms and
under those conditions can you make England stand as a unit
against Germany. This I know, as everyone knows who has come
into touch with the leaders of trade unionism in different parts
of the Empire. You can then envision a world not unlike the
world that one of the greatest of the men of the Nineteenth
Century envisioned, I mean William Morris, you can then en-
vision a world in which the distinction between capital and labor
will have fallen on one side, a world in which harmony has
become real.

Let me add one last word that seems to me the keynote on
which we have to explain much of the present discontent.

A great labor leader dies, Mr. Keir Hardie, a man who has
striven to do his best in the political life of his time. A great
Canadian newspaper discusses the life of that man. It calls
him rude, uncultivated, unpopular, mentions a lack of respect
for him in the House of Commons, that the Government contem-
plated his arrest, and so forth. Every word is a lie. What is
the working man to think of the esteem in which you hold him
if that is the way you talk about one of his leaders? When he
thinks that for the whole twelve months after the outbreak of
the war he was confined to a bed of sickness and made no pro-
nouncement, what do you imagine he thinks about this organ of
the employing classes? Is this an honest thing to do? Cannot
you understand why they are not one with the state? The laboring
classes may be very stupid and blind to their own interests, they
do not see as far as the employer sees ; but I remember those words,
those wonderful words of Sir Harry Vane on the scaffold, 250
years ago. "The people of to-day are asleep. When they wake they
will be hungry. ' * What will you give them when that hour dawns ?

Surely if you go to them with hands outstretched and ask them
for whatever they can give, and give them what they want
in return, surely this will make for a bigger, finer and better
England than even the England of which most of us have dreamed.

(November 22nd,

IRELAND'S ATTITUDE TO THE WAR

By PROF. HERBERT L. STEWART

(of Dalhousie)

I HAVE to thank you in no mere formal sense for the honor of
this invitation. Since I came to Canada about a year and
a half ago I have been much impressed by many things, but very
especially by two. The first is the radiant hospitality which is
everywhere shown to the stranger within your gates. Everyone
understands that it is no small wrench for an Irishman to leave
his native heath. His feelings at such a time have been immortal-
ised by Thomas Campbell in lines of incomparable pathos, and
those who have met with men of my race in any quarter of the
globe agree that the poet has not exaggerated. But I found that
the emigrant to Canada meets with a kindness to which I can pay
no higher tribute than by calling it an " Irish Welcome", a welcome
which makes him feel very quickly as one of yourselves, proud
of his new citizenship, eager to enter into the common life, absorb
the common traditions, share the common destiny of the Domin-
ion. And the second thing that I have noticed is that here, more
than anywhere else that I have lived, there is a general, an organ-
ised, and a sedulously fostered interest in debating public affairs.
That I take to be an extremely good sign in a democratic commun-
ity. Democracy has been nowhere better defined than in the
old phrase "government by discussion." Without free discussion
free institutions must fail; with it one dare not set a limit to what
they may accomplish. In Canada, so far as I have been able to
judge, a ready ear is lent to those who have, or believe that they
have, anything to say. I sometimes feel that your patience
towards speakers is even a little excessive. The worst thing about
a good listener is that he stimulates the garrulous talker. But

Ireland's Attitude to the War

even though there may be a touch of that curiosity in which they
of old asked "What will this babbler say?" — at all events it is
a fault that leans to virtue's side. Generous, eager, tolerant
debate is the very lifeblood of a great community like ours.

Unfortunately, there is still only one public question around
which we can allow our thoughts to revolve. Let me speak to
you for a few minutes about one aspect of the war in which I feel
a deep personal concern, because it touches the honor of that
country which I have so recently left that I must still think of
it as home.

What has Ireland's attitude been? What is her attitude at
present to the war that is being waged in Europe? These ques-
tions are actually being treated in some quarters as if they were
controversial. If the truth were realized every note of controversy
would be drowned in thankfulness. But despite every assurance
which Irish leaders have given, it is still being argued by a few
that that country has not borne and is not willing to bear her due
part of the tragic burden laid upon the Empire. We are told by
omniscient prints from the other side of the Detroit that she is
still divided into two hostile sections, whose co-operation has been
effected only in name; that the party called Ulsterites has res-
ponded with alacrity to the call for recruits, while the larger party
called Nationalists remains disloyal or apathetic, is furnishing
only an insignificant handful of volunteers, and still cherishes the
antipathy towards things British which it pretended a year ago
to have laid aside. You will indulge me, I am sure, in just a
few words of personal explanation which may make clear to you
any title I may have to speak on the subject. I am an Ulster
Protestant, but I am in complete sympathy with the long struggle
that has been sustained by the mass of my fellow- Irishmen to
secure the right of self-government. I have spent nearly all my
life in the heart of the most Unionist part of Ulster, and if I have
not caught the spirit of that district it has not been for want of
hearing, from my childhood, the most copious exposition and the
most rhetorical appeals. On the other hand I may claim, I think,
to appreciate the spirit and temper of those in the south who,
despite my natural sectarian prejudice, have convinced me of the
reasonableness of their position. Let me say, then, that so far from
finding Nationalism in any way inconsistent with imperial loyalty
at this crisis, I should look upon any Nationalist who hesitated

Ireland's Attitude to the War

or temporised as false to the deepest principles which his leaders
have taught him to cherish.

I shall begin with a few hard facts which in a case like this
should outweigh many pages of eloquence. Within the last
few weeks the War Office has given us certain figures on the subject
of recruiting.* Ireland has, roughly, 650,000 men eligible for
military service. This estimate, I may point out, takes no ac-
count of those who might be medically rejected. There are, —
or rather there were — some 650,000, fit and unfit, of the speci-
fied age. Out of these 650,000, 132,000 are to-day serving
with the colors. Now I very much doubt whether England,
Scotland or Wales could show a better proportion, for you
must remember three things when attempting to understand
this situation. All over the United Kingdom recruits have been
obtained in a very much greater ratio from the large cities thanfrom
the country districts. It is right that it should be so. The farming
class is the very last, excepting only the workers on munitions,
which at such a time as this we could advantageously deflect from
its regular employment. Consequently recruiting amongst the
farmers was at first officially discouraged. Now something like
qo% of the people of England are engaged in industry, while only
35% of the people of Ireland are — their occupation is agriculture.
In the second place a quite exceptional proportion of Irishmen are
invariably found in the ranks of the regular army or reserve during
times of peace. This clearly narrows the area from whioh fresh
recruits can be obtained to meet a special emergency, but you will
not suggest that a race is shown to be disloyal by the readiness
with which it enlists at all times in the service of the King. And
the third thing we must remember is this. What the cause is I do
not pretend to guess, but we have excellent authority for saying
that something like 50% of those who actually offered themselves
for service were rejected by the War Office. Whether the medical
standard in Ireland was artificially high or whether the physique
of my town-dwelling countrymen was unusually low I cannot tell.
The facts are as stated, and observe that if you take account of
these rejections, something like one in three of the eligible men
within military age are found to have been willing for service.

*The figures of Irish recruiting given in this address are such as were avail-
able at the date (und November, 1915) on which it was delivered. They
have since then been largely increased.

Ireland 's Attitude to the War

At all events Irishmen have the satisfaction of knowing that
their patriotism is appreciated by the best of all judges. A few
weeks ago, Lord Kitchener, wrote that Ireland is entitled to a full
share of credit for the exploits on the field and that her response
to the appeal for men has been " magnificent."

The force of these considerations is confirmed when we look
at certain facts of the present recruiting campaign. Out of
82,000 fresh volunteers we are told that some 37,000 are Protes-
tant while not more than 45,000 are Catholic, and those who
draw inferences from statistics printed in the newspapers have not
been slow to assure us that this shows proportionately a much
more fervent patriotism in one creed than in another. It is taken
for granted that the religious division corresponds accurately to
the political division. It corresponds much more significantly
to the division between the industrial and agricultural classes,
for the so-called Ulsterites happen to be massed in cities and large
towns while the Nationalists are to a great extent located in rural
Ireland. If you concentrate your attention on towns with a
population of 5,000 and upwards what do you find? That,
although the proportion of catholics to protestants in Ireland is
three to one, the proportion in these towns is barely three to two.

Now ought the farmer, who in many cases, in most cases,
is almost single handed on his holding, ought he to have abandoned
this very essential work? Do you find this being done by the far-
mers of Alberta and Manitoba or of any of the great grain-growing
parts of Canada ? Have we not been told that patriotism means
production and that the man holding the plough is serving his
country just as much as the man wearing the uniform? At all
events the reasons that have weighed with the southern agricul-
turists have weighed equally with the agriculturists of the north !
Any Irish newspaper will tell you, sometimes as a reproach, some-
times as a fact, that the farming class has come forward in small
numbers. It is inevitable, however, that that part of Ireland
which is predominantly agricultural, should appear at an unfair
disadvantage in the statistical tables of volunteers. Moreover, if
you look at the southern towns, intensely Redmondite in politics, I
venture to say there are some which came very near to winning the
blue ribbon for enlistment against all competitors in the Empire.
Take Wexford for instance. The population is something like
12,000 or under that. 2,000 volunteers have gone from Wexford.

Ireland's Attitude to the War

I think there must be very few people left except the maimed,
the halt and the blind. Clonmel, in the heart of Nationalist Tip-
perary has got a record not much less creditable than Wexford.
Dublin, so Nationalist in its politics that a Unionist candidate
would be very slow to challenge an election, has recently added
to its contribution five battalions of Fusiliers. Mr. Redmond
can boast that his own constituency of Waterford is unsur-
passed in its contribution. And Cork, so-called rebel Cork, — well,
he will be a bold man who will speak of "rebel" Cork again.
Now you are probably aware that within the last sixty years
Ireland has lost four million people by emigration. She has been
well called "a country bleeding to death." Of those who since —
let us say — 1895 left her shores through lack of employment or
lack of prospect, a very large proportion are now of military age.
Many people speak of these emigrants as going forth with hatred
of England in their breasts. About the state of mind with which
they left I offer no opinion; I am concerned with their state of
mind to-day. At all events there is no doubt about this, that the
great majority of them belonged to the party of Mr. Redmond.
Many of them went to Liverpool, to Glasgow, to Dundee, or to
similar large cities in Great Britain. Ask any Unionist candidate
there how he judges these men's politics; he will tell you that he
expects them to vote en masse as Mr. Redmond and Mr. O'Connor
direct. How do they stand in the matter of volunteering? We
find that no fewer than 115,000 Irish, living in Great Britain,
have joined the colors. And if we take into account those of
Irish extraction who have gone to the front from the dominions
overseas, we get a grand total of at least three hundred thousand
of Irish blood who are staking their lives for the Empire to-day.
Mr. William Redmond puts it as high as four hundred thousand.
Now nothing is more distasteful than to begin to classify these
brave men upon the basis of that opinion regarding domestic
politics which they may hold in time of peace. Such differences
are buried in a blessed oblivion so far as those in the Flemish
trenches are concerned. It is unfortunate that they are not so
buried for those party critics who remain at home, apparently
in order that the correspondence columns of the press may not
lack material. But I think I have said enough to show that any
attempt to monopolize loyalty by one section as against another
finds no support in the recruiting statistics.

Ireland's Attitude to the War

Mr. Redmond's salutary influence has not been limited to
providing actual recruits. He has given, indeed, his own son
to the King's service, and perhaps a man's sincerity after
that requires no fuller attestation. But he has exerted himself,
in other ways which have meant a great deal to our cause
That invaluable authority— the tourist — comes back from Con-
nemara or Donegal and tells us that little enthusiasm is being
shown by most of the people with whom he has conversed.
But he omits to tell us that there is not an elected body,
rural council, urban council, poor-law board or city cor-
poration, from Antrim to Cork, which has not declared itself
in emphatic terms on the British side. There has, indeed, been
here and there a meeting of discontented Laborites, and there
has been here and there a newspaper which the Government had
to suppress, as they suppressed the Unionist Globe in London the
other day. But to anyone who knows as I do the utter insigni-
ficance of the men whose names are trumpeted as chiefs of Irish
sedition, the interest they sometimes attract would be comic
if it were not exasperating. Believe me, Sir Roger Casement has
about the same weight with the Irish people at home as he had
with those Irish prisoners in Berlin whom he urged to renounce
their allegiance, and from whom he was with difficulty rescued
by the bayonets of Prussian Guards. He and his like, so far from
being spokesmen of Nationalism, have been for years among those
leaders of faction by whom the Irish Parliamentary party has been
incessantly troubled.

But perhaps the most powerful service which Mr. Redmond
has rendered to the Empire remains to be noticed. How much
has it meant to us in this struggle that ninety per cent of the Irish
in the United States are on our side ! Think of the problem of
munitions. Think of those days in which no man could feel
sure how far the German- American influence might tell upon
President Wilson. Think of what the reinforcement of Count
Bernstorff and Dr. Dernburg at the hands of a hostile and highly
organized Irish party might have effected. The reconciliation
of the Irish at home has deprived Germany of one priceless weapon
on which she assuredly counted among the Irish abroad.

And now, having made clear some facts about what has been
done, I come to the question of motive. It is a pity that this too
should have been raised; so far as I am aware no slur upon the

Ireland's Attitude to the War

motives which actuate the Ulstermen has ever been cast from the
National side. I hold in my hand the Irish Independent — by
far the most influential of the Nationalist newspapers. It contains
a speech by Mr. Redmond. An interrupter is reported as asking —
evidently to raise a sneer, "What about Carson's army?" Mr.
Redmond replies, "Pray do not introduce those topics. But I
will answer that question. Carson's army is at the front at the
present moment. I am certain they will acquit themselves like
brave Irishmen, and my only hope is that they may find themselves
fighting shoulder to shoulder with their Nationalist and Catholic
fellow-countrymen." That is the attitude of every Home Ruler
worthy of the name. We give all honor to the brave men of the
north, who have come forward in such magnificent numbers, and
impelled, we doubt not, by the highest purpose. How they feel
towards us just now we neither krow nor care. Our thoughts
follow them all alike to the trenches, in the sure confidence that
they will do their duty, and in the earnest hope for their glorious
return. But we are told that so far as the south is concerned there
is some dishonorable arriere pensee, some cunning opportunism,
that the Nationalist wants Home Rule and thinks it good policy
to win English gratitude, or again that he is fighting not for
England, but for his co-religionists in Belgium and in France.

Now it requires a very ardent opportunism indeed to make
men offer their lives. You remember the American who argued
against life insurance on the ground that it was "a game which
one must die in order to win." Policy will make you intrigue,
it will make you agitate, it will make you affect sentiments that
are insincere; but it will stop a long way short of the final sacrifice.
Moreover, an unworthy motive should not be alleged when an
obvious and a noble motive is staring you in the face. Of those
general considerations about justice, about public law, about
fidelity to treaties I shall say only this, that they are just as potent
on one side of the Channel as on the other. But I can discern at
least two special motives, rooted in the very heart of Irish
Nationalism, motives which belong to the Nationalist in a way
which they do not belong to the Unionist, motives which must
call and which have called the Nationalist to the standard of
the Allies.

The first of these is, if you will, a sentimental motive; but
remember I am speaking of Celts, Celts whose life is governed

Ireland's Attitude to the War

by the imagination quite as much as it is governed by the reason.
The Nationalist thinks of that small people, hemmed in by gigantic
neighbors, forced to rely for its very existence upon another's
good faith, a peace-loving people, industrious, aiming at no aggres-
sion, cherishing the memory of its past, anxious only to be left
alone as it keeps its own ways, develops its own life, pursues its
own ideals. He thinks of the overmastering empire on its border
line, an empire that believes in nothing but force, that is bound by
no promise and reverences no law. He sees the weaker merci-
lessly assailed, yet heroically defending its nationhood. And his
thought goes back to the blood-stained past of his own country;
he recalls her indomitable spirit, how against enormous odds and
through incessant suffering Ireland saved alive her national soul.
In the garrison that held Liege he sees the spiritual kinsmen of
those who were cut to pieces at Vinegar Hill; in King Albert he
salutes another Sarsfield ; in the Belgian people, preferring death to
dishonor, he recognizes the same quenchless nationality for which
Irish patriots have labored, minstrels have sung, and martyrs
have died.

Let me remind you that this is not the first occasion when,
on the stricken battlefields of the Continent, Irish chivalry has
gone forth in a similar cause. It is not the first time that in a
quarrel not their own my countrymen have tried conclusions with
Prussian barbarity

As Frederick the Great pursued that system of conscienceless
aggression which his successors have so faithfully maintained it
was a volunteer Irish Brigade which formed the flower of the arm
that resisted him. "A wall of red bricks," Frederick called them
when he had proved their mettle on the plain of Rosbach. And
when the French king complained of their turbulence in time of
peace, exclaiming "My Irish troops give more trouble than all
the rest of my army." their pert colonel replied: "Sire, your
Majesty's enemies say just the same." Was it an idle fancy which
made a Nationalist speaker some months ago bid his audience
bethink themselves of the great days of the old brigade, and feel
that the tramp of the Irish regiments is heard with delight by the
spirits of those heroic ancestors whose bones lie whitening beneath
their feet? And the other reason which makes Nationalism
vibrate to the call is the thought that Great Britain which, in the
old dark days of long ago, days that we so gladly forget, had to

Ireland's Attitude to the War

be looked upon as the foe of our national spirit, has now become
that spirit's liberator and champion. Even twenty years ago,
Ireland would not have dreamed of doing as she has done to-day,
In the times of coercion, in the times of distrust, in the times
when British leaders preached Imperialism towards Ireland which
differed very little from the Imperialism of Prussia towards the
Poles, then indeed the sinister principle was held "England's
difficulty is Ireland's opportunity." Contrast that dictum of
O'Connell with Mr. Redmond's ringing appeal for volunteers,
and you have an object lesson in the science of government. You
have the same in South Africa, where the gift of Home Rule has
made General Botha's commandoes fight not against us but for
us. "England," said Mr. Redmond, "has kept faith with us; it
is for us to keep faith with her." The Home Rule Act of 1914 has
become a veritable covenant of union. In the strength of that
Great Britain can look the whole world in the face and declare
that her zeal for small peoples has given its pledge of genuineness
at home. The touch of generosity has been answered with a whole
heart.

Gentlemen, Ireland, like every other part of the Empire, has
many a nerve yet to brace, and many a sinew yet to strain. It is
to her credit, I think, that volunteering has steadily increased in
volume as the urgency of the case has become better realized.
The sad cortege of the Lusitania's dead, which passed through the
streets of Queenstown was the most effective recruiting appeal
ever addressed to an Irish audience. Whatever a slanderous
tongue may insinuate, the heart of that romantic country still
beats true to every call that comes in the sacred cause of mercy
and freedom. But, while we are confident that she will do a
great deal more, we, to whom Ireland's name is precious, feel
proud that she has already done so much. We are proud to know
that in the greatest struggle that has ever been joined for the
liberties of the world, men of Irish birth or blood have been judged
worthy of high places in direction and in command. We are
proud of Sir John French, and Sir David Beatty, and Sir Bryan
Mahon, and many others whose names will live forever in the
record of this thrilling time. We lay the wreath of his country's
admiration on the grave of the great Field Marshal, among the
first to bid the Empire gird up its loins for the fight that had to
come, and who died — as he would, I am sure have wished — within

Ireland's Attitude to the War

sound of the guns, bidding the regiments he had so often led to
prove again worthy of their traditions and of their cause. We are
proud no less of the humble rank and file, who have gone from the
shipyards of Belfast, from the factories of Dublin, from the white
homesteads of Connaught and Munster. And we are proud most
of all of those who lie buried on the plains of France or Belgium,
in a grave that has no name and no monument, but who are them-
selves the memorial of an Irish chivalry that never failed and an
Irish courage that never faltered. The whole British brotherhood
has given and is giving of its best ; let us trust that in those differ-
ences which must arise in time of peace we shall never weaken
the bond that has been forged in the ordeal of war, but that we
shall keep in the days to come that breadth of mind, that singleness
of purpose, that charity of spirit, in which our heroes stood by one
another in the days that are gone."

(November 29^/1, 19/5)

THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE

BRITISH EMPIRE IN CONNECTION

WITH THE WAR

By THE HON. R. H. BRAND

WHEN I got the invitation to speak to the Canadian Club
here, I determined to accept it, because I think that the
more mutual understanding there is between England and Canada
at this moment the better. Besides, if any Englishman comes out
from England and thinks that perhaps he appreciates what
is happening in England a little more vividly than can be done in
Canada, it is his duty to hand on that information and knowledge
to Canada, so that people here may know what is happening
there, and that both countries together can work together to
prosecute the war with the greatest energy. I would like also
to state, as I am out here (I came out with Mr. Hichens) to do
some work in regard to munitions, that all the opinions I express
to-day on the financial situation are purely personal and not
official in any way.

I think the best way I can begin is by giving you a few figures.
Some of the figures I shall give no doubt you know, but they are
worth while repeating. We have already raised by loan in Eng-
land, by treasury bills and loans of one kind or another, about
six thousand million dollars up to date. Our daily expenditure
now is at the rate of twenty-five million dollars a day more or
less, and that means an annual expenditure of nine thousand
million dollars a year. Our normal revenue is about a thousand
million dollars a year, and we have now further taxation imposed
upon us, which when it comes into full force is I believe estimated

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

just to double our revenue ; that is, to produce another thousand
million dollars a year. That means that we shall have two
thousand million dollars to meet an expenditure of nine thousand
million dollars, and the balance, seven thousand million dollars
we have got to raise by loan in one way or another. These figures
are very easy to roll off and it is almost impossible when you get
used to them to realize how stupendous they are. But I can
put the thing one or two ways which will bring home to you the
terrific amount of debt we are creating in England. Canada has
just raised a domestic war loan, which I believe has been a great
success, for fifty million dollars. That would last in England
now just forty-eight hours at our present rate of expenditure,
Canada has about eight million people and Great Britain about
forty-eight million. On the basis of population and if you were
assumed to be as rich per head as we are, you would be lending
annually about eleven hundred and fifty million dollars, or just
your present loan of fifty million dollars about every sixteen
days. I can put it another way. Statisticians usually state
that England's national income, that is of the people not the Gov-
ernment, is about eleven thousand million dollars. The Gov-
ernment's expenditure alone is nine thousand million dollars.
Therefore the Government as you will see is spending practically
at the rate of our whole national income. You will understand
that with figures like these it is very difficult to raise the money
and pursue always the soundest financial policy. Our difficulties
in England are added to when you realize, that we have to find
an enormous amount of money for our allies. The amount we
are raising for our allies is about equal to keeping three million
men in the field, and you can realize how this adds to our burdens.
The question is how long and whether we can continue this rate
of expenditure absolutely indefinitely. You often hear it said that
this war is a war of exhaustion and that the strongest nation in the
matter of resources will win, and on the other hand you often hear
it said that no nation has been stopped from fighting by the need
of money. There is some truth in both of these assertions, and the
real truth seems to me that it is not money, but the actual
things that you produce in your country that sees you through;
because you do not make war with bank notes or bank deposits
but with shells, guns, food and clothes and everything that we use.
The nation that .can produce within its own borders everything

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

that it wants not only in connection with the war but for
its civil population, that nation would never have to stop fighting
because it cannot find money, as long as it believes in its Govern-
ment and will take its Government's I.O.U.'s. The Government
will either pay this way for supplies or will take them, and the war
will go on. You can see this through all of history. Take the
French Revolution or the Civil War in the United States or the
peculiar instance lately in Mexico. They went on for a good
long time without very much money. Some statesman has said,
I think it was Bismarck, "If you find me the printing press I
will find you the money." That really is the condition in England
and in all the belligerent countries to-day. But there is a consid-
erable difference between the country that is self-sufficing and
the country that is not. If you go to buy things abroad you have
to pay for those things and your printing press is no good there.
You have to pay for them in actual goods, in things of real value,
either by way of securities, exports, gold or something. The
British treasury bill which is very useful to get things in England
is not good outside of England ; therefore in England if we have a
huge foreign expenditure to meet we have to consider very ser-
iously how to meet it. In normal times our annual production
is estimated to be eleven thousand million dollars and we annually
consume nine thousand million and we have something over.
The war changes your national income and consumption in a very
remarkable way. First of all you have three million men who
are the chief wealth producers, under arms and not producing
anything at all; and although we have made up in lots of ways
by the employment of women and boys we have not quite caught
up. Perhaps our production of wealth is reduced say to ten
thousand million dollars, or by ten per cent. Then the wealth
we are producing is something different in kind to a great
extent, because we have turned on fifty per cent, or more of our
productive capacity to the making of munitions of war of all
kinds. Let us say we are producing, I don't know what out of
our total expenditure for munitions, but I will take a shot at it
and say five thousand million dollars. That leaves a balance of
production of wealth of five thousand million dollars, which is all
that we have to meet the whole of the needs of our people, which
in ordinary years amount to nine thousand million dollars. We
are therefore short of actual goods, wealth produced, if I am right,

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

about four million dollars, and we have either to go short or
make it up. I think it is no wonder, seeing this is so, that
prices are rapidly going up, and at the same time we find it very
dimcult to cut down our expenses. This shortage can only be
made up by producing a great deal more, which is very difficult;
or by economizing a great deal, cutting down our consumption;
or out of our capital. As to our capital, you can only live on
your capital in this way to the extent that it is liquid, and you
can consume it. First of all you can stop spending anything on
what might be called the upkeep of your natural resources. We
have been in the habit of spending about a thousand million
dollars per year in this way. You can stop that and save that
money, but you cannot go on very long in this way because you
will stop production altogether. Apart from that you can only
meet this shortage either by selling all your foreign securities
or by sending out your gold or lastly by borrowing. That brings
me to the question of England's foreign indebtedness, which is
by far the most important problem facing us at this time, and one
to which I really wish to call your special attention. I shall
give you a few figures again just to show you the size of the prob-
lem.

We in England, can import about 750 million dollars more
than we export; and in addition to that we can lend to Canada
and other nations about a thousand million dollars a year. We
can do that because in addition to our exports we have what is
called our invisible exports; that is, the interest we receive on
our huge foreign investment, the fares which we charge other
nations for carrying their goods on our ships, our banking
and other commissions, etc. Those are generally estimated to
amount to seventeen hundred and fifty million dollars, and by
this method we make both ends meet. The situation is quite
different now. Our imports are exceeding our exports, owing
to the fact that we cannot produce enough, the men being at
war, under arms or making munitions. Our imports are exceeding
our exports by something like two thousand millions per year
instead of seven hundred and fifty million. That figure as far
as I can make out does not include any purchases through the
British Government itself or the Governments of the Allies, and
I have only the slightest idea what they are; but let me assume
that Great Britain is buying from foreign nations say one thousand

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

million dollars a year, two hundred million sterling. That is
only a shot at the figure. Then she is lending also to foreign
nations, as far as that figure is known, over four hundred million
sterling. That means that her total excess over her exports is
something in the neighborhood of five thousand million dollars.
You can deduct from that the figure I gave you of interest on
foreign investment, freight, banking commissions, etc., which
possibly this year is more than it was last, say two thousand
million dollars, and that leaves a shortage, if I am anything like
right, from the normal balance sheet of about three thousand
million dollars which somehow we have to meet. Well, as I
said before you can only meet that out of your capital. There
is nothing else for you to meet it out of, and your capital you can
only use to the extent it is liquid and to the extent securities are
saleable to other nations. This is the way we have been meet-
ing our enormous foreign indebtedness for the last fifteen months.
We have been meeting it somehow and we shall go on meeting it
somehow. We shall have to sell our foreign securities. We are
also, as you are no doubt aware, sending out a large amount of
gold; and if we cannot meet this condition any other way we shall
have to go to the United States or anybody else that will lend us
money and borrow.

This situation of course lays great burdens on the British
people, because not only are they getting rid of their capital,
but the result of course is to send exchanges against them and
make them pay more for everything they import. Prices have
gone up about thirty or forty per cent, and that is a great addi-
tional burden. If we are to keep within bounds and keep
prices down, the result must be that we shall have to purchase
as little as possible from outside England; we must make our-
selves as absolutely self-sufficing as we can. This applies not
only to England but to France, Russia, Italy, Greece if she comes
into the war, and all the other allies, and if we buy abroad
we must buy from the people who will lend us money,
because we have to get supplies of munitions and that will be the
easiest way of getting them.

You may think from what I have said to-day that I have
ignored the fact that it is not Great Britain that is at war, it is
the British Empire, and that there is no other State in the world,
except possibly the United States, which has anything like the

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

material resources and wealth to conduct a war of this kind thus
far. We can find within the British Empire everything we want,
and the potential resources at any rate of the British Empire are
inexhaustible, and if we can only direct those resources to the
war there is no reason why we should not go on indefinitely. But
there are difficulties in the way. It is not as if the wealth of the
British Empire were in a central reservoir out of which the British
Government could draw all it needs. There is Canada, Aus-
tralia, England, and all the other component parts of the Empire
whose Governments must pump the wealth out of that reservoir
and use it for the purposes of the war. The British Government
buys from its own country practically on credit. It either takes
the money out of your pocket by taxation or it makes you lend
what you have left, and in that way it really buys all these goods
on credit. When it goes outside it has to buy for cash and that
cash has to be found somehow. That really brings me to the last
section of what I want to say, which is whether or not Canada
can possibly do anything to help, so far as finance is concerned,
and in referring to that question as an Englishman I naturally
cannot express any definite opinion. I have only a sort of speaking
acquaintance with Canadian finance, and I really have not any
adequate knowledge of the burdens in the way of expenditures
which Canada has incurred or is going to incur in the course of
the next year. I quite realize what Canada's difficulties are. In
the first place she is not like Great Britain; she has not a great
source of wealth in her foreign investments, which are very large
in the case of Great Britain. She is a debtor country and not a
creditor, and she has to .find a large sum of interest every year to
pay on her debts. Her expenditure is growing rapidly owing
to the war and she has to meet next year a very heavy expendi-
ture to pay for all the men she is sending over to fight for the Em-
pire in France. In the third place, one quite realizes that Canada's
wealth is not liquid to nearly the same extent as Great Britain's
wealth is. In an old country we have within our boundaries a
great deal more of liquid wealth than in Canada where everybody
puts their money in some development or other, and lastly and
very important it is, you have not been able yet to develop a
sort of machinery of credit which we have in England to anything
like the same extent. You have not a Central Reserve Bank
or discount market or Treasury Bill system. I happened to see

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

in the Times yesterday that for the last week Great Britain had
raised 1 50 million dollars in treasury bills. That is quite impossi-
ble here. We, in England, now have a system by which you can
take a very large amount out of the pockets of the people without
their knowing anything about it. In Canada that is not so and
that makes a great deal of difference. The Government has
got to get cash as it goes along, but there is an encouraging
side to the picture, too, because as I understand there has been a
great change in Canada's position in the last two years. She
has changed over from being a debtor nation to being a creditor
nation. She has now quite a considerable balance in her favor
in her foreign trade, and therefore she is in a much better financial
position now than she was even a year ago. Unlike England,
which is dissipating her liquid capital, and necessarily so, Canada
is increasing hers, and I think that Canada has even greater wealth
than her people suppose. I felt quite sure from my experience
in England that this domestic war loan would be a tremendous
success but I met some people who were somewhat doubtful. I
gather that it has been a success, and Canadians did, as English-
men did, respond when the nation asked for their money. I
have been studying the bank deposits of this country, and bank
deposits are not a bad indication of wealth, and I notice that the
bank deposits of Canada are now twelve hundred million dollars
as against in Great Britain something like five thousand million
dollars, therefore your deposits are one-fourth or one-fifth of
ours. In view of all this, it may be possible for the financial
brains of Canada to devise some way, only within her means,
of assisting in the direction of paying for supplies which England
gets from Canada, whatever they are, by advancing us credit tem-
porarily. Canada has already been entering upon new financial
fields with her domestic loans, and all the belligerents have ex-
perienced that lending money grows easier and easier as they go
along. In England we started with a loan of three hundred and
fifty millions and now we think nothing of six hundred millions
sterling, and Germany thinks nothing of three thousand millions
of dollars; and now that Canada has started she may find the
same thing in her case, that it will become easier. I see in the
papers today that a meeting of bankers is to be held in this city
and I hope the matter will be fully considered there. I think
that Canada is exceptionally favored in having a Finance

Financial Situation of British Empire in Connection with the War

Minister who is thoroughly acquainted with the questions of Inter-
national finance and international banking and foreign exchange.
They are not so very easy to understand sometimes. Even in
banking circles I have met people who did not thoroughly under-
stand these questions. Now I know the matter is going to be
taken up here, and I am sure that England is going to receive
from Canada whatever help Canada can consistently give, con-
sidering her large burdens. Therefore, I think we can all face
the future with optimism, because, as I have said, the resources
of the British Empire are absolutely inexhaustible. Therefore, I
am certain that however it is done, some means will be found of
bringing these resources into play towards the actual consumma-
tion of victory. I think that nothing is more important than that
every Englishman and every Canadian should make those re-
sources as great as possible, that we should produce as much as
we possibly can of wealth and have the least possible consumption,
the greatest possible saving, so that the resources that remain
over after we have provided for our own wants shall be as large
as possible to help our friends in the trenches.

(Monday, December 6th, 19/5)

EXPERIENCES AT THE FRONT

By BRIGADIER-GENERAL F. S. MEIGHEN

I CERTAINLY never dreamed that I would ever be called upon to
address this Club, for the reason which I suppose is the reason
I have been called to address you to-day, having been on active
service. If anybody had predicted such a thing a couple of years
ago I would have thought they were lunatics. But fate plays
strange tricks sometimes. My good second in command. Colonel
Burland, whom you probably all know, and myself, we used to
sit and talk it over sometimes, overseas, and think of the strange
turn of events that led the two of us, representing the two most
peaceable trades in the world, flour milling and paper manu-
facturing, to be away over across the ocean in France, trying to
kill as many Germans as possible. However, there we were, and
if that is the reason I have been called to address you here to-day,
or whatever the reason may be, I am very glad to be here and
address this Club.

What I propose to do is to try and give you a little idea of the
life led on the other side by the First Canadian Division after we
arrived in France. I will pass over in silence Salisbury Plains.
When we first arrived in France the order was first an inspection,
or usually two or three, by some of the big generals, from Sir John
French down; and they must have been pleased with our looks
because we had not been there more than a week before they sent
us into the trenches. Sir John French when he inspected the
Third Brigade said: "Well, if you can fight as well as you look I
am sorry for the Germans." We were all certainly in the pink
of condition physically. After these inspections they put us into
the trenches. At first we went in with some British troops,
alternately; one round for us, one for them, and so forth. They

Experiences at the Front

went on duty for three or four days and then we went on duty
for the same length of time; and our trench duty must have
pleased them too, because a week later we were sent in on our
own, going in at a place called Fleurbaix, near Neuve Chapelle.
We had all thought that we had a pretty good mental idea of
what trenches looked like before we went to France, but I venture
to say that not one man in a hundred had really got any true idea
of what they were. We imagined a. hole in the ground where we
could get down. It was not so at this place. The front line trench
is built up of sand bags, that is strong jute bags filled with earth
and piled up to a height usually seven feet, so that the men inside
will be safe, when standing upright, from bullets. The thickness
is such that a rifle bullet is not supposed to penetrate. However,
that is not always the case. The top row was not always bullet-
proof and we lost a number of men in that way. In front of these
trenches were the famous barbed wire entanglements of which you
have all heard so much, and I venture to say that if it had not been
for these barbed wire entanglements in front of the German
trenches we would have been across the Rhine by this time.
It is simply murder and it cannot be done, to send men across
these entanglements until they have been dealt with. They
thought of giving us some wire cutters, but that was useless.
Then they took up the idea of hammering it with shells, and that
is effective. It knocks the wire to pieces and it is no obstacle
after that, the men can get over easily. From these front line
trenches of course we have to do a certain amount of shooting,
and so there are loopholes in these trenches and we fire through
those. Those loopholes are of course very necessary. A man
cannot get up and look over the parapet and then fire. If he did
two or three times would finish him, although some bold spirits
would sometimes take a chance when the officers were not look-
ing and fire over the parapet. Night is the dangerous time in the
trenches; at least it always feels that way, although it really is
not so, because since the introduction of gas the Germans never
attack at night. At night they cannot see what the gas is doing or
where it is going. However, in order to guard against surprise
at night we had what are called flarers. This is like a sky-rocket
and is fired up in the air where it remains for some little time,
sending out a strong white light which lights up the surrounding
country. When one of these flarers was sent up, anybody who

Experiences at the Front

had gone out in front of the trenches had to stand still and make
the Germans think he was the trunk of a tree, or else lie down as
quickly as possible, or attempt to get back to the trench. Some
of us got down very flat. How did men get out in front of the
trenches? Well, every night, at a certain hour, we sent out
patrols. The men were asked to volunteer for this service, and I
may say that we never had any lack of volunteers. These men
would get out and crawl along as close as they could get to the
German trenches, listening there and getting all the information
they could. Of course the Germans did the same to us. The
two patrol parties were very careful how they got on with each
other, because if they saw one another and raised an alarm there
would be small chance of either of them getting home again.
I am sure there must have been many times when they passed
pretty close, but they left one another severely alone. These
patrols sometimes did very good work and brought us in some very
valuable information. I heard of one or two occasions where men
even got under the wire, getting right up to the German trench
and throwing bombs in.

Another instrument we had in the trenches of which you
have no doubt heard much was the periscope. This was an
arrangement of mirrors, set at such an angle that you could put
it up at the top of the trench and see what was going on outside.
This would be most useful in civil life, I should think, as it is in
military life!

Of course you will understand that the front line trench was
really not accessible in daylight. The Germans very often had
their trenches at a higher elevation than ours and men moving
out of the front line trench could be plainly seen by them and
fired on. So we had to have communication trenches stretching
back from the front line. These communicating trenches ran
zigzag. The reason for this was that if the trench had run back
in a straight line from the front line trench, and if there had been
a German sniper who could see down that trench, it could not be
used; but when the trench ran zigzag, the men going through
would be out of the range of vision and gun after the first curve
was passed, just taking an occasional risk. These communication
trenches ran back as far as necessary until we got behind some
shelter that shut us off completely from the view of the enemy,
then we went about our business. The communication trench

Experiences at the Front

was not built above ground. I should have explained that the
front line trench was built above ground because in Flanders
if you dig down a foot you strike water and a front line trench
dug in that way would have been almost impossible from the
standpoint of health and even comparative comfort. But the
communication trenches were dug and they usually filled with
water a foot deep, so you had to splash through as best you
could. There was only a short distance between the two front
line trenches, ours and the enemy's. The closest I saw was at
St. Julien, where it was only thirty yards. If you measure off
thirty yards on the ground and look at it it does not seem very
far. Sometimes it was fifty, seventy-five, and the greatest dis-
tance was four hundred yards.

The system of feeding the men in the trenches was very
good indeed. The rations were brought in at night in wagons
stopping a few miles behind the lines, coming as close as they
could with safety, and when they got to a point that was no
longer safe the rations were unloaded there and parties from the
trenches went down and carried them back. This was all done
at night. Water had to be brought in in the same way. The
water question over there was a serious one because the water
was not fit to drink and we had to get chlorinated water brought
from a distance back and passed by the Sanitary Officer. The
mail was also delivered at night with the rations and it was quite
wonderful to read the Montreal Star, or Herald, or Gazette, there,
with the Germans a few yards distance, standing up in the
trenches on watch. One officer received a registered letter in the
trenches but he could not go on a spree with it as there was
positively no way of spending money. Too much praise cannot
be given to the Army Postal Service, and the Army Service Corps
for the way they handled supplies, and any of you who are send-
ing anything of the sort to the men at the front can be quite
sure that they will get there safely. I can tell you too that any-
thing you may send them is very much appreciated, especially
cigarettes and tobacco, in spite of the good ladies who do not
approve of such things.

The feature of communication was also wonderfully handled
by means of the telephone. Each company commander had a
telephone in his private quarters to the battalion headquarters,
which might be, two, three or five hundred yards behind. From

Experiences at the Front

the battalion headquarters the telephone communication reached
back to the brigade headquarters, and from that to the divisional
headquarters, where the officer in charge could hear in five
minutes, anything that was happening at the Canadian front.
It was impossible to use the flag system, because as soon as a
man showed himself the Germans would make a target of him.

The tour of duty in the trenches was three or four days.
That was the average length of time you stayed in the trenches.
We were never sorry when the time came for us to get out, except
in one case when the trenches were so comfortable that the
officers and men would much rather have stayed there. How-
ever, another regiment wanted to get possession so we had to
move. Behind that particular line of trenches was a tremendous
big brewery or distillery which had been abandoned and was not
working. That explains something.

After we left the trenches we went back in to what are called
billets. The system is this : they take a certain area and allot
it to a regiment. It may be a village or several big farms. The
houses are divided up among the companies of the regiment.
The men get the outbuildings, stables, etc., and the officers
usually get a room or two in the houses. You just take possession.
The poor people have to give it up to you, they are obliged to
take you in. There is usually plenty of clean straw available
and the men are very comfortable. When the billets were a good
distance behind the firing line the roofs were usually intact, but
sometimes when the billets were closer to the firing line the
roofs had been destroyed and then the question was one purely
of good luck as to whether the weather would be good or not.
I remember one billet in particular that was anything but com-
fortable. The roofs of the houses had caved in, and all the
surrounding area having been abandoned, the glass was out of
the windows. We found some straw in a corner of one house
and we did the best with that ; but some infernal artilleryman had
put his battery right outside our windows (we were close to the
firing line) and took a fancy to get a whack at the Germans every
little while, and we could not get any sleep. These poor people
in the billets have had soldiers forced on them for the last sixteen
months and cannot call their homes their own. I would just like
to have Canadians imagine what they would feel like if you had
to give up your houses in Westmount or St. Lambert say to the

Experiences at the Front

Germans or French or any soldier who came along, get out of
your rooms and let them do 'as they please. You could not
protest. You would not like it very much, I imagine. These
poor people have had this for sixteen months. They get paid for
it. They get the really magnificent sum of one cent a day per
man, and I think the officers pay 2 cents, although why the
officers should pay more I don't know. Of course they do not
have to furnish anything in the way of food, simply shelter as it
were. In some cases the people were exceedingly nice. In one
billet they gave us good clean sheets and bedding, and this was
an experience we had not had for some time.

The men have a good time in the billets. We cut down the
duties as far as we possibly can and give them as much rest and
time for amusement as is possible. They amuse themselves with
football and swimming, and they have introduced into Flanders
the famous American game of baseball. They also took up some
of the local sports so to speak. One of the chief of the local
amusements there is something forbidden by law in this country —
cock fighting. Over there the law is much more advanced than
here and they allow that sort of thing. I remember hearing an
amusing incident in connection with this sport. We are told
that the first thing to do when we get into a tight corner is to dig
ourselves in, that is, dig a hole in the ground and take shelter
there. Well, two of our companies were having a cock fight and
one of the birds was getting the worst of it. He ran away to one
corner of the ring, or whatever they call it, and began excitedly
scratching up the earth, and one of the wags of the company
shouted: "Look, he's digging himself in." The men did not
have too bad a time on the whole. The worst feature was this.
We would be sent into billets five or ten miles behind the firing
line, and perhaps not have half an hour there before a message
would arrive ordering us to be ready to move at five minutes'
notice. That state of suspense was often kept up the whole time
we were in that particular billet. It did not give your nerves much
rest.

The food the men got was excellent, quite good enough for
anybody. The officers and men lived on the same food, and there
was plenty of it and it was good.

I would like to say a few words about the Army Medical
service over there. It could not have been better. The way the

Experiences at the Front

men were looked after and treated from the moment they were
wounded until they were sent to the hospitals in England was
simply splendid. You know wounded men could not be taken
out of the trenches in daylight and they would often have to
lie ten or twelve hours in the trenches with wounds. When a
man is wounded the wound has to be dressed immediately be-
cause the soil is so full of germs over there that it is necessary to
disinfect at once, so when a man was wounded a first aid dressing
was immediately applied and then they waited until night, and
the pain the men endured was rather terrible, but they stood it
very bravely. At night they were carried out by the stretcher
bearers to the Field Hospital Dressing Station. Their wounds
were there looked at and if necessary the dressing altered, and then
the motor ambulance took them back to the Clearing Houses
where the cases were divided into the more serious and the
slight cases, one sent to one hospital one to another. The men
were looked after most magnificently, and too much cannot be
said in praise of the doctors who looked after them. The first
V.C. to be given to a Canadian officer, if not to a doctor of the
whole Imperial Army in France, was given to Dr. Scrimger, of
my battalion. I would also like to tell you that the first special
conduct medal was won by a stretcher bearer of my battalion.
Private Drake. The thing for which he got the medal was this.
One of our men wandered out behind the trench line. The
Germans shot him when they saw him. Drake went out to get
him. He also was shot, but he crawled on his hands and knees
to him and stayed there and helped him until some of our fellows
could get out and bring them both in.

It might be of interest to tell you something about some of the
battles, so-called, although a modern battle and one of long ago
are two entirely different things. The battle of Neuve Chapelle
was the first we saw there. The Canadian Division was right
alongside, about i}/£ miles from Neuve Chapelle. In spite of
what you have heard over here, the very sensational account of
the Canadians taking part in that battle, no Canadian fired a
rifle shot or used a bayonet, and this I can vouch for. My
battalion was the nearest of all to the battle, and although we
had orders to take part in it under certain circumstances we
never got nearer than that. I know that one Canadian private
had filled a correspondent full of rubbish about how the Canadians

Experiences at the Front

had bayoneted so many Germans, and so forth. Well, we
saw the artillery beginning their fire. Three hundred and fifty
guns were concentrated on the village of Neuve Chapelle. It
was something terrible to see these bursting shells over the village.
Another officer and myself climbed up a hay rick to get a good
view of events and we had only been there a few minutes when we
felt some bullets whizzing around us and we both made for the
ladder. I think the other officer fell down first and I fell on top
of him. When we got to the bottom we crawled away, and we
did not attempt to get any better view again.

At that battle the forward gain was, I think, 1,200 yards,
and the frontage was 2,500 yards. That cost 20,000 lives. I do
not know what the proportion of officers and men was, but that
was the total casualties. The reason was this. It was a break-
down of communication. The whole thing was to be run on a
scheduled time. The front line assault was timed for a certain
hour and it was figured that it would take say fifteen minutes to
carry that line; say the first at 10:00, the second at 10:15 and so
on, until they got their objective. The trouble was at a certain
time the artillery was to fire on the first line and then lift to the
second, and so on. The whole distance was carried in about
fifteen minutes, instead of the time calculated. The officers could
not get communication back to the artillery and they were firing
on their own infantry all the time. This sort of thing is hard
to avoid, and that was the real cause of the failure of that attack,
because it did not result in what was aimed for. The wires were
broken and nobody knew what was going on at the front. How-
ever, it gave the Germans a shake-up anyway. I have here the
original order that was sent to me, commanding the i4th
Battalion, and it gives you an idea of the form of an order for an
assault. The space we would have had to cross, if we had had to
make it, was about 400 yards, which is as I stated before the
greatest distance I have ever seen between the two trenches.

The barbed wire had not been cut, and they had given us
wire cutters. The German trenches were full of machine guns
and I do not think 25% of the men would have come back alive.
However, we were not called upon to move, and I felt rather thank-
ful we were not.

The next big battle in which the Canadian division took part
was the battle of St. Julien, and that was "some show." When

Experiences at the Front

we took over the trenches of St. Julien from the French Army the
Third Brigade was put in first, and my own battalion on the left
of the Third Brigade, next to the French troops. I had a French
Canadian company in my battalion (and a very good one, too),
and the commanding officer, General Alderson, wanted them to
be next to the French troops because they were French speaking.
After a few days in there we were relieved by the Thirteenth
Battalion and the next day the big battle began. One of my
companies stayed up with the Thirteenth as an extra support.
You have all heard the details of the battle. You know that the
Germans used gases for the first time. It was on the i4th and 1 3th
Battalions that the first attack was concentrated, and they stopped
the first German rush. The Germans nearly pulled off a very big
thing there. They wanted to capture the Canadian division if
they could and they nearly did it. They got as far as a line of
about 700 men, the last thing between them and the town they
wanted, but when they got to the general headquarters line they
were met by machine gun and rifle fire and they seemed a little
timid about coming on. If they had known how few troops were
there they would have rushed down re-inforcements and have made
short work of it. However, they went back again. The casualties,
as you know, among Canadians in that fight was tremendous.
The late Captain Williamson had charge of a machine gun there,
and he saw two German companies coming across the open. He
was off from the trenches with a small company of men, but so
hidden that the Germans did not know he was there. His men
caught these two companies without their having any chance of
taking cover; one of the men of Captain Williamson's company
who escaped said he does not think that twenty of those two
German companies got away alive. He had his men hammer away
at them and simply wiped them out. That gives you an idea of
the power of a machine gun. After that battle we were brought
back and then came the gas attack I have told you about. The
Germans were across the country about 1,200 yards away from
us and at the right of my battalion was the Essex Regiment.
About four o'clock we saw a tremendous cloud of yellow-green
smoke coming towards us. This was the famous gas. We got
on our respirators and got ready for it. It reached the Essex
trenches first, and they had to retire. They could not stand it
because their respirators were not as good as what they supply

Experiences at the Front

now. Luckily for us behind us was the Third Battalion, with
four of the famous French guns you have heard of. This is the
best gun in the world. They were telephoned to about this attack
and in half a minute they had the range, they lined the whole
ridge with shrapnel, and no German ever got over it, and the gas
was blown away by the wind and everything was over. You can
fire twenty-five shots a minute with that gun.

We had a little excitement, too, one day, with a German
aeroplane. He kept coming down closer and closer and finally,
thinking we were asleep, he came down within rifle range. We
had five hundred rifles and they let fly at him and they got him.
He fell, unfortunately, on his own lines, but the men cheered very
heartily when they saw him come down. That is one branch of
the service where undoubtedly we have the German beaten, the
aeroplane service.

The next battle we got into was the one at Festubert. We
had got reinforcements from the English and soon got orders to
march. We were to make an attack across ground which had
already been looked over by the Guards Brigade. The order
was to attack at five o'clock in the afternoon. We had not seen
the ground before and I am sorry to say that the staff officers who
were to act as our guides did not apparently know much about the
ground. They said we would not meet with any opposition, but
we soon found out the inaccuracy of that statement. The Four-
teenth and Sixteenth made the attack the first day. They started
out about five in the afternoon and were at it all that night and
at five the next morning we had got up about five or six hundred
yards, and then the Coldstream Guards were ordered to reinforce
us. In the first part of the attack we lost three officers and seventy-
five men, and the next few days, sitting in the trenches, we lost
one hundred men from trench firing. We had no means of stop-
ping the German fire and we had to stay there and run our
chances. One shell burst in No. 4 Company and killed seven men
and wounded three. I think in the fighting during the next
two or three days the casualties were something like 10,000 men.
A Company of Scots Guards was lost in this attack, and a little
extract from an English paper says :

"A great white grave stands in memory of a company

of Scots Guards and two of their officers, who died with the

proud boast that they had never lost a trench in this war."

Experiences at the Front

One of those officers was a young man known to a great many of
you, the late Denys Stephenson.

At this same battle a little bugler belonging to my battalion,
coming from Ottawa, did a wonderful thing. He had never been
in that country before and the night of the first attack he came
back to quarters twice, a distance of six or eight hundred yards,
in the dark, over a very bad bit of the country, to bring up stretcher
bearers from the front with wounded men. I was glad to see in a
paper the other day that he is going to get the Distinguished Con-
duct Medal. That boy is only fourteen years of age, and will be
the youngest D. C. M. in the British Empire. In the three days
we were sitting in the trenches at this same place we buried 150
British and 175 Germans and we could not begin to bury all those
that lay dead around us.

You have heard, too, a great deal about the German
atrocities. In the same neighborhood we came across a case
which I know to be authentic because I personally saw it and I
can vouch for it. We found the body of a Canadian officer who
had been strangled. He had a rope around his neck, his hands
were tied behind his back and his clothing was torn. He was
strangled, because there was no wound on the body. They had
cut off all his badges except one star on the sleeve. What happened
we can only conjecture. We have no means of finding out, but
possibly he resisted. That is an authentic case, gentlemen.

Just before I left France, Kitchener's Army was beginning to
arrive and the little we saw of them convinced us they were a
very fine lot indeed. And what I have heard since leads me to
say that they are apparently going along well in the game, a
credit to themselves and the Empire.

I should like in connection with that to read you a little
story. Two officers were talking over army matters in the
trenches one night and one officer said to the other: "This is a
rum profession. ' ' And the other asked : "In what way ? " " Well,
who takes about nine-tenths of the risk in this game, and who
does really all the work in the army? The private. This is the
problem. The farther away you remove the British soldier
from the risk of personal injury the more you pay him. The
private marches and fights like a hero. The motor ambulance
driver gets around like a lord, with little risk, the Army Service
Corps driver and the staff officers have a minimum of risk and are

Experiences at the Front

compensated by extra cash. Now why?" The other officer said :
"Well, probably those officers would be glad to be in the trenches,
perhaps they would sooner be here." The other said: "Well,
I have never seen any of the staff officers coming in at four
o'clock in the morning. If ever I do meet one I shall say : "There
goes a Sahib and a soldier and take off my hat to him." The other
said: "Well, get ready now." Two figures in uniform of staff
officers were visible picking their way along the trenches. One
of the officers was burly and middle-aged and did not appear
to enjoy bending double. The other was slight and very young,
and once or twice he glanced over his shoulder and addressed
the other smilingly. The pair advanced and straightened their
backs. The two officers, noticing the uniforms of the pair who
were advancing saluted. The pair saluted in return. The officer
who had made the boast did not take off his hat. Instead when the
two men got close, he suddenly stood at attention and held that
position until they had disappeared. The younger of the two was
the Prince of Wales.

Now, gentlemen, you have heard a good many things about
the army in France one way or another, and you have heard it
said that there was a great deal of discontent amongst the laboring
classes in England. I would like just to ask one question in that
connection. Why, if that is true, are there two million British
workmen in the ranks of the British army in France to-day?
I had the pleasure of hearing Ben Tillett in London, one of the
most rabid socialists and labor leaders just a few years ago.
He was a typical example of the socialist and laborite of that time.
He was sent to France by the British Government to have a look
around the trenches and he could not say enough in praise of the
British army and its officers, from the Prince of Wales down.
This is the best answer we can give to the statements of some ill-
informed gentlemen who tell you that the labor element in England
is not loyal. It is absolute nonsense. They are as loyal as any-
body else. Now I would just like to say a few words as to the
general situation of the war. Personally I feel a great deal more
cheerful now than I did six months ago. I think we have them all
right. But there is one danger, perhaps even a greater danger
than the Germans, and it is this : there is going to be a whole lot
of mealy-mouthed humanitarians who will insist upon a rotten
peace. They want to give the Germans the best of it, and we are

Experiences at the Front

not going to let them do it if we can help it. It is really astonishing
how men of very high position, who are supposed to know better,
can go astray. We have two notable examples in Dr. Lyttelton,
of Eton, and the Archbishop of York. The latter says he met the
German Emperor somewhere and he has a sacred memory of
him. Dr. Lyttelton says we must not humiliate the Germans.
He also suggests that we should give up Gibraltar in order not to
injure their feelings, although what connection Gibraltar has to
their wounded feelings I do not know. I don't think there are
many of you gentlemen who would agree with that sort of
nonsense. There is another thing to be considered too. Gentle-
men, there will be three or four million British soldiers who have
been in the field who, when they come back, will not lie down and
let such gentlemen as I have named have their way. These sol-
diers are going to have some say. They have stood in the trenches
and have seen their dearest friends shot down around them. We
are going to say how Germany shall be treated. There is no
government in England or Canada who could stand against the
votes of those soldiers when they come back.

, In conclusion, I will read you another extract which I think
sums up the thing pretty well. It was written by an Englishman
whose name I have forgotten :

"After the war there will be peace. This we know. On
which side victory will alight it is superfluous to hazard a guess.
But there will be a change of heart. When we lay down our arms
we shall not easily tolerate the selfishness of politicians. After
the war England will cherish an army of three million men, who
have looked with clear, unflinching eyes upon death, and we shall
know the philanthropic state for the fraud that she is by those
who have learned to rely on their own force. And for the rest, it
is for us to await the end of a triumphant war."

(December ijth, 1975)

INDIA'S SHARE IN THE WAR

By MR. RUSTOM RUSTOMJEE

(Editor of the Oriental Review)

UT>REATHES there a man with soul so dead," who is not
-L' thrilled with enthusiasm at the spectacle of the unity and
determination of the whole British Empire to wipe out of
existence once and for all the curse of militarism which has threat-
ened the peace of Europe the last forty years, and to establish
peace, and the permanent existence of the small nations of
Europe through all the ages to come? Gentlemen, never did I
feel so proud of the British Empire as I feel now in these days of
distress and disaster. A great American is reported to have cried
out at the time of the American Revolution: "Give me liberty
or give me death." It seems to me, gentlemen, that the whole
British Empire, with one voice and one heart has cried out:
Give me liberty or give me death/ ' For it is more glorious to die
the death of the righteous and faithful, fighting the battle of the
weak against the strong, than to live a life of ignominy, shame and
cowardice, the life that shirks the duty of fulfilling promises once
given and honor once pledged. The almost prophetic words of the
late Professor Cramb, uttered a few years before the outbreak
of this war, ring in my ears. "Faithful to her past in conflict
for this high cause if Great Britain fall she will fall as a hero,
doing something memorable."

I am also proud of my country, India, and the part she is
playing in this crisis of the world's history. She is fighting the
battle of the weak nations of the earth in Mesopotamia, in Egypt,
in East Africa, in France and in Flanders. But that is not enough.
Behind the ranks of one of the finest armies the world has ever
known stands India to a man, and she will stand there until the

India's Share in the War

enemies of civilization and of liberty are beaten to death. I
think I am not betraying any official secrets when I state that
we have sent to all the theatres of war nearly 250,000 troops from
India and we can, gentlemen, we can send millions of men and
tons of gold, if Great Britain can train and equip our men, utilize
our means and accept our sacrifices on the altar of duty and
humanity.

Before proceeding with my subject, let me just say a few
words about the section of the community to which I have the
honor to belong, the Parsees of India. When I had the privilege
of having a talk with Colonel Roosevelt, he cracked us up the to
seventh heaven, and then turned round to me and said : " Rustom-
jee, I have a fault to find with the Parsees of India. They don't
fight, they are cowards." I said to the ex-President of the United
States: "Do you know the reason why not a single Parsee is
returned as a soldier in the census reports of India?" He said:
"It must be the foolish reason of their considering fire to be
sacred." But that was not the full reason. The Parsees are a
peace-loving people, immersed in commercial and industrial
pursuits. Even in self-defense they have not taken up arms
against their enemies since the Persian enemy was defeated in
670. But what has happened now? At the outbreak of the
hostilities in Europe we organized a corps of Parsee volunteers,
who are now fighting side by side with the Canadian volunteers.

To enable you to understand the present attitude of the
Princes and peoples of India, let me very briefly describe to you
the political position of the peoples of India before the storm burst
in Europe.

Being a continent with a variegated population numbering
more than 350 millions of people, with divers forms of govern-
ment, one cannot deal with India as a political entity. It is
composed of several sets of peoples with different ideas, ideals,
aspirations and ambitions. First of all come the 700 Indian
Princes who rule over, some quite independently, some other-
wise, more than 65 millions of people. Gentlemen, they have
never swerved to the right or left from their devotion and loyalty
to the British crown ever since its power was consolidated in
1857. The next important factor in the Indian population is the
seething mass of Indian agriculturists, numbering more than 200
millions of people. Their loyalty has been proverbial. In fact

India s Share in the War

most of them are so ignorant that they do not know or care to
know who governs them, and as long as their governors are kind
and sympathetic, and lift the tax when a bad season comes, they
do not trouble their heads with what at best is a very complex
problem. The 72 millions of Mohammedans form the third
important element in the Indian population. All through the
period of stress and storm through which India was passing a few
years ago, when the clouds were in the skies and electricity in the
atmosphere, when sedition and anarchy were rife, not a single
Mohammedan was found guilty of disloyalty to the British crown.
But I believe that the most important constituent of the Indian
population is the rapidly growing number of educated Indians.
They are divided now into two parties, the Constitutionalists
and the Extremists or Nationalists. The former are strong,
influential and great in numbers. The first article of their creed
is that they believe in the permanence and consolidation of
British sovereignty in India, and their programme of work is the
gradual improvement of the British administration of the country
and greater and greater employment of the sons of the soil in
the executive work of the administration. Sir (to Sir William
Peterson) your brother was a great friend of these Constitution-
alists, of this party to which I have the honor to belong. In
season and out of season he advocated our cause, often much to
his own detriment. The Extremists form a microscopic minority.
They are clamoring for home rule for India. Like the grass-
hopper that makes more noise than the stalwart cattle grazing
in silence, so this party is a noisy one and people have thought
that the whole country was in a state of discontent and dis-
affection. These Extremists are led by a very remarkable man,
Mr. Tilak, who has been said by the London Times to be the
father of political unrest in India. Mr. Tilak's hostilities to the
British administration of the country assumed such alarming
proportions that the Government was compelled to invite him
to be the guest of His Majesty in one of the Forts in Burma,
and ticket of leave was only granted him a few weeks before the
war broke out. This was the political position of the Princes and
people of India before the bolt from the blue was launched by
Germany upon Europe.

Gentlemen, to be loyal to the British Government of India
was one thing; to be enthusiastic in support of Great Britain's

India s Share in the War

cause in Europe was quite another. How do I account for the
splendid enthusiasm, the magnificent response, the sacrifices of
men and money which India has made and is willing to make to
uphold and maintain the honor, the integrity, and the dignity
of the British Empire? Here also different sets of motives have
actuated different kinds of people. The Princes of India knew
at the outbreak of hostilities that the peace, the security and
integrity of their states was secured to them by British authority ;
and in the united determination of the sovereigns and peoples of
Great Britain and the Dominions to stand by their obligations to
Belgium, no matter at what sacrifice, the rulers of India saw yet
further guarantee of the maintenance of the integrity of their
own states. This was the motive that actuated the Princes of
India to make any sacrifice to uphold and maintain the British
Empire, and great are the sacrifices the Princes of India are
making on the battlefields of France and Flanders. One hundred
and twenty Indian Princes or their sons, among them an old
nobleman of 70 years of age, Sir Pertab Singh, with his young
nephew, a mere lad of sixteen, are fighting on the battlefields of
France or the other theatres of war. The teeming masses of
Indians realize that the downfall of the British Empire would
bring about the restoration of chaos and anarchy, famine and
disease which devastated the land before the British power was
established in the country. Never should it be forgotten that
before the flag of England was unfurled in India, within a single
generation, one hundred dynasties grew up, flourished, decayed,
were forgotten. Every adventurer who could muster a troup of
horse aspired to a throne. Every palace in the country was the
scene of conspiracy and revolution. The people were ground
down from within by the oppressors and from without by in-
vaders, by the robber from without, and by the robber from
within. All the evils of despotism and all the evils of anarchy
pressed down upon that miserable race. They knew nothing of
government but its intolerable oppression. Disease and famine
were everywhere along the banks of their redundant rivers.
That was the condition of India prior to the establishment of the
British power in that country. What is the condition now?
If I were to describe fully what Great Britain has done in India
the Canadian Club of Montreal would have to provide you
gentlemen with a dinner and supper and you would all have to

India's Share in the War

sing with me: "We wont go home till morning." You know
the monument erected in St. Paul's Cathedral to Wren has the
words: Si monumentum requiris, circumsjpice — "If you seek his
monument, look around." That is the sum total of the noble
work performed by the British people, by Great Britain in India,
and it can be described in this way, using the classical words of the
American Constitution: Great Britain has "established justice
and sure domestic tranquility, provided for the common defense,
promoted the general welfare, and secured the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity."

These things are described in hundreds of excellent books : and
thousands of much more excellent articles in the Advocate of
India from the pen of my late beloved teacher, Dr. Peter Peterson;
but there are other things not quite so well described, not quite
so well known in other parts of the world. What are the civil
rights of an Indian who is a subject of the British Crown? Though
he comes to Great Britain he does not need to be naturalized.
He is already a citizen of the British Empire. All he has to do is
to acquire the necessary qualifications to vote in the Municipal
and Parliamentary elections of Great Britain. He can sit, he has
sat in the House of Commons, he can enter British universities.
He can be appointed, he has been appointed a member of the
Council of the Secretary of State for India, at Whitehall. He can
sit, he has sat on the Privy Council of Great Britain. His rights
in the colonies, or in what are called the Overseas Dominions, are a
different matter, and a subject upon which I shall not now touch.
All I wish to say is that a large number, a vast majority of educated
Indians realize the difficulties that confront the British ad-
ministrators of the Colonies. They realize fully the impossibility
of assimilation, sociological, biological, economic and religious,
of any large number of East Indians into the body politic of the
Overseas Dominions; but I do not despair. I believe that after
the war a solution will be found, can be found and must be found.
I believe, I have faith in the wisdom, experience, judgment,
sympathy and fair play of the British administrators all over the
world, and I can safely leave the destiny of India and Indian
immigrants to the Overseas Dominions in their hands. In the
meantime I would ask you, I would beg of you not to judge
India, the silent and much maligned India, the new India, the
loyal India, the great India, the India of history, by a few who

India s Share in the War

have sold their birthright for a mess of pottage to the enemies of
civilization, liberty and progress, and who are trying to stir up
bad blood between the citizens of British India and the Britons
overseas. In spite of the proclamation of the so-called Holy War
by the Caliph of Turkey, the Mohammedans of India have rallied
around the flag of Great Britain. Gentlemen, the Mohammedans
of India have brains that think and hearts that feel. They
know well that as long as the Union Jack flies over India they are
free to enjoy the blessings of liberty and freedom of worship, but
that if ever it is furled they are liable to be swamped by the
teeming millions of Hindus of India.

Just one word about the old Sultan of Turkey and the
Young Turks. The Old Abdul Hamid was a better statesman
than the Young Turks, to whom is now committed the destiny
of the Ottoman Empire. The old Sultan ever dangled the sword
before the eyes of the Christian nations of Europe, but he never
unsheathed it, knowing well that it would prove a rusty instru-
ment for his purpose. The Young Turks unsheathed it, and the
worst fears of the old Sultan have been realized. The Holy War
has turned out to be a miserable fiasco. Not a single Mohammedan
in the Empires of Great Britain, France or Russia has rallied
around the flag of the Caliph of Bagdad. The educated people
of India believe that this war is a conflict between two ideals, the
ideal of autocracy and the ideal of democracy. They believe that
this awful struggle which is often regarded as one between
oligarchical Germany and democratic England, is really a struggle
between a self-constituted State and a God-made people; and
that all principles, all morals, both major and minor, are being
weighed in the balance. But what constitutes a State? "Men
who their duties know and know their rights, and knowing them
maintain." So sang the poet of England, and so believe the Indian
people. But what says Germany ? This: " States do not rise out
of people's sovereignty. They are created against the will of the
people. The State is the power of the stronger race to establish
itself."

The Extremists, the Seditionists, the so-called Anarchists
of India, have also buried the hatchet. The speech delivered by
Mr. Tilak at the outbreak of the war thrilled India through and
through. It is a long speech and I will not quote it, but let me

India's Share in the War

just quote the words of another great Nationalist, the so-called
uncrowned King of India. He said:

"We may have our differences with the Government, and
what people have not ? but in the presence of the common enemy,
Germany or any other power, we sink our differences, we forget
our little quarrels and offer all that we possess in the defense of the
Empire to which we belong and with which the future of our
people is bound up."

Just one question — a question which has been asked me for
the last two years, ever since I arrived in this country. What is
to be the future of India?

Gentlemen, when I arrived in this country one of the leading
newspapers in New York City said that a Pharisee had come from
India to preach his religion. The cultured ladies of Boston thought
I was a fortune-teller. Then at Yarmouth, N.S., I was held up as
a Turkish spy. No one has called me a prophet and I have never
ventured to prophesy. I believe there is a Divinity that shapes
our ends, "rough hew them as we will." If the question Quo
Vadis? were asked a French, Italian, Russian, even a German
Imperialist, he would not find it more difficult to answer than the
ancient Roman did; his intention was to civilize his alien subjects
but in no way to relax his hold on them. What would the reply
be of the British Imperialist? He would be puzzled to find an
answer. He is aware that he is struggling to maintain two ideals
which are apt to be mutually destructive — good government,
which connotes the continuance of his own supremacy, and the
ideal of self-government, which connotes the discontinuance of
his own supreme position, or the partial discontinuance of it.
Moreover he is aware that the Empire must rest on one of two
bases : an extensive military occupation, or on the broad principle
of national self-government under the benevolent hegemony of
Great Britain. Therefore, in the fullness of time when the people
of India are ready and fit to govern themselves, and I think that
day is far away, they will be given that privilege. I wish I had
time to describe some of the efforts, earnest, continuous efforts,
Great Britain has made to educate the peoples of India to govern
themselves, but I have no time. I wish I had time to describe the
far-reaching reforms introduced in India by Lord Morley, when
he was appointed Secretary of State. But I say in the fullness of
time India will be given that privilege. Then will come the time

India's Share in the War

when there will be a real, a truly real Imperial Federation, because
without India there can be no real British Empire, I maintain;
there will be Imperial Federation, and Canadians will sit side by
side with the Sikhs, the Australians with the Parsees, the Scotch
with the Boers, the English with the Irish. There will be the true
Imperial Federation, managing the affairs of the Empire; for the
local affairs will be managed by local Parliaments.

Gentlemen, I have a higher vision, a greater hope for the
future of India. If the British Empire were to end to-morrow, I
do not think that Great Britain need be ashamed of its epitaph.
It has done its duty to India and has justified its mission to
mankind. But it is not going to end. It is not a moribund
organism, it is not suffering from fatty degeneration of the heart.
It is still in its youth and has in it the vitality of an inexhaustible
purpose. I am not a pessimist in the matter. I do not believe
that Great Britain's work is done or is drawing to a close. I do
not believe that Great Britain has built a mere fragile framework
between the East and the West, Europe and America, which
Asia, Europe or America will presently sweep away. This is not
so, gentlemen. On the contrary as the years roll on her call to
duty seems more clear, her work more magnificent, her goal more
sublime. Let no man cherish the craven fear that those who
created the British Empire cannot retain it. That is not my
reading of history. That is not my forecast of the future. To
me the message is carved in granite, it is hewn in the rock of doom,
that Great Britain's work is righteousness and that it will endure.

The tumult and the shouting dies,
The captains and the kings depart.
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
A humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet.
Lest we forget — lest we forget !

(December 2o£/i, 19/5)

A GLIMPSE OF THE WAR

By MAJOR THE REV. DR. BRUCE TAYLOR

T REGARD this splendid audience to be a token of the interest,
J- not in me specially, but in the regiment I am proud to repre-
sent. You have already in Montreal so many men who have
been through the very thick of it, who have taken part in great
efforts. You have General Meighen, who has left behind him
a splendid name. I do not wonder that he is recruiting this new
battalion with ease, seeing that it is known he is going to lead it.
You have Colonel Barre, who carries on him the mark of the
soldier's wounds. You have many men from the ranks in Mont-
real here, who could tell you about the splendid things done,
say by the machine guns at Ypres, lads who perhaps cannot express
themselves, and tell of the great things they have done. But a
man like myself, a non-combatant, can only tell you a few odds
and ends of the things about which he happens to know.

It is difficult to realize here that we are at war. There is
so little in the life that indicates it. I suppose taxation is begin-
ning to show it. I imagine that your wives' housekeeping books
show more effect than your own everyday life. The life in the
streets still follows its uninterrupted trend. But London is dark.
Aberdeen is darkest of all, whether from Scotch economy I know
not. On the other side, too, you never go anywhere but you find
the whole country is an armed camp. You never strike the sea
coast anywhere but you are struck by the vigilance of the navy in
some form or another. I used to spend many a morning upon the
cliffs between Folkestone and Dover, lying there over the edge
with a good pair of field glasses, looking at what was going on.
Two submarines are always cruising up and down the line that
indicates the net, stretching across to the French coast. You

A Glimpse of the War

saw the aeroplanes constantly moving about, because the aero-
planes starting for the front take their point of departure from
there. There were also airships. We have three that accompany
the mail steamer back and forth from Folkestone to Boulogne.
All this made you really feel that England was at war; whereas
here, apart from the fact that so many of your boys have left,
the real stress of it is hardly visible to you.

It was my good fortune to be associated with a regiment
officered by men all of whom I imagine are known to you here,
many of whom I have seen here at the Canadian Club. There
was Royal Ewing, he is one of the subalterns: Colonel Cantlie
is the Commanding Officer: Bartlett McLennan is second in
command — those of you who know him know that he gives life
to everything he is connected with : Hartland McDougall was the
paymaster. Like me he was idle. Not quite as idle, but nearly
so. In France nobody got any pay; that is we could all draw up
to a certain limited amount, but anyway there was nothing in
France to spend the money on. We were a long way from the
centers of civilization, and we even got a two ounce tobacco
ration a week, so McDougall had nothing better to do than make
fun of the rest of us, which he promptly did in his inimitable way.
Then there was Herbert Molson, whom of course you know, and
we are very proud of him. He has that splendid faculty of hand-
ling other men without letting them know he is handling them.
The control of a big business is as good a training for this war
game as any a man can get. Then we had Norsworthy, the
brother of E. C. Norsworthy. I wonder if I ever came across a
man who had a greater power for hard work. He would rise at
5 :30 in the morning and get to bed at 1 1 o'clock at night, just
then coming out of the orderly room. There were so many others
— I should have made a list of their names — Stanley Coristine,
Hugh Walkem, Kenneth Strachan, Hugh Mathewson — of whom
Montreal may very well be proud. These were some of the men
in my regiment. We were in Canada, so to speak, all the time.
In Shorncliffe the only troops were Canadian troops. There are
various explanations for that. There had been British troops
there but they were not there when we were. I expect there were
differences arising between the Tommies as to the scale of pay,
and anyway if it came to standing drinks the Canadian had it
every time. Then, too, when we were at the front in Belgium, we

A Glimpse of the War

had Canadians to the right of us and Canadians to the left of
us. The only ones that were not Canadians were the aviation
corps and the men who brought forward the heavy naval guns
at the dead of night, fired and vanished away. It was our good
fortune in the 42,nd to be let down extremely easy in our work.
We went over there to Belgium as Corps troops. I do not think
we knew what that meant, and many of them do not know now.
The 42,nd was a very good battalion (naturally I say so!) and the
4Qth, from Edmonton, was another very fine battalion, also the
Royal Canadian Regiment, and these three regiments were in
Shorncliffe ready for immediate service. I think it was considered
that they were too good to be broken up as reinforcements, and
so we were kept together. They sent us to Belgium to dig trenches,
keep open lines of communication, and so forth. I understand
that those three regiments are to be formed into a new brigade —
and they are certainly going to make a very fine brigade — com-
bined with the Princess Patricias. No doubt we are going to
hear all manner of good things about them.

We went into the trenches under the tutelage of our own
first battalion, the i3th, which was an immense advantage.
The 4ind were wise enough to know they knew very little, and
when they got to the front they were wise enough to "let on"
they did not know anything. They were thoroughly schooled by
their elders in the service and were shown all the routine and the
knack of trench warfare. There is a vast deal that the men who
have been in the trenches can teach those who have not. There
is this new musketry practice, which is not the individual firing
of guns, but of a rifle battery, aiming not at a particular mark,
but at a particular area pointed out to them by the director of
the firing. You may come out all right on the rifle ranges, but it
is a different thing to hold your rifle when the Fritzes are in front
of you. And there are many other tthings that only experience
can teach. It is all very well to teach a bunch of men the com-
position of a bomb, that it is made in a certain way and that it
will explode in a certain time, that when you take the pin out
it will last 4^2 seconds; but you only learn by experience that
very often so near are the enemy trenches you have to hold it
in your hand two seconds in order that it shall reach its mark.
These are the things that you do not learn in a training school,
and indeed one could not but feel how great was the contrast

A Glimpse of the War

between the regiments who now go to the front and the lot of
those who had the first heavy end of the attack. Think of the
first expeditionary force, men rushed to the front, and set down
there in the face of an overwhelming and prepared enemy. These
are the heroes of the war. We found their graves everywhere.
In every corner of a field — "so and so Morris and his orderly
fell together" — we found the traces of them everywhere, grew-
some enough traces sometimes. It was hardly possible to dig
anywhere between the two lines there without coming across the
traces of that initial fight.

It is strange that the side of war that was always before us
was the domestic side. You seemed to lose interest in the larger
aspect of the war when you were responsible for a certain number
of yards of line. We used to get our mail every day, and the
newspapers came only one day late. The headlines were glanced
at and the newspapers laid aside. We had lost all interest, some-
how, in the major movements of the war. We became purely
parochial. It was an extremely interesting thing to watch oneself
beginning to think solely and simply in terms of one's own bat-
talion, to feel merely a member of a battalion holding a particular
few hundred yards of front.

One's first experience under fire, especially for a middle-aged
family man like myself, is a nerve-racking thing. One Sunday
afternoon I got taken in by Captain Scrimger V.C. Everybody
talks about Scrimger. If he got the V.C. it was only after he had
deserved it many times. There is no fear in him, and I began
to think that if you go with a V.C. you have to live up to him.
It was like belonging to the Mount Royal Club. It is no place
for me because I cannot keep the pace going. Well, we went out
this Sunday afternoon and rode as far as was safe, then we got
off our horses and went in through a communication trench,
seven or eight feet deep, lined on the bottom with wood that is
facetiously called a bath mat. We walked along this thing for
a mile or so, the trench constantly changing direction, so that if
fire is directed along it the damage will be only local. Every now
and then we would come out into the open and along by the farms.
The farms have very descriptive names generally. There is
Ration Farm, which needs no explanation, and perhaps Stinking
Farm needs even less ; and then we got along to the headquarters of
the 1 3th Battalion where we found Colonel Loomis, Victor Bu-

A Glimpse of the War

chanan, and "Deacon" Smith, called Deacon because he has a
broad Scotch accent, which is thought to be connected with
Presbyterianism in some way. Then, after we had been introduced
to this dugout, with its sloping roof all sand bags and very much
exposed, we moved over down past the reserve trenches to the
front line trenches where we met a lot of old friends ; Dr. Stewart
Ramsay, Hutton Crowdy, Gilbert McGibbon, and a great many
more. By the way, while I am talking about that let me say a
word about Hutton Crowdy and his lamented death. I think in
Montreal a wrong impression has got abroad that Curry, Crowdy
and Seccombe were going out of their way, taking unnecessary
risks; that somehow or other their deaths were unnecessary ones.
That is not the case, except in so far as every man's death might
have been avoided if he had only done something else. All after-
noon the Germans had been sending in a lot of trench-mortar
bombs, not nice things at all. They are eight-inch high explo-
sive shells; you can see them from the start of their journey,
and you watch them like a catch in the deep field at cricket,
only in this case your object is to get out of the way. These
shells had been coming in all afternoon and bursting about twenty
yards beyond the front line trench, but finally one fell straight upon
a dug-out in which four men were resting. They began to dig the
men out and three of those men were got out alive. That dug-out
was just to the right of the 1 3th lines, but there is no distinct de-
marcation between one line and another. If something happens at
the end of one line it is obvious that the next line has to come along
and lend a hand. These three officers had gone down to see if they
could be of any use in this place and while they were there another
bomb burst right in the midst of them. Curry was killed outright.
Crowdy was not even knocked senseless. He seemed to be wounded
in the side, but it turned out that his most serious injury was in
the back. There was great difficulty in carrying out a man so
tall and heavy as he was through the communication trenches,
and his men, who absolutely worshipped the ground he trod
upon, carried him out over-land, taking great risks; they got him
to the ambulance, but when the surgeon saw him he was already
passing away. Seccombe died next morning. You may say it
was unnecessary. If they had stayed in their dug-out it would
not have happened, but it was not Crowdy's way to stay safe in a
case like that. War is not a game where a man can always count

A Glimpse of the War

the chances, and indeed the less he thinks of the possibilities the
better he is as a soldier. But Crowdy left behind him the name of
a man who feared nothing, and whenever we went into the i3th
we found he was the man who knew the whole matter of trench
warfare from one end of the alphabet to the other.

Now shell fire is quite another matter from small arm fire.
I doubt if anybody ever gets used to shell fire. It is not pleasant.
We were in billets in a village that was being pretty constantly
shelled. One Friday afternoon we got 38 eight-inch high explosive
shells coming in, and I shall not break my heart if I never hear
another. You hear them five or six seconds away and they come
screeching along and you always think they are being aimed at
your head, and then they burst probably a quarter of a mile away.
If they burst anywhere in your neighborhood the chances are
considerable that you get a pretty good wound. There are two
classes of wounds over there — Blighties, which are wounds which
take you back to England, and Boulognies, which only take you
to Boulogne, where you can look across at the English Coast.
We had the idea that the German front line trench was held
by a very few men and a great many machine guns, and one or
two things have been done to put that belief to the test. You
may have noticed in the third week of November an account
of an expedition which got into the front line trenches and got out
twelve Germans. That was accomplished by Canadians. It was
rehearsed carefully for about a fortnight and every one of the
fifty men in the little company knew exactly what he was going to
do. All that afternoon there was a steady bombardment of the
German front line and reserve trenches, and at the hour of seven
the bombardment continued but opened out a bit and those men
cut two tracks right through the German wire and came back
again. The bombardment went on again and at 1 1 o'clock it
again opened out and this party of fifty men went out to do the
work they had prepared for. The Captain in charge got through
or over the German front line trench at the point where he knew
the sentry was. The German was sheltering under some corru-
gated iron and the Captain jumped on top of him, and before the
sentry could get out there was not anything worth while left of
him. The men got over the parapet, spread out on either side,
some going along the two communicating trenches. Of course
the trench lines are well known to both sides thanks to the maps

A Glimpse of the War

made by the men in the aeroplanes. The men spread out, throwing
bombs as they went, and they came out with thirteen prisoners
in a quarter of an hour. General French's report said twelve
prisoners. The discrepancy is this. When they were getting over
one of the prisoners wanted to argue the point, so they left him
behind.

Now when you read in the official reports that it has been "a
quiet night upon the Western front" I just wish some of you
could see what is meant by that. The fact is that the noise is
always going on. It is not a question of noise and silence, but only
a question of more or less. There are periods in the day — the dusk
and the dawn, — when the firing on both sides reaches its maximum,
but the thing is always going on. The artillery is always firing
and, by the way, for every shell the Germans sent into us, our
artillery is giving four back anyway. Whatever may have been
the case at one time, there is no lack of munitions along that front
now, and I believe also that the life of the guns is proving to be
a much longer thing than they anticipated at the beginning of
the war. I suppose the gun is not so accurate as when new but
the guns are in use far longer than the artillery experts believed
possible, as a matter of theory. This firing, as I said, is going on
all the time, and when you are in the front line trenches the screech
of your own shells is terrific. We were at least 130 yards away
from the German trenches but when you sat listening to those
things it did not seem to leave much of a margin for error. As
soon as dusk falls the flares go up and the German's are better than
ours. These things go shooting up into the air and hang there
before they drop and for eight or nine seconds they light up the
whole vicinity. The machine guns come only in bursts, but
nothing I think gets on one's nerves so much as that. The noise
is so metallic, so stern, so absolutely unrelenting. You always
picture to yourself some group of men dropping down in the mud
while those wretched things pump lead into them.

Might I say just a word or two from the point of view of
my own utter ignorance, with regard to what seems to be the future
of this war. Nobody who is in a position to judge has any idea that
even yet, after these fifteen or sixteen months of it, it is going to
be a short war. I think the estimate of Lord Kitchener of a three
years' war is not far from the truth, and the longer the war goes
on the better for us in the long run. I am not oblivious of the enor-

A Glimpse of the War

mous cost of the war, the way in which the generations to come
will be weighted by this incubus of debt, and the losses that you
are suffering in those whom you love best; but at the same time,
a mere military victory is never going to dispose of the German
question. What we want to do with Germany is to keep her at
it until she is absolutely exhausted. Those advances that have
been made on the Western front cannot be said to have been
unqualified successes. Neuve Chapelle was a most tremendous
fight and the losses were appalling and the gain not great. In the
battle of Loos on the 25th of September our casualties amounted
to something like 60,000. It was the greatest battle in the world's
history, and after all what was gained was another salient, and you
understand that with such a salient open to attack from three
sides, an advance along a few miles creating this sort of a post
to hold is not much gain. There must be an advance, if it is to
be a gain, all along the line, and the losses would be appalling to
think of.

There is another thing I wish to say, and that is with regard
to the futility of criticism concerning our leaders. We just used
to swear when the Times and the Daily Mail came in. It is
sickening the depression that these newspapers leave you with.
They are doing an infinite dis-service to our country. It does
not need Lord Northcliffe and the men associated with him to
point out to the men at the head of things if things are wrong
when they are wrong. These men know perfectly. It is quite
possible that things are not all that they might have been, but in
this world of humanity nothing ever is as it might be. In a nation
that was not primarily a military nation, a nation that never
dreamed of this war — but some people will say it ought to have
dreamed. We ought to have done lots of things, and we only
discovered these things too late. It is no use calling men down for
not having done something that an unprecedented condition of
affairs has shown us to be wise. Nor do I know anything about
the Dardanelles expedition, but it seems to me a very important
factor in the case that the same kind of element that made
Germany disregard her treaty obligations has affected Greece,
and the Allies have had to guard against the possibility of those
self-same Greek troops turning into a menace. That could not
have been anticipated. Whenever I used to see the London
papers I remembered Gladstone's feeling that the Liberal Party

A Glimpse of the War

was misrepresented by the London Press. You never get to the
banking center of the world without getting the dominant element
Conservative. The financial element is always so, and naturally
so. Gladstone said the London Press, — the Press quoted abroad —
was the Press that misrepresented England; because the foreign
countries did not know what the local papers were saying, did not
know what those big provincial papers were saying. And so we
feel that England is being misrepresented by those big London
newspapers.

But beyond those matters there is the question of the Divine
governance. You and I believe, whatever be the particular form of
creed that we hold, that God is for us and God guards the right,
and in the face of all this trial and sorrow and distress that we
have been subjected to, and in the face of those horrible things
that some of us have had to ;ook upon, we still believe — the Ger-
mans call upon the same God, I know they do — we still believe that
we stand for righteousness and for truth, for the liberties of the
small peoples. We stand for that, and that is not going to be
beaten.

(January loth, 1916)

EMPLOYMENT OF ARTILLERY

By LT.-COL. J. J. CREELMAN

THE subject is a technical one but I wish to keep away from
statistics and technical terms. The name itself implies the
different uses to which artillery is put during various phases of
military operations, in the attack, in the defense, the rear guard
actions, advance guard actions, attacking or defending rivers,
woods, etc. That is the full meaning of the expression, the
employment of artillery: but I do not propose to deal with all that.

The artillery in Canada before the war was a branch of the
service pretty well known to itself but not known to anybody
else. We had our own practice camps at Deseronto and Peta-
wawa, apart from what one officer said was the contaminating
influence of some of the other branches of the service. We had
to be and were exclusive. War came and the infantry, cavalry
and other branches of the service had to accept us for protective
if for no other purposes. We had to go along as part of a com-
plete division ; and the work which has been done, not only by the
British but by the Canadian artillery, with very little publicity,
has been all right.

The infantry division, as you know, consists of probably
eighteen thousand odd troops. Of these 4,000 are artillery, so
that the artillery in an infantry division are practically between
20 and 25% of the total. Artillery organized on a war basis
had never been perfected in Canada during peace times. In
Britain a few brigades were kept up to war strength, but the
war strength found itself in India in a condition of constant
preparedness for war. Out there all the brigades are maintained
at war strength.

The divisional artillery consists of headquarters, 3 i8-pounder
brigades, one brigade of howitzers, one brigade of four gun

Employment of Artillery

batteries and the divisional ammunition column. Before the war
one battalion of heavy artillery was included in the divisional
arrangement. The circumstances have been such that the heavy
guns are no longer divisional matters ; they are army matters and
one battalion or twenty are sent here, there or the next place
when needed. The divisional artillery on the march occupy
nearly six miles of road. One brigade would extend along Sher-
brooke from considerably east of Bleury to a point considerably
west of Guy. In addition to the divisional artillery there are at the
front various sizes of guns in ever increasing numbers. When the
first division went to France on the i4th of February last year
large guns were more to be noticed by their a-bsence. Now every
hedge and every house has some kind of a gun, large or small,
either in it or behind it. There are all sizes of guns from the
1 3 -inch pounder up to the 1 2-inch howitzer and 1 2-inch naval
guns which fire a distance of over twenty miles; and later on
larger guns may be heard of.

The object of the artillery is to protect the infantry. The
infantry cannot get along without us and we cannot get along
without them. We are inter-dependent — but our main purpose
is to protect them, and we have to conceal and protect ourselves
to the best of our ability. Some of the present Canadian brigades
have been for six months where they are now and have not had to
do ,any forced marching, which means that in spite of the German
aeroplanes they have not been able to pick the location of at
least fourteen out of sixteen Canadian batteries. Concealment
is perfected in a hundred different ways. The object is to make
ourselves inconspicuous, to fit into the background of the ad-
joining country, to have a battery look like a hedge, or anything
at all, so that aeroplanes will not see the guns and spies are not
likely to stumble across them.

The front formerly held by one division might be said to be
anywhere from three to five miles, sometimes for defensive pur-
poses we get down to two or three divisions to one mile. Oc-
casionally the five mile limit of front may be extended, but nor-
mally, in a quiescent period such as the last six months, the
divisional front will run from three to five miles. The infantry
of the division consists of three brigades, two battalions of these
three brigades are constantly in action. Each battalion is sup-
ported by two batteries of artillery. The artillery brigade

Employment of Artillery

cooperates with the infantry, generally. It is considered good
form to exchange lunches and dinners and cigars and any other
supplies that may come with these meals, with the view to the bet-
ter discussing of the situation and to consider any improvements
which either the gunner or the footman may want. The batteries
normally are anywhere from one to two miles behind the infantry,
dependent very largely upon the lay of the land, and, of course,
.somewhat upon the available concealment and protection afforded.
The battery is connected by telephone with its Forward Obser-
vation Officer, who is either in our own infantry trenches or on
rising ground behind them. He is connected by telephone with
his battery, with the front line trenches and with the infantry
battalion commander and with brigade headquarters. The
wires are not only duplicated but triplicated. Some of the wires
are underground and some are overhead. The exact location of
the laying of these wires is left pretty much to the men in charge.
They are the men who have to repair them and keep them going
under fire, and they are allowed a free hand, pretty generally,
and they are laid where they can repair them naturally with the
least possible risk and in the shortest time. Under present con-
ditions, each artillery brigade operates a telephone system of
approximately thirty telephones, always in use, night and day.
At each phone someone is supposed to answer in one second or
quicker. There are one hundred miles of telephone in constant
use for internal purposes only. Behind us are other telephones
connecting divisions with corps, and so forth. Telephones of
course sometimes bring about what I might call peculiar circum-
stances. On one front where we were there was so much wire
around and so many barbed wire fences that the induction was
very serious in wet weather. One telephone sergeant in disgust
wanted to see who he could make connection with by
connecting his phone with a barbed wire gate, and the
first man he got was way up in the air in an observation
balloon. He tried again another intersection of the barbed
wire and spoke to a hospital with which we were not supposed
to be connected. The second night before the second battle
of Ypres, I listened to a gramophone concert going on
in one of the front trenches, and probably dozens of people
all over that part of the front were listening to the same
strains as they came through our wires by induction.

Employment of Artillery

The war has naturally developed new methods of ranging
targets and new methods of observing fire. The intelligence
system of the British army to-day is in such a condition that we
get really up-to-date news of practically everything that is going
on behind the enemy's lines. We have our circular letters come
around each day, sometimes twice 'a day, giving information,
sometimes marked secret and confidential, but a great deal of it
is not, telling us matters which have been discovered in some way
as to what is going on behind the German front. A week before
the battle of Ypres we knew that gas was going to be employed,
but not much reliance was put on the statement, and in any
event no one was able to take precautions knowing nothing of
what the gas would be. When the original gas attack started,
on the evening of the 2 2nd, it was about a mile and a half due
north of my own brigade headquarters. We smelt it and it made
our eyes water, and a short time afterwards some Canadian
Highlanders were seen to be off their heads, they were waving
their rifles in the air and all that sort of thing. Several of them
were disarmed for purposes of self-protection — the men were
crazy, and the Germans themselves have since said that had
they had the remotest idea that the gas was going to be as
successful they would have had more troops and have got through.
The British have used gas of another nature, with very successful
results, and I know that experiments are going on all the time with
the effect of various gases on the enemy and the best methods are
adopted to keep these gases from affecting our own personnel.

The maps which the intelligence department give us are so
complete that an expert gunner ought to be able, within one or
two shots, to hit a ten yard square anythere within range of his
own guns. The guns themselves have lasted longer than anyone,
even in the ordnance branch, could have imagined. Some of the
i8-pounder guns have fired 15,000 rounds and are in exactly the
same condition as when they were made. A great deal has been
said in the press and elsewhere about shortage of ammunition.
In my own experience there has never been any shortage for
defensive purposes. We always had enough to keep the Germans
from getting through, but for a long time we did not have quite
enough to start successful offensive operations. Now, however,
during the last two months, the situation has completely changed
and instead of having to send an explanation in writing as to

Employment of Artillery

how I expended one more round than I had been allowed, the note
I receive is something like this: "It is noted that out of your
allowance of last week you failed to fire so much and so much.
Please explain." The rule to-day is that apart altogether from
our own minor offensive operations which are intended to keep
the enemy guessing, over and above that we have instructions
that if the enemy has the temerity or is rude enough to throw
shells into our front, they are at once replied to two to one, and
they are sent in very quickly, so that he can have no doubt as to
why he is getting it back. Through our own observation system
we learn what shells the Germans are using, and if they use larger
shells we at once telephone and give them a little larger than they
sent in to us, and if they keep it up we give them a general assort-
ment of shells. During the period that ammunition was not as
plentiful as now, the word "retaliation" was used. When shells
would fall into the infantry trenches they would request us to
retaliate. The infantry never need now to request. We do it
automatically, two out for one in, plus some for good weight.
The observation is done, as I mentioned before, very largely by
the forward observation officer who is in a position where he can
see the effect of his own shells on the enemy's front. On many
occasions we have to fire well over the enemy into places where
we can observe the effect of our own guns. If possible, we get
aeroplanes to do the observation work and they send us messages
by wireless giving the results of the fall of the shells and the
corrections are made accordingly. At night, or in the daytime if
aeroplanes are not available, firing is done by the map, and as I
said, a battery commander, knowing his own guns, knowing
the temperature, etc., ought to be able, with good ammunition,
to hit a ten yard square within the range of his own guns, and it is
done every day by practically every battery.

The condition of life among the artillerymen is one I may
say of considerable comfort. Apart from our work we do not get
the excessive discomfort that the infantry get in the front trenches.
But they are in them four days and then in brigade for four days
and then in divisional reserve for four days. During those four
days they get their baths and banquets, clean their clothes, etc.
They have nothing to do but rest up and thoroughly enjoy
themselves. The artillery, although living much more com-
fortably, amid more comfortable surroundings, are always on

Employment of Artillery

duty. There has not been a minute since last June that a single
battery of the Canadian division has been out of action. They
are always on duty and knowing that we have to adopt measures
to remember it.

The quality of the ammunition which is now coming forward
from Canada — we had a lot come from the United States and now
we have it from Canada — is just as good as anything that has been
made on the other side ; and a battery commander of experience,
knowing the class of shell he is firing, and seeing any one series
carried out with any class of shell, can do just as effective work
with shells made in Canada and the United States as anywhere
else in the Empire. Naturally there is a small mechanical error
in the construction of shells and fuses, but I personally have not
noticed any increase in the mechanical error in the shells coming
forward to-day to what we had last February when we first went
out.

The Canadian artillery have very frequently of late been
used for training purposes. That is, we have had officers from
newly formed British divisions and brigades sent out to us for
instruction, so we accept that as a compliment and we try to give
them at least as good instruction as we got from the British
brigades before we first went into action. I know that two of the
battery commanders of my brigade, one, Major Hanson, of West-
mount, and the other, Major McLeod, of Sydney, since deceased,
on two different occasions have been called before British Generals
and personally thanked for their services when covering British
troops.

Those at the front appreciate to the very utmost the good
work which is being done in Canada in the way of raising bat-
talion after battalion, and we look forward to seeing them out
there. The 42nd, which arrived a few weeks before I left on leave,
is undoubtedly a magnificent battalion, and from what I have
seen of the battalions now being raised in Montreal I think the
new battalions will continue to keep up the record and repeat the
performances of the first Canadian Infantry which went out.

From an artillery point of view it has always been a pleasure
to support the Canadian infantry, and we have always lived on the
most cordial terms with them.

The food out there is of the very best, and with proper
cooking the men get as good as they were ever accustomed to at

Employment of Artillery

home or in their clubs, if not better. The former C.P.R. dining
car chef who cooks my meals leaves nothing to be desired.

The clothing and supplies of all kinds are of the very best.
There may be a shortage in Canada or Britain but in the firing
line the men are given everything they want — in fact they ask
you to take more, and we would if we could carry it.

The medical services cannot be too highly spoken of. The
work of the Canadian corps and their men out there is worthy of
the highest recognition. I had the personal experience of being
"evacuated" through medical channels, and although not al-
together comfortable it was a most interesting experience.

The postal department is the best thing and possibly the
greatest wonder out there. During the third day of the battle of
Ypres, the hottest day I experienced out there, although we did
not have any food we had a bag of mail come up.

I do not intend to make a recruiting speech and I do not in
any way wish to refer to that subject — that is for others. We did
our recruiting originally when we first went away, and subsequent
recruiting should be done by other speakers, and I have had to
say no to many requests to come and make recruiting speeches
while on leave. I am sailing next Saturday to go back and I shall
go back and tell those whom I know out there of the very excellent
conditions in Canada — not making a report, simply telling them
that things are going along here swimmingly, that recruits are
coming along quickly, that there is no scarcity of men, and that
the 500,000 spoken of will be raised even if the country to the south
of us has to be to a very large extent depopulated !

(January 17^/1, 79/6)

THE PLIGHT OF MONTENEGRO

By CAPTAIN A. V. SEFEROVITCH

Consul-General of Montenegro, New York

I AM not an orator, and as a Montenegrin always is, I am a
silent man. This is a national characteristic of every Monte-
negrin. I am a patriot, and although not an orator, the plight of
my country, and the horrors through which my country has
passed and is passing, has made of me a speaker.

I am very glad to know English. I am very happy indeed;
because without that language I would be unable to serve my
country as I serve her to-day. I have known English people for
years; I have always admired them, and for the love I have for
them I have studied the language.

Now, I am going to give you a little of the history of Monte-
negro. Montenegrins are Serbians. We are of the purest Serbian
blood. The first Serbians made an invasion from the north, from
Russia. We are Russian. The Serbians were farmers, as
they are to this day. When they settled in the Balkans
in the /th Century they founded an Empire, but the last
Emperor, Lazare, having lost in 1389 a battle with the
Turks, Serbia became a Kingdom, and it has been periodi-
cally invaded by the Turks. When the Serbians first settled
they went south as far as Albania; and they founded the
colony Zeta in the valley of a little river. Now Zeta has always
been independent, up to this day. Zeta is the little country that
is now Montenegro. Later on, when the Turks in a second
invasion, placed Serbia under their yoke, many more Serbians
came down the mountains to the north of Montenegro and they
settled there, and a dynasty was formed under a Bishop, the
dynasty coming from the bishops. Like the Scotch people we
were divided into clans. Every tribe had its chief, very similar

The Plight of Montenegro

to the Scotch clans. We also have a sword dance and use the
bagpipes, like them; but our bagpipe is not as large as theirs,
as we are a much smaller nation!

For five and a half centuries we have checked the Turkish
invasion. The Hapsburgs of to-day owe their crown to the Slav
who protected them from the Turks; but the Hapsburgs have
never been faithful to the Slav as you know very well. The
Montenegrins have always defeated the Turks so that they never
reached our mountains; they broke at the foot of the moun-
tains and none of them returned to tell the tale.

Montenegrins have been proud of themselves, proud of their
country although small, and of their ruler. They have always
been faithful to their ruler. Our King, whom we address as
'thou' not 'you,' walks in the streets among the people. He
knows all the clans and all the people who have been with him at
war against the Turks. He has a very fine memory. Our nation
differs from the Serbian in this, that still in our mountains you
find to-day the real type of the old Serb; because we have not
had the Turkish invasion nor the Huns at the time of the Hun-
garian invasion, and we have conserved the true Serbian type of
our ancestors.

As national characteristics we have this. We are quiet,
we do not speak much. We think. We have poets amongst our
poor peasants. The shepherds are poets. Although the shepherd
knows how to read and write just a little, he is incapable of
writing verses; yet he can make verses. We are not as musical
as the Serbs and this they say is on account of our high mountains.
They say the altitude spoils the musical taste, although I don't
know about that. Anyone who is working in a skyscraper in
New York must lose the taste of music, if that is so. Monte-
negrins are very poetical and the first poet is our King. They
say our people are so poetical that when our children cry they cry
in poetry.

Now, on account of the constant invasion of both Serbia and
Montenegro, printing has never developed, so the history of our
country is in the mouths of the rhapsodists. These are all re-
spectable men and they travel from village to village with nothing
with them but a piece of bread or bacon and a little instrument
that looks like a mandolin, with one string, on which the rhapsodist
plays and sings his rhapsody. It is a primitive instrument, but

The Plight of Montenegro

the man who is telling a piece of poetry or history makes up a
suitable accompaniment to add to the effect of his story or what-
ever it is. Our rhapsodists have always kept alive among the
people the spirit of patriotism and this is why we respect them.
They do not need a home or food. They find it wherever they go.
Hospitality is one of the main points in the make-up of our people.
A traveller knocks at the door, walks in, sits down and eats.
No questions asked. Now, gentlemen, the Montenegrins, as I
said, are poets. Besides this they are warriors, and every man, in
time of peace, is shooting. That is the main occupation. The
Montenegrins are not very fond of jokes, of silly jokes. They
do not like those jokes of the traveller variety. They are serious,
they are silent people. There are no drunkards in our country
as far as I know. Drinking is a shame. Drinking even on Christ-
mas Day would not be allowed much and Christmas is one of the
biggest days we have as holidays go. They are great smokers,
and just now I feel as though I were in Montenegro ! The Monte-
negrins are very fond of coffee, smoking and thinking. That is
all they do. In time of war our women carry ammunition. They
do all the Red Cross work. They accompany the men to the firing
line and now I am thinking with sadness of how many of them have
been killed. They have done their duty by their country.

The Montenegrins have a great inclination to travel and this
is why we find them all over the world. As the country is poor —
we have no industries, little agriculture — we have no other means
of living but to emigrate. This is why you find in the United
States nearly 20% of our men before the war, working in the
mines. The Montenegrin considers himself a soldier and he would
not work at anything that would not keep up this reputation.
For instance, he would not do street cleaning, he would not be a
waiter in a restaurant, and so forth. He works in the mines
where nobody sees him.

In the past wars every Montenegrin was proud of the
number of Turks he could kill and many of them used to
bring the heads to show them to his masters, but often, while
carrying the heads, they used to be captured, and so the
King, the Prince then, said to them: "It is not necessary to
bring the heads. Just bring me the noses." So, instead of
carrying the big head, they used to carry the noses in the
pockets of their trousers.

The Plight of Montenegro

The Montenegrins in this war — they have not fought, like
in the other wars for any acquisition of territory, although hunger
is at our gates. We fight for the freedom of those who have been
under the Austrian-Hungarian yoke. We have an ideal. We
could not live without it. Our first ideal which made us go against
the Turk was the Cross. We fight for the Cross. We consider
ourselves the best Christians in that country. We are all Christians
— belonging to the Greek Oriental Church. We used to have
connection with Constantinople. Now we have our own arch-
bishop. We have some Roman Catholics and some Moham-
medans, and this is all that we have as religions, but every re-
ligion is respected. We make no difference, no division.

We have been and are the most advanced people in the Balkan
States in culture, in writing and reading. We have the highest
percentage among the Balkan States in these subjects.

As to cruelties perpetrated in this war upon the peaceful
population. The Montenegrin and Serbian have a belief that if
you dishonor any woman in a decent house you wont have any
luck in the world, and the first shot is fired on the person who has
perpetrated such a crime. For instance, a girl before marriage is
collecting her dowry. It is put in a box. She is preparing every-
thing that she can to give as a present to her future husband.
There are presents for him that she is working herself. Needle-
work. A nice shirt with embroidery. Socks especially, and she
puts them in a nice box. Any soldier touching a dowry of a girl
would also have bad luck. A Serbian officer ordered his soldiers
to take everything' they could find in a certain house, and the
soldiers refused to obey. They said, although you are an officer,
our principles of religion will not let us touch a woman or any-
thing belonging to her dowry. This prevents the people from
perpetrating crimes, they are religious. We believe in God and
fear God.

The Serbians and Montenegrins are big-hearted people,
hospitable and not brutes, like those we are fighting. Very
little has been known of Montenegro. In my travels I met an
English lady who asked me what nationality I was and I told her
Montenegrin, and she said: "Well, you are not black!" I said:
"No, we wash our faces well." She was surprised!

The Montenegrin used not, unfortunately, to treat his wife
on the same footing of equality as we see to-day. * First comes the

The Plight of Montenegro

man,' he would say, 'then you. Take off my slippers, light my
pipe.' She had to attend to her husband as she does to her
children. The woman would walk on the street behind the hus-
band. He would carry a stick, and if the woman came a little
nearer he used to push the stick back under his arm and jab at
her. However, it was no wonder we had this point of view as we
were in touch with the Turk and we were copying a little of the
civilization of that barbarian. If they were ill-treating so many
wives it seemed easy for us to ill-treat one. Those mothers of
ours, who have produced such good fighters! To them we owe
very much. To them we owe everything we have. They were
badly treated, yes, but they are now on the same footing as we
are. Civilization has been introduced into our country too.
They have fought side by side with our men, up on the rocks
where only the goat can reach. They have carried ammunition
and food and given consolation to those who were dying. "No
Admittance" was written on the big tent, in English, the hospital
tent. But at certain hours the Montenegrin women went there
and said: "I want to see my son," and they went in, notwith-
standing the "No Admittance." We love our sons and our
families. The Montenegrin is jealous of his family. The principal
crime in our country is killing in self-defense. That is the only
crime I know of in my country. In the prisons you won't find
many persons, and if you ask a prisoner why he is there, he will
say he committed a crime in self-defense. He will never tell you
for stealing. They are ashamed of that.

The Serbians are up and down. When in great joy they are
bright and gay, when sad they are in the depths. Although of
the Serbian race we keep more on the same level all the time.

Now, gentlemen, you know a little bit about the character of
my little country. Of its bravery you have read perhaps more
than I. We have been victorious for five and a half centuries
and now we have lost our biggest stronghold, like the Rock of
Gibraltar — Lovcen. Where the thrush used to be heard from dell
to dell, where the little streams used to run, sweetly whispering
the songs of our language, there, to-day, is the barbarian ; he has
reached the top. We, worn-out in a war of four years, have lost
half of our youth. Ten thousand are lying around the mountain
out of five divisions. Another ten thousand have fallen in the
trenches, fighting against the Bulgarians. In order to help our

The Plight of Montenegro

brothers, the Serbians, we made a march of 260 miles, doing about
40 miles a day, and when we reached there, worn-out, sick,
exhausted, they told us to stop. But we refused, we went straight
up in the trenches and dislodged those barbarians and we killed
them, and we found our death too. Only a few of our people
came back. But the victory was won for the Serbians. When
they charge the enemy they never use bayonets, they take out
their revolvers. We had 35,000 Montenegrins in America. About
twenty thousand reached the battle line, carrying revolvers, and
through the kindness of the United States Secret Service nobody
was touched. The Serbians used to dig trenches for our people.
They would not bother with trenches themselves. They exposed
themselves in front of the enemy and this is how they died, like
the Roman soldiers under Justinian, hit through the front, not
through the back.

Speaking of the trenches, I have the other day come across
a book, "Life in the Trenches," which spoke so well of the life
there, the English soldier getting chocolates from his sweetheart
and so on. The Montenegrins have very few sweethearts. We
have no drawingrooms, no curtains to hide ourselves. We marry
very young. Life in the Montenegrin trenches has been a very
sad life, especially during this last war. There is no Montenegrin
who has been in the trenches who has not got rheumatism and to
heal them we have no medicine, no doctors, we cannot buy
medicine, everything is taken up and we come the last. I am
told that the men heat two pieces of stone by rubbing them
together until a spark comes and wrap them around with clothes
binding them to the knee and this is how they try to alleviate
their pain in the trenches. Sad things come to my attention
through a doctor who used to be attached to our service there.
Such are the conditions in Montenegro. We have no chocolates,
because chocolates do not make good soldiers. Good soldiers
are made from onions and brown bread. The Montenegrins have
a digestion that will digest anything. Our principal diet is brown
bread, corn meal mush, onions, cabbages and potatoes. The
life there has been a frugal one. All the time we are either ex-
pecting or are actually ravaged by famine, and Russia has al-
ways helped us and sent us grain. Bread is the cry, bread and
nothing else. We could not live without bread ; and if you think
that the Montenegrins wanted to take Scutari just in order to

The Plight of Montenegro

win a battle you are mistaken. The reason is that it is located
near the lake and around the lake is the most fertile part and they
wanted to have a granary.

If Lovcen has been lost, that is the backbone of Serbia, and
we have lost everything. You do not know the position. It is
stronger than Gibraltar, and we have lost it. Why? Because
we were worn out by hunger, we had no clothes, in the trenches
we had five thousand men against twenty or thirty thousand
Austrians, bombarding two fortresses on the top of the mountains.
If our cannons had not been worn out from four years' use they
would never have reached us there. We would have shot down
every man we could reach.

Now comes the question of an armistice. Never believe
that our king will make a separate peace. We Montenegrins
have sworn faithfulness to the Holy Ghost — we fight for the
Cross. We do not like to have the Turks back again, nor the
thick-lipped Bulgarians, nor the Teutons, populating our moun-
tains. They drove us back, but we are coming back like the tide,
back again. We have another hope and object, to keep Scutari.
If they take Scutari they take Montenegro. If we get some help
from our allies we can keep them back and perhaps sweep them
from their position and the victory will give us back Lovcen and
final victory. England is not beaten, France is not beaten, nor
is Russia yet. Unfortunately, the Albanians in the north are a
little bit hostile to our cause, because the Austrians have spent
lots of money to arm the Albanians, but those are only intrigues.
In the center of Albania is Essaad Pasha, and the King of Monte-
negro is friendly to this Pasha. Our King amongst the Albanians
has a good name and perhaps that may help us, that the Albanians
may not be hostile to our poor refugees.

Concerning the cruelties perpetrated by the Austrian-
Hungarians on our poor population. Let me illustrate this. An
old woman is left in the village and the gendarmes of Franz
Joseph come and ask her, "Where is your son?" She says:
"He has run away." They put her on a post, like a pillory, strip
her, assault her, and then set fire to her little house so she can see
the destruction of her home. Is this worthy of a civilized nation?
It is a shame. I have, gentlemen, over a hundred pictures, and
most of them are showing the cruelties of the Austrians. If you
see them you will be amazed. I cannot look at them without

The Plight of Montenegro

tears. Children two years of age, women, old men, all massacred
together, and I have a picture of the major of the Austrian Army
who massacred those people.

Our great saying is "Nothing without God," and knowing
that the Bible says that the anger of God is slow but is sure, we
know that those barbarians will have to pay.

To-day, I am making an appeal that you all here, all Cana-
dians, should unite without distinction of race and religion, one
and in unison. That will give you the strength to fight. The
Canadian battalions who have been in the trenches have fought
the enemy and have been an honor to their country. Only a few
of them have been there but more are going and may God bless
those who will go afterwards and destroy the work of the devil
so well represented in Wilhelm the Second. The Canadians at
the front have a great task, a noble task, that history will never
forget. Nor will history forget the Canadians. Some of them
have lost their lives just at the gates of my country, having been
drowned. The boat went down with all the supplies, 60,000 bags
of flour which I had collected and which would have saved the
lives of so many families. There were five hundred soldiers on
board and only two hundred have been saved. I am a father.
I have a son at war. He may be killed or wounded, I don't know.
I cannot go myself, but I serve my country, I do my best. May
the Lord bless my son. I cannot do more. I wish I had fifteen
or twenty sons. The Germans have increased their population
by white slavery, and all kinds of criminal and immoral things.
We have increased our population by morality, by marriage, and
every good man has fifteen or twelve children; and why are we
so strong and tough? Because we have fought the land which is
rocky and barren, our women were able to resist anything. Your
forefathers came to this country, the pioneers, and worked their
way through the forest with the utmost difficulty, and out of their
hard muscles were born sons with harder muscles. You Cana-
dians are a healthy race, a healthy nation. Your cities are very
small, you are in touch with nature and in touch with God and
that gives you a big heart. I rely on that big heart, gentlemen,
that you will make any sacrifice for your cause. I say to all
Canadians in general, unite and fight to the end. I think that
after May we will win a victory. The operation of the war in
Spring is very difficult. The snow will be melting on the dear

The Plight of Montenegro

Lovcen we have lost, and it will bring down in streams the blood
of my brothers who died there on the height. I wish to see the
Spring over. Our soldiers won't have a very good time of it
then. Encourage your men to save the country from our common
enemy ! And now, gentlemen, I will close this address with some-
thing in French — Aux armes, Canadiens!

(Friday, January 2ist, igi6)

THE CANADIAN PATRIOTIC FUND

1. THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL

2. SIR HERBERT AMES

i. FIELD MARSHAL H.R.H. THE DUKE OF
CONNAUGHT

I AM indeed very grateful to you for having given me another
opportunity of speaking before you on behalf of the Canadian
Patriotic Fund ; because, as your President reminded you to-day,
it was here that this Fund was launched. It was here that you gen-
tlemen determined to support my endeavors in starting a fund
which would combine all that was best, all that was necessary,
not only for the wives and children of Canadian soldiers but also
for those of British reservists and the reservists of our allies.
Gentlemen, since then we have honestly carried out those inten-
tions, and I think that those who take an interest in the Canadian
Patriotic Fund will feel that every cent they have subscribed has
been honestly spent. Everybody connected with the fund has
had but one object and that object to do his utmost to take his
part in this great war. Many of them have gone to the front and
have distinguished themselves and brought honor to the name of
their country, but others who have been unable to go to the front
have, I am happy to think, recognized that in this Canadian
Patriotic Fund they have been able to do their bit towards
alleviating the horrors connected with a war like the great one
with which we are now engaged.

Gentlemen, from the first it has been the object of those con-
nected with the Executive of this Fund to make it a national one,
national in every way, so that it should interest all classes of

101

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

Canadians, We have tried to get everybody to recognize that
in subscribing to this Fund they were doing a great action, not
only for Canada, not only for our allies, but I venture to think
for the world. You have set an example by the generous manner
in which this Fund has been supported from the Atlantic to the
Pacific ; you have set an example of patriotic and generous feeling
which I am sure has done much to raise the character of the Can-
adian. There has been inculcated in all the idea that we have to
help others and that the little we could save, be it big or small,
went with the object of showing that we wished to be one with
those who have done so much to maintain the honor, the integrity
and the freedom of their country.

Gentlemen, we are now about to enter into a very important
campaign in response to my appeal of the ist of January. This
campaign is not only being made in Montreal but it is being made
in every other city of the Dominion; and I think that there is a
friendly rivalry throughout all our great cities in the success
which is going to attend the campaign. Gentlemen, we have made
very complete arrangements. We have tried to bring in all ranks,
all creeds, all nationalities, with one common object, of helping
this fund. What I hope is that a great and lasting success will
meet the efforts made by Canadians from one end to the other.
You are aware that at this moment we are looking after the fam-
ilies of thirty thousand soldiers. This month we are spending
$540,000. You must remember that this large amount of money
will not go on decreasing. We have recently increased the number
of our Contingents up to 500,000 men. That will mean that
we will have a very largely increased number of families to look
after. Therefore whatever you are able to give will be well
spent. Whatever we do not spend will be ready to be spent when
the time comes.

Gentlemen, it is great cities like Montreal, Toronto, Winni-
peg, Vancouver and others that are able to help us out in looking
after the families of those who often come in large numbers from
the smallest and least populous parts of Canada. Were it not
for the system we have of lumping the whole sum together and
giving where it is required, we should not be able to carry out with
fairness our present system, which we honestly believe is for the
benefit of all families and moreover a great help to recruiting.
It makes those who are not certain whether they can afford to

102

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

leave their families, and are therefore doubtful of enlisting, feel
confident that those families will be well supported so that they
will be able to lead decent lives, and that those who remain
behind will look after them.

Gentlemen, may I say how very grateful I am to the men in
large businesses like the C.P.R. and other railways, in the many
large factories and munition works in this city who are giving
so generously and who have responded so well, giving one day's
pay a quarter to the Fund during the war. It is this spirit that
exists throughout the country that is the happy side of this sad
and serious war. I cannot help thinking that the generosity,
the kindly thought of others that we meet with on all sides, is
a positive benefit to the Dominion and that it will raise people's
ideas beyond their own little circle, in the interest of and in the
helpfulness towards others.

Gentlemen, I have touched very lightly only on the different
subjects connected with this Fund, but I am to be followed by
Sir Herbert Ames, to whom the country is so deeply indebted
for the splendid manner in which he has carried out his very
onerous duties of Secretary. He will give you many details that
I have not tried to present to you.

I wish, gentlemen, again to thank you for giving me this oppor-
tunity of meeting you, and of assuring you how much I appreciate
your efforts and your support. The great efforts and endeavors
that are being made by all classes of the great city of Montreal
and the Province of Quebec to help our Fund are most gratifying,
and I wish every success to the great campaign that is about to
open.

II. SIR HERBERT AMES

Standing here as I do to-day it is difficult for me to say whether
I am more proud of the fact that I am Chairman of the Montreal
Patriotic Fund Committee or Honorary Secretary of the National
Fund. The former position has always been a source of great
pride to me, in the knowledge that Montreal was so admirably
responding to every appeal to her; and in the second capacity
it has been a privilege and a pleasure to work as Secretary on a
Committee cf which His Royal Highness has been the Chairman.
Let me respectfully and humbly add, it will be a long time before
the people of Canada realize just how much the leadership

103

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

of His Royal Highness, as Chairman of the Canadian Patriotic
Fund Committee, has meant to the success of this work. We
have never had a meeting of the National Executive at which
he has not presided, and our meetings have been regularly carried
on about once a month, and his sympathy and close touch with
the whole work has been for the rest of us an inspiration on every
occasion. As the Chairman has said, about fifteen months ago,
at an occasion similar to this one, held in this same room, an
appeal was made which was based upon the conviction that the duty
of those who stayed at home was to care for those who went to
the front. On this occasion, as we again come before you, that
idea has been crystallized into action. Fifteen months ago an
organization was formed here and elsewhere, and now, although
we still feel that the idea contains in it an appeal that none of
you will fail to meet, still to-day we have not only an idea but a
record to present to you.

The Canadian Patriotic Fund here and elsewhere has now
been in operation for fifteen months. Its books are open, its
methods under review and every criticism or question that may
be asked will be cheerfully met and regularly dealt with. It is
on that record that we are making a second appeal to the people
of Canada. We say: you did well before, we want you to do
better now. Here in the city of Montreal, in Toronto, Ottawa,
Vancouver and a number of other places this month these appeals
will be made, and we feel sure they will be generously responded
to. Now we get our money from business men for the most part,
from just such gatherings as I face from this table to-day. Business
men do not generally stop to argue or discuss a proposition before
they act. They ask a few questions and if they are satisfactorily
answered they are prepared to respond generously, and in the
twenty minutes I have allotted to me to-day I am going to try to
deal with five or six questions which a business man will put when
you ask him to subscribe again.

The first question is this: What use have you made of the
money I already gave you? In reply to that we simply say:
come up to the Drummond Building at any time and see our
work in daily operation. I have the opportunity of travelling
all through Canada for the Patriotic Fund, from Halifax to Van-
couver, meeting and talking with Committees, and I can say
with complete honesty that nowhere in this wide Dominion will

104

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

you find a more careful, more assiduous, a more sympathetic
and efficient Committee, composed of men and women admin-
istering relief, than you will find here in the City of Montreal.
I want to bear testimony to the Committee over which Clarence
F. Smith presides. He has never been absent from his post since
the war broke out; and I want to bear testimony to that mag-
nificent army of women, under the generalship of Miss Helen
Reid. We are sending disciplined regiments to the front; but
if you want to find a disciplined regiment of women, each one
efficient, performing her part, each one knowing just what her
duty is and lending her best endeavor to the fulfilment of it,
let me refer you to the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Montreal Patriotic
Fund.

During the fifteen months gone by over six thousand families
have come to the Fund for assistance, and no one was turned
away empty handed. At the present time nearly five hundred
families are regularly helped, about ten thousand individuals
in Montreal look to the Patriotic Fund to make for them the
difference between bare existence and decent, comfortable living.

The next question that might be asked would be this : Have
you spent all the money that we gave you before ? Now I have
been cautioned to approach that question rather carefully. I
do not feel that there is any need of attempting to hide any facts
or figures in connection with the Canadian Patriotic Fund. We
have not. If we had it would all have had to be spent right here
in Montreal. About two-thirds of the money raised here a year
ago and contributed during the past ten or fifteen months has
been spent in Montreal and the balance has gone into the common
purse. His Royal Highness has touched upon the basic principle,
and it is this : Canada has one army and only one. She has one flag,
one fleet, one force, one Fund and only one, and we appeal to
every Canadian, from one end of the Dominion to the other,
every man who stays at home, and we say to them: Give all
you can, give till you feel it, till it is some sacrifice commensurate
with the sacrifice of the man who has gone to the front to fight
for you and put it in the common purse, so that we will be able
to say to every soldier's wife from coast to coast, "as long as there
is a dollar in that common purse you will be looked after." Now
you are big enough to know that this is fair and right. You
know that the man on the firing line, wherever he comes from,

105 "

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

is fighting your battle and that his wife, wherever she is, deserves
to be helped, so when I tell you that the various Provinces of the
Dominion have not sent the same number of men and have there-
fore not all the same burden to carry, you will realize the fairness
of it. Alberta has sent one man to twenty-three of its popula-
tion. We have British Columbia doing nearly the same. We
are sending one in eighty-five of our population from this Province
If each Province undertook to carry its own burden, the burden
on Quebec would be sixty cents per capita, on Alberta $2.00 per
capita. Are you going to penalize patriotism? Are you going
to say to places sending a large number of men that they must
pay twice as much as you? Is that fair? So we say to the
Province of Quebec: double that sixty and make it $1.20 a head
and we say to Alberta : you may overdraw on us every month as
long as you bear your fair share of the common loan ; and we have
given Alberta $400,000 of the money raised elsewhere in Canada.

Now the next question that you business men put to those
who come to see you is: What are your needs? I can imagine
by this time the cheque book is out and it is just a matter of how
much. Not in figures of Montreal, not in figures of the Province
of Quebec, but in figures of this Dominion-wide movement, we
want nine million dollars and we are going to get nine million
dollars. Yesterday a message came from our Treasurer over the
telephone saying: "We have, to-day, passed the seven million
mark in cash received at Ottawa." "Good," I said, "this time
next year, if the war lasts that long, it will be the seventeen million
mark."

We have called 220,000 men to the colors. We are adding
15,000 or 20,000 every month. We are using to-day $540,000
per month. By the spring that will be three quarters of a million
per month. The nine millions will be required ; and it is most
necessary for us to make, all along the line, one strong, great,
united effort to provide, as early in this year as we can, for our
requirements of 1016.

Sometimes I am asked about administration expenses.
Probably that question would not be asked here in Montreal,
but yesterday a statement was put in my hands by our Treasurer,
so wonderful, that I must present it to you. The banks give us
4% interest on our balances, which is very good of them, and in
the first sixteen months of the Fund, all the expenses connected

106

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

with the campaigns, all the expenses connected with the admin-
istration of relief, all the expenses of the check and audit system,
for the Head Office and all the branches, just about equalled our
bank interest.

Now the next question when we talk large figures like this
is: How do you expect to get it? and there are some who are
saying: "You will never get it from the Canadian public. They
are getting weary of giving. Every Fund is asking for more and
more money. You will have to fall back on the Government
in order to carry it on." I do not believe that. The Patriotic
Fund was started in the first place as a stay-at-homes' Fund. It
was started by those who felt they had to pay ransom for the
privilege of being fought for, and who were willing to make some
sacrifice commensurate with the sacrifice made by the men going
to the front. There is no talk of conscription in Canada. Why
ask the Dominion Government to raise, by taxation, the money
required for patriotic purposes such as ours? We are not going
to appeal to the Government to carry it through. We do not
think we need to. We do not believe we have begun to exhaust
the willingness of the people of Canada to give generously. We
think that instead of thinking of a gift to our fund as a favor,
you should regard it as a favor being offered to you. We are
giving you an opportunity. When this war broke out there
were hundreds, thousands of men in Canada, whose one great
sorrow was that years, or ill-health, or business ties that could not
be broken, or family reasons held them here when they wanted
to go to the front. Those men want to do their bit too. .They
do not want simply to stand and see the procession go by. They
want to feel they are doing their bit. They can do their bit to
some extent by making some sacrifice to the Canadian Patriotic
Fund.

Now no doubt you are at the stage where you are ready to
say: what is our share ? Our share is this. If you divide nine
million dollars among the people of Canada it comes to about
$ i .20 per head, and if you calculate out the population of the Prov-
ince of Quebec it would come to about two and a half million
dollars as their share. Is it too much to ask that this Province
should line up with the rest of Canada ? The great City of
Montreal will lead off, but they certainly expect that all the rest
of the Province will follow and you may have the satisfaction of

107

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

feeling that as a Province as well as as a city we are bearing our full
share. The Province of Quebec and this old City of Montreal
contains a mixed population. There are those of us who speak
of the 'old country,' those of us who speak of 'la patrie.' Both
of those nations are to-day fighting for their existence and to lose
that fight would be the annihilation of both and of ourselves as
well. We have regiments going from this city, English regiments,
French regiments and mixed regiments, and so the casualty
lists come in with the names mixed in the same way and the com-
mon blood is shed in the common cause. Come up to the Pat-
riotic Fund Office and you will find ladies, French and English,
seeing each other for the first time, learning to respect and honor
each other, and doing their common work together. Next week
we are not going to have French Committees and English Com-
mittees and Jewish Committees, we are going to have French
and English working together with Jewish citizens sprinkled
through them all, and we are going to make a common gift with
no analysis in it, and with a magnificent object in view; with
such union on the part of our great mixed people, that I am sure
this thing will be carried through to a great success. Then this
bi-lingual, I might say multilingual city will hold its place among
the generous municipalities of the Dominion.

I want you sometime or other, not all together please, to
come up to the Drummond Building and see how the Patriotic
Fund is carried on. I will take the chance that if you spend half
an hour there you will be perfectly willing to give three or four
days next week to the hardest kind of work and give us as much
as you can spare. If you come to any of our patriotic com-
mittees what will you see ? You will see a man and a woman
come in together. The man comes up and says: "Where is
the Patriotic Fund Secretary ?" and they bring the two of them
to the Secretary, and the man says: "Mr. Secretary, I am think-
ing of enlisting. My wife, Mary, has a little family of children.
What will you do for Mary if I enlist ?" Now that is a perfectly
right and honest and reasonable question. There is a man who
feels the call of two duties, the call of country and at the same time
the duty to provide for the wife and family that God gave him'
Can he do both ? Yes. You make it possible for him to do
both. We say to Tom: "The Government will give you a
separation allowance of $20.00 a month. You will send her

108

The Canadian Patriotic Fund

back a part of your pay, and if that is not sufficient the Patriotic
Fund will come to your assistance and will give you so much and
so much for Mary and the children." and Tom looks at Mary
and says: "Can you run your house on that ?" And she says:
"Yes, Tom." Tom puts down his name and the next day he
is in khaki, a soldier of the King, with his face toward the East,
going to the seat of war ; and Mary goes back home and takes up
her life with her children. Now there is not so much as a scrap
of paper as far as a contract is concerned. No one could imagine
two people staking their lives on such intangible evidence, and
yet Tom goes to the front feeling perfectly satisfied that Mary
will be taken care of, and she feels the same. Why ? On the
word of the Secretary ? No, but because the Secretary knows
that behind him is the National Patriotic Fund, and behind the
National Patriotic Fund stand the eight million people of Canada,
who will see that that Fund never goes down until it is no longer
needed.

109

(January jist, igi6)

RUSSIA AND HER COMMERCIAL

FUTURE WITH REFERENCE

TO THE WEST

BY DR. J. D. PRINCE

(Of Columbia University, New York)

IT was Kipling who said that a Russian is a fine fellow until he
tucks his shirt in, by which he meant that as long as the
Russian was content to remain semi-Oriental and not put on
Western airs he was all right, but as soon as he tried to Westernize
himself he became rather unbearable.

In the few minutes allotted to me to-day I want to just try
to show you that the Russian has been somewhat misunderstood.
Of all the nationalities which have of late years thronged the
immigration bureaus on this side of the Atlantic, the Slavs are
perhaps the least known, and, consequently, the least understood,
both in Canada and the United States. In fact a large part of this
confusion has arisen from the incorrect application of the doubtful
adjective "Slav" to the Slovaks of northern Hungary, who have
ignorantly arrogated to themselves the sole right to be called
Slavs. The term "Slav" is scientifically applied to the following
races and tribes, among all of whom dialects belonging to the
Slavonic branch of the Indo-Germanic family of languages are
in use: viz., the Russians, who must be subdivided into Great
Russians, White Russians and Little Russians, or Ukrainians;
the Poles of Russia, Germany and Austria, corresponding with the
tripartite division of the former kingdom of Poland among these
three governments; the Slovaks, who extend across the northern
border of Hungary from the Little Russian language line on the
east tc the Bohemian or Czech border on the west ; the Bohemians

111

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

(Czechs), who embrace also the Moravian population to the
south of them, both of which tribes speak a distinctly western
Slavonic idiom; the Serbs and Croats on the south who differ
from each other only in that they write their common speech, the
Serbs in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet, and the Croats in the
Latin letters; finally, the Bulgarians, traitors to the common
Slavonic ideal in the present war, who speak a bastard Slavonic
and whose dialects extend not only through political Bulgaria,
but also through a large part of Macedonia. To the Serbs must
be added the brave tribe of Montenegrins and also the Slovenes,
who inhabit the district just behind Trieste ; and, strangely enough,
the little racial island of Wends in Prussia and Saxony, who,
although separated by centuries of isolation from their southern
Slavonic cousins, still use a distinctly Serbo-Slavonic form of
speech.

The Russians alone of this great family were able to found a
permanent empire, partly because of their early isolation from the
rest of Europe, and partly because they have always had in them-
selves a certain inherent strength which seems to be largely
lacking in all the other Slavonic tribes, except the Serbs. The
Russians began their political life with a great number of inde-
pendent principalities, some of which, notably, Novgorod the
Great, were really mercantile republics after the style of mediaeval
Venice. After the great invasion of the Tatar "Golden Horde,"
tribute was laid on all these local governments by the Tatar Grand
Khan, and the Prince of Moscow succeeded in getting himself
named as the tax collector for the Tatars. This naturally gave the
Muscovites a dominant position among the other early Russian
political divisions, so that when the Tatars gradually broke up
as a power and withdrew their baneful influence, Moscow was able
to proclaim herself the leading Russian state. Unfortunately
for democratic ideals, but perhaps fortunately for subsequent
Russia, Moscow was never a republic, but had always based her
governmental principles on autocratic ideals. This was the spirit
of force and conquest which led to the subjugation of one Russian
principality after another, until finally, we find a united Muscovite
autocracy governing most of what is now European Russia. The
Muscovite Grand-Prince styled himself first Tsar and later
Imperator, following the extinct Byzantine model, and thus we
get Russia as she exists to-day — a great centralized monarchy,

112

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

admirably organized on bureaucratic principles imported and
developed by Peter the Great. Although Canadians and Amer-
icans may be inclined to look askance on this autocratic ideal,
it was none the less the one which made Russia, while she was yet
in the making, a possible working force. This will be all the more
readily understood, if we realize, that even to-day, the population
of Russia is probably the most mixed in the world. Even in
Petrograd, it is usual to hear the Finnish language in the streets
along with the official Great Russian. Turkish and . Mongol-
speaking Tatars of every sort, wild Siberian tribes not as yet
scientifically classified, the bewildering varieties of the Caucasus,
where it is not certain just how many languages are spoken —
all those over and above the three linguistic divisions of Russian
mentioned before, Great, White and Little, are only some of the
cosmopolitan difficulties with which the Russian Government
has had to contend. In spite of these apparently almost in-
superable obstacles, Russia has succeeded in establishing the
Great Russian language as the idiom of education and in im-
pressing on her varied subjects the feeling that they are Russian
first of all, in spite of linguistic and religious differences. That
the Russification of Russia has been a success is demonstrated
by the general willingness to fight the German on the part of every
kind of Russian subject, who in the present war have been glad
to lay aside all sectional differences and to forget even religious
disagreements. Such an attitude is all the more remarkable, if
we recall that only a few years ago, Russia echoed with seditious
cries, not only from the non-Russian speaking peoples, who were
insisting on maintaining their languages and customs intact from
Great Russian interference, but also from Great Russian political
idealists, who, largely stimulated by the visionary works of Leo
Tolstoy, were trying to overthrow the centralized government and
establish some kind of dreamers' Utopia. All these separatist
theories have vanished in the face of the great danger to the entire
country. "Holy Russia" stands to-day for the first time in her
history a united bulwark against the alien Teuton hosts.

The basic reason for this unexpected spirit of union lies in
the fact that almost unknown to the outer world, Russia has been
systematically engaged in modernizing herself ever since the days
of Peter the Great ; and it is instructive to note that this modern-
ization has proceeded, not as the wild dreamers hoped, from

113

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

below upward, but conversely. The Government released the
peasant serf from the land, where he was bound in former days to
serve the noble proprietor. The next step was to release the
same peasant from his obligations of holding land in common and
to raise him gradually to the status of individual proprietor-
ship. Simultaneously with this improvement, fostered by the
Government, has come the reform in agricultural methods.
Modern agricultural implements have been imported and their
use taught by trained Government teachers. Factories have been
established all over the country. In short, the empire has been
gradually developed from a semi-Oriental culture to a modern
western civilization which has naturally called forth a new energy
from the Russian people and, what is most important for Canada
and the States, new demands from Russia on the outside world.

I will not weary you with elaborate statistics as to the size
of Russia which you can obtain equally well from the excellent
article on that country in the last edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica. Your own Professor Mavor's admirable and epoch-
making work on Economic Russia will also give you very satis-
factory detailed material on the immense value of the great empire
as an ever expanding field for trade. I will merely point out in
this connection that, along with the immense development of
European Russia, must be reckoned the Government's plans to
develop the incalculably valuable tracts in Siberia and to open
up the as yet virgin resources of that territory to world commerce.

The Russian Government, following the suggestion of Nansen,
has begun to develop the possibilities of sea-trade on the north
by shipping butter, hemp and wheat, and other Siberian pro-
ducts through the Kara sea. Last October, two steamers with
large cargoes arrived at Grimsby, in England, from the mouths
of the Yenesei and Ob rivers via this route. The Russians are
using aeroplanes to inspect the condition of the ice and guide the
course of vessels by wireless telegraphy. Both the ships men-
tioned were piloted in this manner safely through the straits and
the usually dangerous northern ocean. In addition to this, the
Russian Government has almost completed a new line of rail-
way from Petrograd to the new port of Alexandrovsk, which is
practically ice-free all the year round, thus improving on the
facilities of Archangel, where for several months all sea-com-
merce is at a standstill, owing to the Arctic ice-floes.

114

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

No one need fear that the result of the present war is going to
injure Russia. In the first place, there is too much Russia! An
empire covering over one-seventh of the land surface of the globe
and with a population of 163,778,800 as shown by the 1910 census,
cannot suffer much from any war of aggression, especially if we
recall that with England's aid in arms and munitions, the Russian
people are going to be well able to put up a gallant and effectual
resistance, which, in my opinion, can end only with the ultimate
ejection of the invader.

Up to now, the difficulty with all foreign trade with Russia
has been that a very large part of it has been carried on chiefly
through German middlemen, who have taken advantage of the
necessity of transhipment of many goods on non-Russian terri-
tory, owing to lack of sufficient direct sea communication, to
make money both at the expense of the seller and the customer.
Of course, since the breaking out of hostilities, all this German
brokerage has ceased and it must be the task of both the great
countries on this side of the water to see to it that it does not
recommence when the war is over. I take it for granted that the
interest of Canada in Russia and conversely is more than the
sentimental tie of international alliance which binds together the
two countries at the present moment. Commerce is the life of the
world and all lasting interest and even fellowship is based upon
mutual trade or the possibility thereof. Nor should we look upon
this view as smacking too much of harsh materialism, for, after
all, mutual trade means only mutual benefit, and from such
inter-relationship comes the inevitable sequence of respect and
friendship. Your point of view, therefore, with regard to Russia,
should embody the query as to how Canada's trade with Russia
can be increased.

Following this line of thought, it behoves us to inquire first
as to what the trade between Canada and Russia has been hitherto ;
that is, before the war put a stop to most of it. I find from the
Russian official reports that between the years 1906-1913, that is,
until just before the outbreak of the war, the exportation of
Canadian products into Russia was exactly double that of the
five years preceding 1906, amounting during the period I mention
to $1,263,000 in the year 1909, which increased to $2,145,000 in
1913. In fact, in 1913, we find $3,067,000 worth of exports and
imports totalling about 3% of the entire export and import

115

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

trade of Canada. During 1913, the chief exports from Canada to
Russia consisted of wheat products ($281,987); fish, ($1,620);
metals and minerals ($1,858,707), and of raw timber and wooden
objects, we find the small total of only $2,408. From Russia to
Canada, on the other hand, the exportations make a rather
strange showing, as we find among the chief products flax ($24,-
852), and furs ($313,116), duty free, and $i 5,001 worth of dutiable
furs; fibre, hay and straw ($3,920), duty free; hides and skins
($543,218); food products ($975); tobacco ($190); vegetables,
some timber and small quantities of wool and woollen manu-
factures.

What strikes the student of this little list is the almost total
absence of manufactured articles among the exports of both
countries. In such a land as yours where a new industrialism
is rising and in such an industrially expanding country as Russia
more attention should be paid to the development and mutual
exchange of manufactures. Looking at the list just cited, it
seems almost as if the trade hitherto has been a mere fortuitous
interchange and it is very evident that a great development is
possible on both sides. Of course, I am aware, as that able author-
ity Sir Edward Walker, President of your Bank of Commerce
has recently pointed out, that, if Canada were at the present
moment a neutral nation, as is the United States, she would be
coining money by her exports to the warring powers. You are
of course not neutral, but are aiding with your best blood and
some of your most precious lives in the struggle for fair and free
international relations, without which the world must subside
again into the deadly lethargy of mediaevalism.

But you must none the less look to the commercial future
of your country and there is no more promising field for mutual
trade than Russia is going to be after the war. The far-seeing
men in the States have already begun to realize this fact, and such
financiers as Mr. Vanderlip, of the National City Bank of New
York, have taken steps to foster a direct trade relation between
Russia and the United States. The Boston Industrial Develop-
ment Board has recently issued a most valuable pamphlet on
Russian Trade and New England, which points out the way to
encourage a broader commercial intercourse between America
and Russia. Mr. Vanderlip has established classes in the Russian
language in his bank, to enable young men to interest themselves

116

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

practically in Russian business. Columbia University has just
founded a Slavonic Department, of which I happen to be the
head, the main object of which is to encourage Americans to learn
Russian and Russian History and economics. One of the first
needs for Canada, as for us in the States, must be to send trained
personal investigators to study the present conditions in Russia.
The Germans did this long ago and in consequence have enjoyed
many years of uninterrupted profitable trade with Russia. There
is no use in sending men who cannot speak Russian. Here again
the Germans showed their wisdom, for in no language in the world
are there so excellent and so scientifically arranged grammars of
Russian as we find in German. There is not as yet a single decent
grammar of Russian in our tongue, so that we are practically
forced in New York to take on only students who can read either
German or French. Your first care in Canada should be to establish in
your universities or if not in all, certainly in at least two such
institutions, departments where your young men can familiarize
themselves with the intricacies of the Russian language, both
from the grammatical and from the conversational point of
view. Russian is not like some other languages. One cannot
learn to talk and write in it without a thorough comprehension
of its very complicated grammatical system. With a force of
men trained in this way Canada would be in a position to avoid
all foreign agents and middlemen and to establish her own system
of credit. The Russians like some other European nations are
accustomed to operate on long credits and they are inclined to
resent the usual American demand for "spot cash." Further-
more, Russians are not as their enemies would make them out
generically dishonest. On the contrary, experience has shown
that their responsible business men always pay in full. We may
be certain that this is the case as otherwise the Germans would
long ago have ceased dealing with them, But the German export
trade to Russia before the war amounted to the immense sum of
£60,000,000 annually and this is only the beginning of future
demands for foreign goods. M. Sergei Sazonoff the well known
Russian Foreign Minister pointed out in his statement to the
London Times of September i5th, 1914, the following salient
features of future trade in Russia: "The ground has been broken
by Germany and these enormous markets for machinery, chemicals
and all sorts of manufactured products are now suddenly cut off

117

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

from the avenues through which they have been supplied. It has
been said in the Maxims of Pascal that to govern is to foresee.
This is not only true of politics and affairs of Government, but
applies as well to trade relations. It is that country which fore-
sees the situation commercially in Russia that will reap the enor-
mous benefits that these markets now offer."

Russia needs countless things which Canada could manu-
facture and send her. For example, there is a great demand for
small wares such as pencils, pens, penholders, clocks and watches.
She needs marine motors; nets and tackle; manufacturing ma-
chines of all sorts, and many other such articles too numerous to
mention. She requires also tin, iron and other metals as her own
mining resources have not yet been properly developed. This
demand Canada has already in some sort discovered as indicated
by the list which I just read to you. It is not only sheet or pig
metal that is needed. They want boiler iron, roofing, babbiting,
nails, screws, etc., and thousands of similar products. In other
words here we have an immense country cut off from her chief
source of supply — Germany — crying out to you and to us across
the line to feed her with the necessities of civilization.

In view of this great opportunity why does not Canada ask
for a commercial attache in Montreal to be associated under the
jurisdiction of your able Consul-General M. Likhatscheff ? M.
Medzikhovsky, our commercial attache at the Russian Embassy
at Washington has been always ready to point out to various
American trade centres the most efficient methods of establishing
direct commercial intercourse with Russia. He has always fur-
nished statistics on demand and in short acts as a general bureau
of commercial information for the benefit of the growing trade
between the States and Russia. If anything like a real trade
relationship were to be established between Canada and Russia
such an official would be of the greatest possible value to you.
In the meanwhile, the Russian industrial and commercial author-
ities in Petrograd stand ready to tell you their immediate
necessities. The Russian Chamber of Export is inviting all non-
Teutonic countries to engage in mutual trade. The Minister/of
Commerce and Industry stands also ready to give all information
in his power.

Here is a new field open to your great country and the time
to take advantage of it is NOW. The two keys to the situation

118

Russia and Her Commercial Future with Reference to the West

are (i) information and (2) credit, both of which are yours for
the asking. Canada can certainly undertake this new departure
and not only increase her own producing capacity, but cement
relations with a noble ally who is giving her life blood in the
interests of our common humanity.

119

(February 7, igi6)

TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND OUR
RETURNING SOLDIERS

ByF. H. SEXTON

Director of Technical Education, Nova Scotia

MONTREAL has done wonderfully in sending recruits. You
have responded nobly to every call that has been made
upon you for the Patriotic Fund, Red Cross, etc. To-day I want
to take you a little farther into the duties which this great
struggle has thrust upon the nation of Canada.

Our men have gone forth to the battlefields of France and have
won there lasting fame in defeating a portion of the very flower
of the German army. In the mighty movements that are destined
to take place before the year has waned our Canadian soldiers
are going to vindicate our faith in them again and again and again.
But every battle that we have, every day of fighting in the slimy
ooze of the trenches, means a harvest of death and of broken men.
To-day I want to talk to you, if I may, about what ought to be
done with these broken men who come back to Canada unfit
for further military duty. This is a very delicate and complicated
task. Not only is it so for an old-established nation like England,
but more so for a young, fresh, vigorous nation like Canada.

The arrangements now in connection with wounded soldiers
run something like this. The men reported in the casualty lists
go back to the hospitals and convalescent homes in England.
They are kept there until they have reached the stage of physical
fitness which will enable them to stand the ocean voyage, and
then those men unfit for further military duty are returned to
St. John, N.B. At St. John they are met by representatives of
the Military Hospitals Commission. If they belong to the Mari-

121

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

time Provinces they are dealt with at that place; if elsewhere
they are sent to Quebec. After a man is as physically fit as nursing
— the highest nursing and medical skill — can make him he is
given a certificate, reports for a suit of civilian clothes, he is given
a certain amount of pay from the Department of Militia and
Defence, so that he can take a few weeks to adjust himself to
civil life and find employment. Co-operating with the Military
Hospitals Commission, each province has established a central
commission which has undertaken to find employment for the
returned soldier. These committees or commissions have been
established by the various provincial governments and all the
expense of the committees is being borne by those same govern-
ments. The man who is not fit to go back to work is sent to one
of the various convalescent homes which the public-spirited men
and women of Canada have furnished to the Hospitals Commis-
sion, and there he spends a period of time in being nursed back
to that degree of physical fitness which the highest nursing and
medical skill can provide for him. When he has reached that stage
he is discharged in the same way and employment is found for him.
There are a certain number of these men who have returned to
Canada and are being nursed in our nursing homes, who will
not be able to go out and find employment in those vocations
which they followed prior to enlistment. Some of our soldiers
have gone blind, others are maimed in other ways. The statistics
from the British Army during about six months show that one-
twelfth of the wounded had their sight seriously impaired, that one-
seventh of them had lost a hand, an arm, a leg, or more than
one of these appendages. One-fourth of them were 'maimed in
the head, arm, hand or leg, so that their motor flexibility had been
interfered with. One per cent of them were insane, six per cent
had contracted tuberculosis. With such disabilities a man has
got to be adjusted into our intricate industrial and social mechan-
ism in some such place where he can be of some use. If he cannot
follow his old vocation he must be trained by the methods of
technical education so much developed during the last thirty or
forty years, so that he may find some place where he can render
such service as will earn him an independent living, and maintain
his self-respect as a citizen. This is the problem upon which I
wish to place emphasis to-day. Perhaps I can illustrate it to you
better by telling you what some of the nations at war have done

122

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

in this respect. I will take Germany first. Like most of the
information we have on the internal condition of Germany, this
information I give to you is more or less unreliable. Germany,
however, with the same efficiency that characterized her when
she went to work in a malevolent and vicious way to overcome
her neighbors, in a benevolent way has done much for the soldiers.
Months before the war she contracted with the private insti-
tutions in Germany caring for the crippled and deformed children,
to the end that these institutions might care for the crippled and
deformed soldiers as soon as they were produced by battle. When
the war broke out and the great stream of wounded men came
back to Germany the children were placed in other quarters and
the men were accommodated in the main institutions. The
underlying principle upon which Germany has provided for her
men is that every man should be fit to go back into the vocation
in which he was formerly employed. To that end they have inven-
ted ingenious adaptations of artificial arms which will hold knives,
forks and hammers and other tools which the men need in pursuing
their vocations. At the present time the German soldier is proud
to show an artificial arm or leg exposed to view, and to say and
show what a sacrifice he has made for his country. This phase
will soon pass, however, as the tide of sentiment subsides in Ger-
many as in the rest of the world, and the soldier will be very glad
to get an artificial arm or leg to look as much like his own as he
can possibly find. There has been a sort of exercise established
for the leg or arm which results in the crippled being able very
soon to use a flexible motion. In Germany 54 schools provide for
this kind of treatment.

Let us look at Belgium, poor ravaged Belgium. When the
gallant little Belgian army was forced down into the southwest
corner of their Kingdom, when they did not have enough money
to purchase pure water filters for the army, they established two
large schools for the crippled and deformed Belgian soldiers.
They had had experience in this line, because at Antwerp,
Brussels and Charlevoix they had carried on colleges for the train-
ing of men who were maimed and crippled in industrial life. Some
of those teachers were refugees in France and they were engaged
to teach the crippled Belgian soldiers. They therefore could
take up this work and with less difficulty than other nations who
had had no previous experience in this line. Eight or nine different

123

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

trades are taught, one being adapted to the capacity of a maimed
man and the other to a blind man, and so on.

The first schools in France of this kind were at Lyons, the
second city in France. This movement was brought about more
or less by the refugees from Belgium, who taught in the schools
I have mentioned. In France they established one school three
months after the war broke out for men who had been crippled in
the arms, and another school for those who had been crippled in
the legs. They taught them separate vocations adapted to the
different degree of disability. In the one where men had been
crippled in the arms stenography, typewriting, book-keeping, and
so on. In the one where men had been crippled in the legs, shoe-
making, book-binding and custom tailoring. A visitor from
America once went to visit one of these schools and as he entered
the door he heard a burst of song and he said to the director:
"This is rather gay for such an institution, isn't it?" "No,
monsieur," said the man, "That is the French temperament.
They cannot be sad about anything very long." But the men are
far from gay when they are brought in. They are brought in
from the hospitals where they have received some treatment and
they are just like vegetables. The hideous sights they have seen,
the nerve-racking experience they have gone through, the dis-
agreeable life in the trenches, poor food, vermin, and fighting,
fighting for weeks, has really brought them down to the stage of
nervous prostration. When their families come to see them they
do not respond at all at first. They just lie or sit. It takes two,
three or four weeks before they get back to their normal state of
mind, but after that they grow gay, their self-confidence re-
awakens, the teachers help them by the most delicate kind of
praise to regain confidence in themselves and to try to train
themselves so that they will be able to take up an independent
life and earn wages and be self-supporting citizens in the future.
One man in this school was wounded in the trenches — shrapnel had
practically blown away the top part of both legs. He stood there
three days with the water up above his waist, almost to his shoul-
ders. He did not dare to drink the water and only had a few drops
of water from the canteen of one of his comrades who had died in
the trench. Both his legs had to be amputated . He came to the school
and learned custom tailoring, and there he sat on a table sewing
away. A visitor asked him if it was not very awkward not having

124

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

his legs, but he responded : ' ' No, it is much better so. I do not lose
time crossing and uncrossing the legs." That is an example of the
indomitable spirit, the hopefulness of the Frenchman that no
nation can ever conquer.

There are in France about twenty schools now of this kind.
They have a special institution in Paris where they train the
blinded soldiers. This has accommodation for about three hun-
dred men and is about two-thirds full. They teach vocations
which are especially adapted to blind men and you would be
amazed to see the ramifications of industry into which blind men
with ambition and courage can fit and win a respectable living.
In England they have not done so much. England was as unpre-
pared for this kind of business as it was for the business of
war. I do not think it is anywhere more evident that
they did not expect this tremendous struggle than in the hospi-
tal arrangements. I think it proves that England was acting
in good faith and expected a long era of peace. In England
they have just passed legislation providing for a new admin-
istration of the money handed over to the Royal Patriotic
Fund ; until this was done they could not do very much about
providing for disabled soldiers, but in London they are doing the
finest work for blind soldiers or sailors that is done in the world.
Under the leadership of C. Arthur Pearson, a blind man himself,
they are providing new avenues by which he can take his place in
the world. I will just indicate a few lines that are taught. They
teach carpentry. I can vouch for the fact that they are especially
competent because we have a young man in Nova Scotia who was
a teacher in one of our technical schools: he taught electricity
and electrical machinery. His eyes were blown out by a prema-
ture explosion, and while recovering physically he made a mission
set of dining room furniture in oak which would do credit to any
man with sight who was in the trade of cabinet-making. They
teach them telephone operating, and after a blind man has got
a vision in his mind of the telephone board at which he sits he
makes practically no mistakes in the connections for the various
calls. They teach them poultry raising, bee keeping. They also
teach them massage, and they say that a blind man as a masseur
is much superior to the man who has his sight, because of the great
development of the delicacy of touch of a blind man. You will
be surprised when I tell you that they are teaching them not only

125

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

stenography and typewriting by a system of their own, but also
teaching some blind men to be submarine divers. This would
look like the last occupation a blind man can possibly be placed in,
but it is true that the submarine diver has to go more by means
of feeling than sight. When he is in the water he cannot see far,
his motions at the bottom stir up the mud and further cloud the
vision. It is desirable that he should have a good deal of mechan-
ical training before taking up this profession, so that he will
be used to construction and know how to work under the water.
These are some of the things they are teaching at this institute
for blind sailors and soldiers, the accommodation at the present
time being 130 men and eight officers; I believe some of our
Canadians are receiving instruction at that institution. That
gives you a very broad and imperfect view of the things that have
been accomplished by this method by which artificial arms and
legs, by special exercises, are made to perform the work of healthy
arms and legs. In this respect we have just started in Canada.
The Military Hospitals Commission has said that it considers
itself liable for the training of such disabled soldiers who come back
who have been hurt in some way, so that they cannot take up
their previous occupations. I believe at the meeting of the Hos-
pitals Commission here in Montreal on Saturday last they decided
to open immediately some national institution for the two hundred
men who are in the convalescent hospitals here. The plan is
to draw them out, see what they would be most fitted to do and
then train them in fitness for that occupation. I have treated
this question on the humanitarian side. That is, we care so much
about these fellows who have gone out to fight, bleed and die for
us if necessary, that we want to see that they have everything
in the world done for them that it is possible to do. But there
is an economic aspect too, which is very important and may be
interesting to you as business men. We all know the orgy of pen-
sion expenditure in the United States. I will just point out a
few significant facts about that, because dinners and figures do
not digest very well, so you will have to rely on me for the
basis on which I mention these statements. In the Civil War,
5 1 years ago, they started a generous pension scheme based on the
number of men they expected to put in the field. Now using the
same basis, if no more of our men were wounded or disabled than
were theirs in the Civil War and we pursued the same attitude,

126

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

five years from this date we would be paying five millions of dollars
per year in pensions. Fifty years from now we would be paying
thirty millions. In the Civil War you will note they had no such
means at their disposal in the way of systems of technical edu-
cation to try and train disabled men for wage earning occupations.
The United States at the present time is paying pensions to 471
widows of soldiers who fought in the war of 1812, the last survivor
of that war died in 1905. The pension expenditure is 180 million
dollars per year there and nearly a million people are receiving pen-
sions from the government. If you people and the rest of Canada
wish to go into this on that scale very well and good. If you want
to save money and also help the soldier himself make a decent
respectable living, helping him to be a self-respecting citizen,
a man who can look other men in the face and feel that he has done
his duty towards his country in fighting and is still doing his
duty in some productive effort, then you will follow the plan that
has been adopted by both our allies and our antagonist.

Such a policy in regard to the instruction of our disabled
soldiers and such a policy in regard to finding employment for
them and pensioning them is a different departure from what
Canada has done in the past. I happened to look over the statis-
tics in regard to those who have been crippled and maimed in
industry and for the period of the war, and I find that we have
killed six or seven hundred men in industry and crippled three or
four thousand of them. We have paid no special attention to
adjusting them in industry. It is simply because we are having
an outburst of altruism that we are regarding the soldier in this
way. If we find technical education is so good for the soldier
we may see light enough to know that we ought to have a system
of technical training for those disabled in industry, and for the
boys and girls growing up through our public schools.

I have about two minutes left and I just want to emphasize
both the humanitarian and economic aspects of this question.
For one million dollars in training we can save four or five in pen-
sions. We not only save it out of our revenue so that it can be
applied to other useful expenditures, but we will not sap the decent
respectability of Canadian citizens by charity from the public
purse. This war has greatly changed our attitude in Canada. I
believe that some of the by-products of the war in charitable feeling
towards others and wishing to minister to others not so fortunate

127

Technical Education and Our Returning Soldiers

as ourselves may pay some tithe of the agony and suffering and
expense of the war. We have thought very hard in Canada
about what it is to be a democracy or a republic, and I believe we
realize, it much better than in the great Republic to the south of
us. I believe we have come to the conclusion that a democracy
does not exist for conquest or fame or even for the accumulation
of material wealth but that it exists for the best welfare of all
individuals that compose it. I believe we have come to the idea
of liberty, personal liberty, in such a way that we want it accorded
to everybody else as well as to claim it ourselves. I think our
ideal of the state is not one that is self-centred and vainglorious
like that of the central empires, but one that is sober and benevo-
lent. We have come to the conclusion, also, that as long as human
nature is of the same stuff as is shown at the present time,
we cannot have peace, much as we desire it, simply by sitting down
and wishing for it. There is a price that we must pay for existing
as a commonwealth. That price is that we must be willing to
fight for it and if need be die for it.

128

(February i4th, /Q/6)

AMERICAN FEELING IN THE WAR

By DR. LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN

I AM very happy to be here among the friends of the brave
Canadian boys whom you have sent to the front, and who,
with their forebears, like my own, have not been "too proud to
fight" for the privilege of existing.

I first saw those boys down on Salisbury Plain where they
were being trained in the very early days of the war. The second
occasion, was when they were acting as the guard of honour to
the late Lord Roberts, that grand old hero, as they passed along
Trafalgar Square, along the Thames Embankment, taking him
to his last resting place in St. Paul's. Later on I saw them at the
front in various places, and those whom I saw were mostly in
the hospital wards, and I can tell you that you will never have
occasion to blush for the actions of those fellows at the front.

I understood to-day that I was to tell you something of my
own personal experiences in the early days of the war. On the
day England declared war I was in the Catskills enjoying a holiday,
but the day after I was aboard ship going to the front, with Brus-
sels as the objective point. My wife accompanied me. She had
been on several similar expeditions with me on the occasion of
the Russo-Japanese war, the Boxer war, the South African war,
and so on, and so she was quite at home. Just as we were getting
into Brussels a bridge in front of us was blown up and we were
obliged to take a circuitous route, and so we saw something of
what actually occurred. We did not accompany the newspaper
representatives who were in Brussels, bottled up there, seeing
just what the Germans permitted them to see and nothing more,
but we were on the outside, fortunately. We spent two weeks in
Ghent and that vicinity and then we went on to Antwerp. I

129

American Feeling in the War

wish I had time to tell you something of the incidents of Ghent,
and I could narrate horrors that would make you wish you had
never been born if you had to endure anything like it. It was
monstrous. We reached Antwerp at last and here again we met
with horrors unspeakable. I am seasoned in war and I know what
occurs in war. I was prepared for some pretty nasty things.
I knew that war was no pink tea, as the distinguished President
of the United States says. We reached Antwerp one day and the
morning after, at one o'clock, there visited that place a represen-
tative of the ruling element of central Europe in the form of a
Zep. and there was perpetrated an act that will go down in history
as one of the blackest marks on the escutcheon of a race. From
that Zep. there dropped nine different bombs, directly around the
palace where the Queen and her three children were sleeping,
at one o'clock in the morning. One of those bombs burst near
the cathedral to the right of the palace and only three hundred
yards away from it. It did very little damage, but the second
one dropped a little to the left, the third still further to the left,
going around in a circle, passed through the roof of a house, killing
two servant girls, one of whom was just about to become a mother,
and another one fell just to the left of the palace. The next one
fell in the garden of old St. Elizabeth hospital, and the houses
in the block rocked from their foundations. It shook the crucifix
off the wall just over a young sick child who was sleeping and
nearly killed it. It killed three people who were around the hos-
pital at the time. All this indicated that the idea was the des-
truction of the palace and the queen and her children who were
there asleep. There has never been in history such a despicable
attempt at murder as that was, and they call that war. That
ended my neutrality. I suppose many of you have read Dante
and you know in the qth canto of the Inferno, he describes a cer-
tain place which is just under the qth pit of Hades, a sub-cellar,
which he reserves for neutrals.

The next morning I called on the staff officers of the Belgian
Army. The head officer was a friend of mine and had taken me
around in his car to points I wished to go, and I sent this telegram
to the President of the United States, after it had been vised by
the Belgian staff, so that they knew what I said was true :

"My dear Mr. President: Unless the barbarism of the
German Kaiser ceases the civilization of Europe will be set back

130

American Feeling in the War

a century. The rules of the Hague have been ignored. Innocent
women and children have been bayoneted, old men shot, the
Red Cross ambulance and White Flag fired on. Wounded men
have been brained with rifle butts or bayoneted. Villages of
non-combatants have been burned and historic monuments
desecrated. This morning bombs dropped from a Zep. in an
attempt to assassinate the royal family, killed eleven citizens and
desperately wounded many more. As Vice-President of the
Peace and Arbitration Society of the United States I implore
you to back American protests so vigorously that German vandal-
ism must cease, and the general peace of the world made possible."

Every word in that despatch has been verified and more than
verified by that indictment which Lord Bryce submitted to
Parliament. If the President of the United States had at that
time sent such a protest, couched in terms so vigorous that it
would have informed the German Kaiser and all the rest of the
world, that America stood for certain ideals, as it does stand,
it would have produced a great moral effect. It would have
shown that we had some ideals that we proposed to stand up for
and protect. It would have done much more. I do not believe
after that there would have been any Lusitania. His failure to
do it has humbled America in the estimation of the world more
that it is supposed possible any single individual by any single
act could humble a whole nation. There is no question about
it gentlemen. We are absolutely isolated. We have not a friend
left. I have been round this world twelve times and I know the
sentiment pretty well and I know what I am talking about in
that respect. If the President had acted at that time he would
have made friends not only with the Allies but with all the decency
there is in the world of all nations. But the Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde racket that he has played for the last year has sickened
the country and I think they are beginning to wake up to an ap-
preciation of it.

Now I saw certain things at Antwerp that might interest
you ; one shows the hypocrisy of the attitude which Germany has
taken in regard to the causes of the war. For the two years prior
to the beginning of that war Germany had obtained a privilege
from the Belgian Government to erect little stands or posts at
the corner of every crossing of the roads in Belgium and on these
posts they erected little sign boards and had posted there various

131

American Feeling in the War

advertisements. It was supposed to be for advertising purposes,
and they put up little bills advertising their shoes or their agri-
cultural implements or furniture or something of that character.
When the war broke out it was instantly noticed that these things
disappeared and underneath these advertising notices, or where
they used to be were imbedded little notices at each crossing,
so many miles to Paris, so many miles to Antwerp in this direction,
to Ghent in that direction, so that all a soldier had to do or an
officer, when he was travelling through the country was to get to
a cross road and he knew his bearings at once. That was two
years ago. Another thing they did was this. About the same time
they sent around Belgium drummers who attempted to sell things
to the peasants. They attempted to sell agricultural implements.
They would say: "We want you to try this new device." The
peasant would say: "We don't want new implements. We are
satisfied with what we have. Our grandfathers and our fathers
used them before us and they are quite satisfactory." The drum-
mer would then say: "You just try it. I will come back next
year and if you don't want it you don't need to pay for it. But
just make yourself at home with it and try it." So the peasant
would take it. The following year the drummer would come
along again with some other tool and attempt to make the same
sort of a sale and if the farmer chanced to have used the first one
he would collect his pay. As soon as the war broke out those same
men, who were all soldiers or spies, came to those same homes, to
those same peasants, and they knew just how many boys, children,
or people there were. They were thoroughly familiar with the
whole country and they took the young fellows and drove them
back to use as laborers, or took them prisoners ; and the women —
well we won't say how they treated the women — , and that went
on all through the country. Their whole idea was to terrorize
the Belgians, so humiliate and whip them that they would submit
without further resistance. That is their policy.

Now since 1870 it has chanced that the German army has
never tasted what they call, and what they pride themselves on,
the baptism of fire, except on two occasions, and I chanced to
have been present on both those occasions. One was in the Boxer
War, in Pekin, in iqoo. The war of 1870 was forty-five years ago,
and allowing for the fact that they had to be a certain age before
serving, the men in that war would be too old to serve in this war.

132

American Feeling in the War

Bismarck said to his men at the time of the 1870 war, when he was
sending them to the French frontier : "Leave to a nation that you
conquer naught but their eyes with which to see and to weep."
When they went to Pekin they had practically the same instruc-
tions from the Kaiser. He ordered them to behave like Huns.
Well, as they were Huns they had no difficulty in doing it. I
happened to be present in that little affair and as you know how
the war ended I will not go into that. There was no more fight in
the Chinese than in a rabbit. They undertook to fight us with
bows and arrows, stink pots and things of that kind. They had
no idea of fighting whatsoever. They are a nation of peaceful
people. China is the only country in the world where there are
no policemen. They knew nothing about the game of fighting
and Pekin fell and that ended the war. Well, the German army ar-
rived there and they did not have enough transport accommo-
dation with them to get them up to Pekin. They had to be helped
up from headquarters. However, they finally arrived on the
scene long after they were at all necessary. It took them all
summer to slobber over their friends and kiss them good-bye.
Well, after they arrived on the scene of action they began a system
of expeditions. They would send an expedition out to each little
village — in China the people are not settled like they are in this
country, they all live in little places surrounded by a wall, and
these little villages are scattered all over the country, about five
miles apart; and they live in this way for self-protection. Well
this expedition would come to such a village, and would demand
to see the head man, the Mayor of the place. He would be called
out, and the spokesman of the expedition would say: "Now we
want an indemnity of ten or fifty thousand yen." They
demanded as much as they thought they could squeeze out of
the people; and the mayor would say: "Why, that much money
is not to be found in this whole town." Then the spokesman of
the expedition would respond: "To-morrow at ten o'clock we
come. See that this is ready for us." And to-morrow they would
come and if that money was not ready, God help that town.
They would turn those fellows in there and they would burn
and loot and rape and finish it. That was the end of that town,
and that went on through China, and many a man knows about it.
Some of the German soldiers told it when they got home and they
were silenced for it; but some of us know about it. That was the

133

American Feeling in the War

first baptism of fire this army had. They learned their lesson
there very well, the same lesson as they practiced on Belgium.
Then in East Africa was the second time they had a taste of the
baptism of fire. I was going down there to study the sleeping
sickness, and there chanced to be on board the same steamer an
individual whose name you can surmise, as he was the German
Ambassador in charge of colonial affairs down there. We reached
my objective point on a very stormy morning. No other passen-
gers went ashore except this gentleman and myself. A represen-
tative of the German Empire there met him. They were awaiting
his arrival to see what his ruling would be on a certain question.
They had arrested 108 chiefs and leading men of the town who had
been guilty of refusing to pay the hut tax. As these poor beggars
had lived down in Africa for some million years or more in happi-
ness and content under their mango trees and they did not have
to pay a tax of twenty marks, about a pound sterling, for the
privilege of existing, they did not see why they should pay it
now, and they undertook to rebel, and their medicine men and
chiefs told them that the guns of the Germans shot nothing but
water and they did not need to be afraid of them. Twenty marks
does not seem much, but when you consider that they were put
in the cotton fields to work from daylight to dark and their pay was
about a halfpenny a day, you can imagine what time it took to
gather one thousand half-pennies to make up that pound sterling.
They did not care to live under those circumstances. Well, 108
of them were taken prisoners, the chiefs and the finest men of
the tribe, magnificent specimens of human beings, and the medi-
cine men, and so on, and they were locked up to await the arrival
of this genius of the German Empire. It shows the methods they
have of colonization and proves what capable statesmen they
are when a German cannot go down there now without a guard.
The people are decimated. Well, the verdict of this worthy was
that these men should be executed. I chanced to see this crowd
going down to the prison and I followed with my little kodak,
as I had nothing better to do, and they strung these fellows up
on their mango trees, and then they sent for their wives and little
ones, and the rest of the town to come down to see the sight;
and as the people were congregated, wailing and crying at the loss
and the fate of their dead ones, they called out the soldiers and
ordered them to blow the people to pieces with their rifles; and

134

American Feeling in the War

they proceeded to fill them full of lead. That was their second
baptism of fire, and the third was when they executed Belgium.
It is not necessary to go further.

Gentlemen : I say I saw a good deal of your boys at the front.
With Mr. Henry James, Mr. Richard Norton and some other
gentlemen, I helped to organize the Anglo-American ambulance
which served at the front and we had the run of the lines for a
considerable stretch and I naturally saw a good deal of the horrors
that went on. We had sixty odd ambulances there, most of them
manned by Americans or Englishmen, gentlemen who gave their
own cars and services free. It was at a time in the early stages of the
war before the Royal Army Medical Corps and the British Army
Medical Corps were able to meet these situations which were the
result of an unforeseen emergency. For instance we received 22,000
wounded from the Battle of the Marne. Paris would not admit
a single man at that time because they feared Paris would fall.
There were over 50,000 empty beds in Paris waiting to receive
the wounded, but the authorities refused admission excepting
to those who needed instantaneous operation or were threatened
with death. These poor fellows came down from the front line,
as I say. The war came with such suddenness that the French
or English authorities were not ready to meet this emergency. All
the transport was required to move new men into the trenches and
the wounded were left to die. Those men lay there, many of them,
forty-eight hours without a drink of water. Think of it, after having
been ripped to pieces with shrapnel, to lie there on the field with-
out so much as a drink. When they came to us many of them were
just ready to die. We took them from the train and we were only
allowed to keep them twelve hours. We put them in cots, gave
them beef tea or something stimulating, wrapped them up in
blankets and then put them back again and sent them to the south
of France where they could get regular hospital treatment, and
their places were immediately taken by others pouring in. Every
tenth or twelfth man we took out of the train dead. The country
in which they were fighting has been under the highest cultivation
and the ground is swarming with bacteria, so that a wound became
infected very quickly, and the consequence was that all these
cases were septic; which shows the need of first aid dressing. I
was all through the Russo-Japanese war, where the Japanese
every man of them, was trained so in the use of his first aid packet

135

American Feeling in the War

that he had with him that the instant he was injured and before —
they always knew when a battle was imminent — (they are the
cleanest people in the world, they take a bath every day) the day
before the fight they would scrub themselves so that they were
almost ready for an operation, so thoroughly were they cleansed,
and when they were wounded they instantly applied a little
boracic acid, or whatever they happened to have in their packet,
which was not nearly as good as the one we supply to-day to our
soldiers in this war, and then the first aid dressing. If a soldier
was too badly wounded to do this for himself a pal did it for him,
because they were so thoroughly trained in it that it took them no
time. They were just as thoroughly trained in the use of the
first aid packet as in the use of their rifles, and the consequence
was that they sent sixty per cent of their men back to the colors
without their having entered a hospital at all. Anybody else
could do this just as easily as they did if they took the same trouble.
The same thing might have been done with all those poor fellows
of ours. These Japanese I speak of, of course some of them were
badly injured, but when they were taken to the hospital from the
front and the bandage was removed it was found that healing was
going on so well, the wound was so clean and healthy, that they
were sent to quarters for a week or two, or say a month, and then
back to the colors they went without having to lay up in hospital
at all. It shows the great need of early treatment. However, it
is marvellous how healthy the men now are in the trenches, not-
withstanding the horrors and discomfort through which they have
passed. Many of them are in better physical condition than when
at home doing some work in a counting room or else-
where.

I might speak too of the bravery of some of these fellows,
especially the Indians. When they first came out from India,
after they had been six weeks in transit, they were given about
that length of time to become acclimated before being sent to
the trenches, and on one occasion a number of officers came to
their commanding officer and their spokesman said : "How many
of us do you think will return to India after this war is over?"
The commanding officer said : "I cannot tell you that." "Well,"
they said, "ten thousand of us?" He said: "I don't know."
"Well, five thousand of us. Will five thousand return?" "That
I cannot say." "Well do you think five of us will go home."

136

American Feeling in the War

"Yes," he said, " I will see that five of you return." "That will
do," they said, "They'll tell the tale."

I do not know whether you realize what havoc one of these
rapid fire guns can do. I had a boy in my ward in the hospital.
He was only about iqj years old, but he chanced to have his gun
in such a position at a little place up country as to command the
road. A German detachment filed into this town and came up
the narrow street, which had no sidewalks, and he got his gun at
just the right angle, and as they were marching up the street as he
was behind a tree they could not see him. He waited until he got
them just where he wanted them and then he proceeded to hand
it to them, and in less than one minute he had killed 67 and had
taken 1 23 prisoners. He mowed them down just like grain before
a reaping machine. They shot at him and pinked him through the
arm, but when they saw their men falling on all sides they threw
down their guns and threw up their arms and stood there and he
held them until help came and they were marched to prison.
The Belgian king came down to the hospital and he pinned on
that boy's breast three medals, one of gold and one of silver and
one of bronze, and that youngster was the most popular fellow in
Belgium at that time. So'much for a rapid fire gun.

I have mentioned the spy system the Germans conducted.
I want to tell you another thing that happened in Antwerp. In
the very early days of the war the authorities found that news
was constantly leaking out, and no one seemed to know how at
headquarters, and they suspected a certain man there who was
very rich and who had a large furniture store just outside of the
precincts. They sent men there to watch him and they could
find nothing. They suspected that there must be some wireless
apparatus there and they even made a second search and found
nothing, and still the news kept leaking out. They put up a fake
despatch and found that that was passed through and this man
was one of the only three who knew of this despatch. They were
absolutely sure of their man but they wanted to prove it, and they
sent men and had this place thoroughly searched again. They
finally discovered a secret passage leading to another passage
that lead out to where there was an illuminated sign, and inside
of one of the lights they discovered a wireless plant. This gentle-
man was there at the time and there were three soldiers also.
They asked him what he had to say. He had nothing to say, so

137

American Feeling in the War

they stood him up on the front steps of his establishment and blew
his head off. That is the way of war.

It might interest you to know how one of these modern battle-
fields looks. I chanced to be sent out to inspect some hospitals on
one occasion and an English gentleman who had two sons in the war
was assigned to me as a chauffeur, and after doing this work we
thought in returning that we would run up to see Rheims. He
said it was only a question of a few miles and we could make it in
an hour; we had not proceeded more than fifteen miles before
we found that we were getting into hot water. Shells were going
right over our heads and falling in fields a few hundred yards to
the right. We thought it was time to get a move on, and we sped
along, when suddenly we found the shells were rushing over from
another direction and our roadway was the centre of the line,
and then a sentinel came out and arrested us. From this point
while these shells were bursting and during what developed after-
wards to be one of the hottest scraps of the day, from our point
of vantage there was only one sign of life to be seen anywhere.
All the pageants of war you see, all the pictures of battlefields,
all the usual things were absent. The scene was peaceful as any
Corot painting or any beautiful painting you ever saw. The
only life that was in evidence in that whole scene of battle was one
lone woman in the distance with a little boy leading a stallion.
Yet there were tens of thousands of men buried in the trenches
just near us, all out of sight, and the artillery was hidden in the
woods and copses. They were plowing a field and getting ready
for next year's crop. It was a scene I shall never forget. This
day afterwards proved to have marked one of the nastiest fights
of the war. It was so entirely different from the warfare of former
times. It goes to show that this sort of thing will keep on devel-
oping until there will be no more war on the ground, it will all be
conducted in the air. Of this we saw something — we saw the
aeroplanes moving around in circles, directing the fire. They were
constantly going back to the front, back and forth, all during the
time of that fight. The only thing you could see was in the air.
It was so entirely different from anything I had ever seen before
in actual war.

Now whether this war is simply a mark of barbarism, the
only thing I am afraid of is that peace will come too soon. They
have got to be licked so thoroughly that this thing can never be

138

American Feeling in the War

repeated. The one thing that must fire the soldier to continue to
the end, is well expressed in the last line of a piece of doggerel I
know which concludes by saying: "We're carrying civilization
to the people on the Rhine. ' '

139

(February 21, 19/6)

A NATIONAL PARLIAMENT— A NEW
BASIS OF REPRESENTATION

By JOHN H. HUMPHREYS

(General Secretary of the Proportional Representation Society.)

I AM deeply sensible of the honor of being your guest here
to-day, and I thank the committee of the club very warmly for
giving me an opportunity of speaking a word or two upon this
question, to which your late Governor-General, Earl Grey, has di-
rected attention on more than one occasion. This electoral reform
has received, in increasing measure, the active advocacy of many
distinguished British Parliamentarians, and during the recent
discussion of the Home Rule Bill received approbation by large
majorities both of the Imperial House of Commons and the
House of Lords. Need I assure you that I do not suggest any
diversion of any energy from the main task of to-day? The great
conflict, however, in which we are engaged, has evoked a spirit
of intense devotion to national and Imperial welfare in the broad-
est sense. That spirit, if informed by knowledge aided by a clear
vision of the means by which real advances can be made, should
carry forward our local, national and Imperial institutions to a
higher plane of development. The greatest of British institutions
is Parliament. Before the war there were many murmur ings of
dissatisfaction with the way Parliament was working. During
the war doubts have been expressed as to whether any represen-
tative government can be efficient; yet we can conceive of no
institution which can replace Parliament, and one of the most
remarkable facts disclosed so far during the present war is this,
that there has been no serious suggestion of any turning back
upon the principle of self-government. British nations will
continue to work out their destinies through Parliament ; and these
murmurings of dissatisfaction, these doubts as to efficiency, are

141

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

but challenges to us citizens from whom Parliament springs, to
prove that we are fully worthy of self-government, that we are
capable of restoring in full measure the prestige of Parliament.
Now, what is Parliament? Our great writers all agree that
it is nothing if it is not the nation in council. Edmund Burke
declared that "the spirit, the essence of the House of Commons
consists in its being the expressed opinion of the nation." Mr.
Asquith, who chooses his words with care, has declared on more
than one occasion that "it was infinitely to the advantage of the
House of Commons, if it was to be a real reflection of the national
mind, that there should be no substantial portion of the King's
subjects which would not find there representation ' ' ; and he has
gone on to say that such complete representation made democratic
government not only safer and more free but more stable. Mr.
Balfour has given expression in other words to the same idea.
But when we contemplate the composition of the Parliaments of
the Dominions, when we compare their composition with these
conceptions of what Parliament should be as outlined by our
distinguished statesmen, we find that they fall short, materially
fall short, of the ideal presented to us. Representation in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom is grossly incomplete. Let
me give you one example. The Conservatives in Scotland number
more than a quarter of a million. At the elections in January,
i q 10, they obtained nine representatives. In each case victory
was won by so small a margin that a slight displacement of votes
would have deprived the whole of that large body of citizens of
any hearing in Parliament. The Parliament of South Africa is
similarly incomplete. The British in the Orange River Free
State number something over thirty per cent. They returned
but one representative to the last South African Parliament.
I have just come from Australia and have been struck with similar
cases of disfranchisement on a large scale. In one general election
eighteen senators were to be chosen. Every senator returned was
a member of the Labor Party. The City of Adelaide is represen-
ted to-day in the local legislature of South Australia by fifteen
members of the Labor Party. The rest of the community, num-
bering forty per cent, have no one to speak for them in that body.
Coming to Canada I notice that in the election of 1904, eighteen
Liberals were sent by Nova Scotia to represent that Province in
the Dominion Parliament: the minority was unrepresented.

142

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

At this moment the legislature of British Columbia contains no
representatives of the Liberal Party, and yet 37% of the electors
voted for Liberal candidates in the last elections. What is the
result of this gross incompleteness of representation, examples
of which are to be found in every Parliament of the British Domin-
ions? Parliament tends to cease to be a national institution in
the true sense of the term. I was very much struck with what
was said to me when I was at Bloemfontein by the Clerk to the
House of Assembly of the Legislature of the Orange Free State.
It was the custom of the House to give an account of the proceed-
ings of the session in their various constituencies. The British
ignored these meetings, because to them the Parliament was an
institution in which they had neither part nor lot, and when I
came through British Columbia I could not help but feel that
many Liberals were looking upon the legislature not as a provincial
institution, but as something which was the exclusive possession
of their political opponents. When disfranchisement persists
over long periods the injustice is keenly resented by those who are
thus deprived of the political rights to which they are entitled.

I was present when a deputation of Irishmen waited on Mr.
Asquith while the Home Rule Bill was under discussion, and I
recall the bitterness with which one of the deputation, Professor
Culverwell of Trinity College, Dublin, complained that although
he, an intelligent citizen taking a keen interest in the affairs
of his country, had had a vote for thirty years, he had had no
opportunity, during the whole of that period, of taking part in
the selection of a representative.

When Parliaments cease to be national then what emanates
from Parliament ceases to be national also. Whether it be jus-
tified or not there is an impression in many parts of Canada
that those constituencies which return supporters of the Govern-
ment receive more favorable consideration in the appropriation
of public monies than those which return members of the
Opposition. But I do not want to deal with this question in any
small way. We have been driven to thinking at this time in a
large way. There is a movement afoot for strengthening the unity
of the British Dominions. Some hope that the day may come
when Canadians, Australians, South Africans and Britishers
shall be members of one State, owing allegiance to the same
sovereign Parliament. But whether Imperial unity comes in that

143

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

form or in another, it is very desirable that there should be as
much national unity within each part of the British Dominions
as possible; for unification of the parts is almost essential to
complete unity, and our electoral system, by exaggerating
political differences is a stumbling block to unity. Let me
explain by taking some concrete examples. The United Kingdom
is not yet completely unified. Ireland still blocks the way. We
have to find a solution to those differences between north and south
which still exist. Thirty years ago some distinguished Irishmen
tried to obtain for Ireland a true system of representation. They
failed. What has been the result? Since that time there has
existed within the British House of Commons a political brick
wall between north and south; for the whole of that time the
minority in the north and the minority in the south has
been without representation. Had there been true repre-
sentation those differences would not have disappeared, but
we should have seen them in their true proportions. Moreover,
those forces which have worked for reconciliation would have had
continuous representation, and would have gathered strength.
South Africa, although under one Parliament, is not yet completely
unified. The Orange River Free State elects a solid block of repre-
sentatives opposed to racial union. There are no such problems
in Australia, but I could not help feeling that the increasing
tendency toward the monopoly of political representation by one
class will make more difficult of solution those industrial prob-
lems which must be solved if there is to be true national unity.
You in Canada certainly have racial and religious problems, and
the exaggeration of your political differences, of the differences
between Provinces, may make the solution of those problems
more difficult. In any case, a statesman aiming at the complete
unification of Canada would deplore anything that would tend
to exaggerate those differences. Yet in many of your Parliaments,
differences between Ontario and Quebec have been grossly exagger-
ated. Take the election of icjoS. In that election some 115,000
votes were recorded for Conservatives in the province of Quebec.
These returned but 1 1 representatives and more than half of them
by majorities of less than 100. Each Conservative member
represented 10,500 votes. In that same election the Liberals
secured 54 representatives for 162,000 votes, an average of 3,000
electors per member. In Ontario the Liberals suffer a similar

144

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

injustice, and the political differences between the two provinces
have tended to be exaggerated in Parliament after Parliament.
I venture to suggest that it would be of material advantage if the
political differences between Ontario and Quebec were represented
in Parliament in their true proportions. Although these differences
would not disappear, we should be able to deal with them per-
haps more easily than when presented in an exaggerated form.

There has been a tendency on the part of many men fully
qualified to render service in Parliament and Council to the
nation, to withdraw from public life. No self-governing nation
can afford to let those men withdraw from public life. Upon
those men rests the duty, the supreme duty of making the council
the most efficient instrument of Government possible. But our
electoral machinery provides some excuse for their withdrawal.
The would-be candidate finds that he must obtain a majority
of votes, and the processes through which he must proceed to
obtain that majority renders the task of entering into an electoral
contest most repellent to many of those whom we would like to
see serve us. All these evils to which I have referred and many
others which I have not touched upon to-day, can be removed by
introducing election based on a new system of representation.
Hitherto only the majority within each electoral district is entitled
to a hearing. The minority, large or small, have no influence
in determining the composition of Parliament. The new prin-
ciple is that all classes of citizens are entitled to representation
in proportion to their strength. All classes of citizens are entitled
to be brought into relation with the Parliament and council
which speaks in their name, and proportional representation can
be secured by a simple change in the method of election. This
change has three aspects.

In the first place it is necessary to group together our single
member districts into larger electoral areas returning five, six,
seven or more members, in proportion to its population. By
electing several members at a time it becomes possible to apportion
representation between the majority and the minority.

Having grouped electorates, the proposal is that each elector
in these enlarged constituencies shall have but one vote. There
may be five, six, seven or more members to be elected, but each
elector is to have but one vote. Consider the effect of that change.
We may make it clear by taking a very simple example. Suppose

145

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

in one of these new districts five members are to be elected and
five thousand electors record their votes. Each elector will have
but one vote, 5,000 votes will be recorded, and it will follow that
if any candidate obtains one-fifth of the votes he must be one of
the five returned, for you can only form five groups of one-fifth
each out of a total of five thousand, or in other words, one-fifth
of the community can obtain one-fifth of the representation.
That is a very simple change, but its consequences are enormous.
It removes from those men who are needed in the service of our
country the excuse that present conditions make it impossible
for them to stand, because they would only have to obtain the
support say of one-fifth of the electorate, and not of the majority.
Their position in Parliament would depend upon their retaining the
confidence of those who have voted for them at first, and not
depend upon a small group of voters who may vote against
them in default of the candidate's pledge to do their bid-
ding. Just one illustration of how it will affect British municipal
conditions. Just before the war there was a municipal election
in Manchester. Two or three of the best councillors lost their
seats in ward elections. One of them had devoted the whole of
his life to the Art, Museum and Science Departments. But good
administrators must nearly always in the course of their work
offend some small section of the electors : he was beaten by a few
votes. His inclination was to retire completely from public life.
Under a rational system of representation he would have retained
his position so long as he retained the confidence of the men who
put him there. The new system would encourage the candidacy
of good men because it gives a reasonable security of tenure.

But we must introduce a third change in the plan of one vote
to one man in a constituency returning several members. This
change secures minority representation: but, for the purpose of
insuring a fair representation of the minority and majority, the
vote must be transferable. The transfer will be under the control
of the elector who records the vote. Why do we need a trans-
ferable vote? The elector going into the polling booth to record
his vote (by placing the figure i against the name of his favorite)
will not know how the voting has gone. If the elector knew that
the man for whom he was voting had already obtained one
thousand votes, and was sure of election, he would say to himself :
I will give my vote to some other candidate whom I know will

146

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

support the policy of my favorite. The transferable vote enables
him to use his voting power to the fullest advantage : to act as if
he knew the result of the election. It enables him to put the
figure i. against the name of his favorite, the figure 2. against his
second choice and the figure 3. against his third. These ex-
pressions of preference serve as instructions to the returning officer
to transfer all votes given in excess, to the second choice of the
electors who have voted for the successful candidate. In this
way votes given in excess are not wasted. The transferable vote
meets another contingency. Two or more candidates may be
standing for one party, which may only have enough votes to
secure one representative. Suppose there are two candidates
of one party, and one gets six hundred votes and the other 400
votes: a thousand votes are requisite to secure representaton.
Instead of a seat being lost to the party through the splitting of the
vote, the candidate at the bottom of the poll would be declared de-
feated, and the votes given to him carried forward to the second
choice. The returning officer, again acting under the authority
of the electors, transfers the votes until a sufficient number is
concentrated on one candidate. The party secures representation
to which it is entitled, and secures as representative the candidate
whom it prefers. In this way the returning officer, always acting
upon instructions given, builds up groups of equal size, each large
constituency becomes represented fairly, and Parliament becomes
fairly and fully representative of the nation.

This is not a theoretical proposition. It is one that has been
put to the test both in Parliamentary and municipal elections.
It is in force for Parliamentary elections in Tasmania. It has
been used in the municipal elections of Johannesburg, and for the
Senate of South Africa. The New South Wales Government
has just placed upon the table of Parliament a bill providing for
its use in the elections of greater Sydney, and last but not least the
United Kingdom expressed its approval of this method when the
constitution of the proposed Irish Parliament was under considera-
tion. It is spreading to Canada. The citizens of Ottawa recently ex-
pressed their approval of its use in the election of their Board of
Control. The Municipal Council of Calgary is asking for powers
to make use of the system. I just put this question to you:
the legislature of Quebec has been considering the municipal
administration of Montreal. Has anyone suggested that what is

147

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

desired is a council fully and completely representative of all the
citizens of Montreal? A system of election is required by which
some of its citizens may say to themselves, "we are determined
to make Montreal one of the finest, one of the best governed
cities in the world." This system of election will give assurance
to such men, that if they retain the confidence of the quota of
voters who first put them in, they will remain on that council to
carry forward their work to completion. Or take another point
of view. The late Mr. F. D. Monk suggested at one time that the
whole Island of Montreal might be one constituency for elections
to the legislature and to Parliament. He recommended it
on these grounds; that at present there were a good many demands
for public works of a small kind, when what was wanted was the
consideration of the needs of the city of Montreal as a whole;
and I venture to suggest that the members for these enlarged
districts would take a wider view of the requirements of the
city than is possible for a representative who, to retain his seat,
must place first the needs of his ward. Or take national considera-
tions, when questions of race, of religion come up for discussion.
Would it not be an advantage to Canada if the differences between
Ontario and Quebec, between Alberta and British Columbia,
were presented in Parliament in a form completely free from
exaggeration? And then take the larger question of our Imperial
unity. Perhaps some day a convention may be called together
to consider means by which a suitable scheme can be worked out.
On what lines should that convention be formed? The repre-
sentation of only one party from each of the Dominions, or a
convention in which all large sections of the community are repre-
sented? Certain it is that the success of the convention of South
Africa which gave birth to its constitution owed its success in
no small measure to this fact, that it was fully and fairly repre-
sentative of all sections of the community.

I have put forward several points for your consideration.
From my own point of view, believing that we are going to be
victorious in this war, I am of the opinion that we cannot celebrate
that victory more fittingly than by carrying forward to a higher
stage of development our local, Imperial and national institutions.
We have inherited Parliament from our forefathers. We owe the
privileges of government under which we live to-day to their
efforts. It falls upon us of this present generation to complete

148

A National Parliament — A New Basis of Representation

their labors, to see to it that Parliament does not fail in prestige,
to see to it that our municipal councils challenge comparison with
any in the world. I can think of no higher work to which
those of you who have leisure, who are not directly associated
with the conduct of this great struggle, can give your attention
at the present time than this question of the strengthening of those
representative institutions on the efficient working of which
depends the future of all parts of the British Dominions and of the
Empire itself.

149

(February 28th, 79/6)

IS WAR CURELESS?

By RABBI STEPHEN S. WISE

of New York

I WONDER whether I may address you as I addressed the Can-
adian Club of Toronto a year ago, When I addressed them,
moved as I was, as Mr. President and fellow-neutrals. I say
fellow-neutrals because you are just as neutral in this war as I
am; and I, although not a Briton nor the son of a Briton, am just
as neutral as you are. In fact I have been saying for some time
that I would be very glad to escape for a little while in any event
from my own country in order to go to your country. Now,
normally, when Americans reach Canada in fugitive fashion it
is for private reasons. I have come here for a time for public
reasons, or on public grounds, and I am very glad for a little while
to be in a place where an American may be unneutral and at the
same time speak out the deepest convictions of his heart. For
while I am or hope I am, a loyal American, and while I recognize
and accept cheerfully the leadership of the President of the United
States, it is nice to get away for a time and to be free to be just
myself and to tell you exactly what I think. I do not, on the other
hand, feel that I have escaped to a foreign land, because we never
think of Canada as a foreign country. We have not quite decided
whether to lick you or swallow you, ultimately, although the wise
among us are agreed that you are too tough to lick and too indi-
gestible to swallow; and we have decided that in the interests
of progress we ought to be able to live together, side by side as
comrades and friends. I do not feel that I am in an alien country,
for I remember that fine word of Mark Twain, speaking some
years ago in London, when he said: "Whenever I stand under the
folds of the British flag I never think of myself as an alien, because

151

Is War Cureless?

where the British flag is an American is at home." And I do not
quite feel like that negro gentleman in America, who at the outset
of the war was very much disturbed about its outcome. He
thought it was going to be a simple, easy and almost immediate
triumph for the central powers, and he said to one of his friends :
"Now, Sam, just think for a moment of what those German
submaroons are doing. Some day they will come over to this
country, destroy New York, and go up the Hudson River and the
Mississippi and the Missouri River and the Columbia River,"
and he said to his friend: "You can be a neutrality if you like,
but ah'm a German." Now, I am neither a neutrality nor a
German, but a pro-ally American. I want to tell you what per-
haps you do not adequately know, that there are millions and mil-
lions of my fellow-Americans who are just as truly pro-ally as
is the speaker of the moment, but unlike the speaker they are
voiceless. You must not judge American sentiment by the volume
and vociferousness of Teutonic noises. The American people
are a little like the British, if you will pardon my presumption;
the Americans are a little like the British in that we are not saying
a great deal, we are not indulging in brag and bluster; but we
believe in a certain thing as you do and we are satisfied that you
are going to see that thing done and see it done right and see it
done well. I venture to say to-day that the heart of the American
people, the hearts of the greatest number of the American people,
are absolutely with Great Britain, with France and with Belgium
in this world war.

I 'do not know whether you realize, gentlemen, that you repre-
sent the most popular thing that has ever come out of Canada,
in America — the Canadian Club. Whatever else we may think
about Canada, Americans, save for myself, are unanimous about
the merits of that one thing. I have been wondering a
little about Canada these days, wondering about the Canadian
people, how they are made up. I presume you are not all of
English stock. There must be some Scotch, some Irish, some
Welsh; or I should say some Scots and some other Britons here,
for whenever I come to one of the great British Dominions I
find it settled by the Scots of whom I dared to say at a meeting
once (and I am still alive to tell the story) the "Scots wha hae wi'
Wallace bled, and have been bleeding the rest of the world
ever since." Whenever I think of the Scotch I am reminded of

152

Is War Cureless?

a poor Englishman, found sitting around one day, upon the
Thames Embankment, very disconsolate. When someone stopped
to comfort and cheer him up, he answered: "What do you expect
of me, my dear man? Of course I am unhappy. Of course I
cannot make a living. How would you expect me to? I buy
from the Scotch and I sell to the Jews." Now the fact is, speaking
for my people, I want you to know there are three places on earth
where a Jew cannot make a living. One is in that Yankee Cale-
donia, known as New England, the next is that Oriental Scotland
known as China, and the third is Scotland itself.

I wonder if I ought to tell you that not very long ago I was
in England. I hope to be free to go there soon again. I am
getting homesick for England, I confess, I so love it. We went
over to London for some days, and I had the pleasure of meeting
some of the members of the English Cabinet, in whose pay of course
I have been ever since. That is what some of the newspapers in
New York would announce to-morrow if they heard of my speech.
One of the members of the Cabinet invited Mrs. Wise and myself
to have tea with him on the terrace and he told us the story of
some American women he had lately entertained at tea. He asked
them: "How do you like the Thames?" and what do you think
these young women said? They did not come from New York,
they came from Missouri. They said: "Well, it is a nice little
river, but you ought to see the Mississippi and the Missouri."
and the minister said : "Yes, the Mississippi is a fine river, but the
Thames is liquid history." One of the young Missouri ladies
answered: "Why, there is not enough water in the Thames
River to serve as a gargle for one of the mouths of the Mississippi."

I am a little afraid to tell stories when I stand before Britons.
I have had some disastrous experiences in London. I wonder
whether I ought to invite another such now. About five years
ago I was crossing over to London. It was this month of the year
just before Washington's birthday, and a rather heavy storm
arose, and a woman sitting next to us on the deck turned to her
little boy and said: "Now, Jim, we are going to have a bad
storm. Go right below to our stateroom and take you clothes off
and get into your little pyjamas, and go to bed." About half
an hour later she went down to see if the boy was properly in bed
and came up to us in great excitement. The little lad was in bed
wrapped up in an American flag, and when she asked: "My

153

Is War Cureless?

boy, why have you wrapped yourself in this flag?" he said:
"Mother dear, you said yourself there is going to be an awful storm,
and I thought the ship might go down to the bottom, and it is
a German ship, and I want God to know that I am an American."
But telling that story in England I had to say of course that it
was an English ship, and that the little boy had said: "I don't
want God to think that I am an Englishman." I apologized and
tried to soothe the savagely ruffled breasts before me, by adding :
"Of course, all Americans feel as I do, that if I weren't an Amer-
ican I should want to be an Englishman." Immediately after
the dinner an English gentleman came to me and said : "Of course
Dr. Wise, if you were not an American you would want to be an
Englishman, but a true Englishman if he could not be an English-
man would not want to be alive at all." This reminds me of
another Englishman of whom Mr. Zangwill told. Israel Zangwill,
a great Jew and a great Briton, came to this country a few years
ago. While here he heard an expression that amused him im-
mensely and he used it very often. Somebody said : "The blessed
fool; it would have been money in his pocket never to have been
born." He found that expression so delightful that he used it
at an English dinner, and one of the diners said: "Mr. Zangwill
have you thought of this, that if the man had never been born
he would never have had a pocket?"

I wonder whether I may tell you of another Rabbi who came
pretty near being in a hard place. The story is told in New York
of an Irishman who was very ill, stricken with that dread disease,
smallpox. One night he said to his wife: "Bridget dear, I want
to have the last rites of the church at once; send for a Jewish
Rabbi." Bridget said: "If you want the last rites you shall
have them, but you don't want a Jewish Rabbi. You want the
priest." "No," says Pat, "I want a Jewish Rabbi. Do you
think I want our priest to get the smallpox?"

Now, gentlemen whenever I, a Jew and a Rabbi, face a com-
pany of Christians, I wonder what it is that I am going to
catch; but I know what it is that you are going to catch
before I shall have done, because I am going to rely upon the
fact that you are Britons and that a Briton likes to hear another
man speak his own mind. Whether you like it or not I am going
to speak my mind. I am going to flatter you, as Dante once said,
by indulging in true speaking. I want to tell you this afternoon

154

Is War Cureless?

why I believe that war is not cureless and what are the things that
are going to come into life in order not only to end this war, but
in order to end war ; for I believe as well as hope that this war
may be the last of the great wars of history, and unless it is to
be that then this war will not have been worth while. Unless,
in other words, after its end, under the leadership of Great Britain
and the United States there may be such a re-organization of the
world's international affairs as will make war almost impossible
in the world.

In the first place, we have got to have an end of the old secret,
stealthy, underground diplomacy, that has been responsible for
so much of the warring of the nations for centuries. Now I use
the term secret, underground diplomacy. Shall I give you a
definition of it 7 I quote the word of Lord Morley, or John Morley
as we still love to think of him, who in a recent collection of his
essays quoted Bismarck. Now you and I may not quite accept
the Prussian point of view with regard to Bismarck. We may not
quite set him up on the pinnacle they do, but we are agreed that
he was thoroughly conversant with the ways of diplomacy. Now
Bismarck defined diplomacy as the art of passing bad money.
Underground diplomacy is very much more than that and it is
graver than that, infinitely disastrous in its consequences. The
old diplomacy has been in effect a denial of the validity of the
moral law as binding upon nations in their relations to each other;
and I tell you that great as is my land and great as is your Empire
and mighty for the hour (and only for the hour) as is the German
Empire, no power on earth is great enough to invalidate the Ten
Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. "Thou shalt
not covet. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not murder," is
just as binding upon great powers as upon the least and the hum-
blest of individuals.

I am not prepared to say, that this war could have been
averted. Seeing that some of the powers of Europe were deter-
mined that it should come I can hardly say that, but I ask you
what might not have been the effect if between the 24th day of
July, 1914, and the second day of August, 1914, the peoples of
Serbia, of Germany, of Austria, of Russia, of England, of France
and of Belgium had known what was happening hour after hour
in the chancelleries of their capitals. Who knows, but realizing
that day after day and hour after hour they were being pushed

155

Is War Cureless?

nearer and nearer to the abyss which should plunge them into
the hell of war, the peoples of European nations might have averted
the war which the peoples did not will ? War is of the people, as
you know to your bitterness, and it is by the people, but rarely
for the people. A war for the people was fought half a century ago
in my country, the Civil War, which liberated one race and brought
together two races; yet I say that war is of the people and by the
people, but rarely for the people. Let me give you an illustration
of what I mean. This is the 28th day of February. Suppose on
the 28th day of February, 1914, David Lloyd George had made
this proposal: "That Great Britain, in conjunction with all the
other great powers of Europe, Italy, Austria, France, Germany,
Russia, expend annually for a term of ten years the sum of $500,-
000,000, in order to end the crime of poverty, in order to drain
the morasses of destitution, — to use his own words — "to wage a
war upon poverty." What would have been the response even
of your own England? They would have ridiculed him out of
politics; his great career would have been ended. "How can we
find 500,000,000 dollars in ten years?" they would have said,
"it is an unthinkable sum for such a purpose," and that would
have been the response of Europe. What is being expended to-day ?
You know what the war bill is. According to the most modest
estimate the war bill of Europe to-day is nearly $75,000,000 every
day. Let us cut that figure down. Let us say it is $50,000,000
every day, and it is much more than that ; that means one billion
of dollars every twenty days, five billions of dollars in one hundred
days. So great Britain and the other powers of Europe can expend
upon the prosecution of this war, which has got to be fought
through now, in one hundred days, in one-third of the year, what
might have been asked for for the good of all the peoples of Europe
and their answer would have been no. The powers of Europe
have money in order to prosecute a war, to slay and to destroy,
but no money to serve the well-being of the people of their lands ;
in any event not in the enormous proportions in which that
money is being expended upon the prosecution of the war
to-day.

Now, gentlemen, I am going to come to another point, and
I ask you to remember that I am a defenceless American. If
anything happened to me as a result of what I shall say please
remember that one widow and two orphan children will be

156

Is War Cureless?

breadless. Please bear with me, and understand too that I rely
upon the British sense of fair play to carry me through.

We are never going to have an end of war until women have
a share in government. Here is a war in the world which in-
volves two thirds of the people, a war in which at least two millions
of men have already been slain, five millions have been wounded
and two to three millions are captives, and we don't know how
long this will keep up. Do you think it fair and just and decent
that all this should be and not one woman have been asked
whether war should be ? I know what is in your minds. Women do
not go to war; they are not fighting and dying and perishing in
the trenches. No. But 1 want you British gentlemen to under-
stand one thing, that the first and the last and the most terrible
cost of war is not borne by men, but by women, for after all you
men know pretty well what war is. You at least have one crowded,
glorious hour of strife, but women have none of that. They only
have the pain and the loss and the sorrow and the agony. Half
a century from to-day there will be armies of women still living
widowed and reft by this cruel war of all which makes life worth
living.

There are three attitudes on the part of the world of woman-
hood toward war. It was generally understood that their duty
consisted in bearing children and bearing children and bearing
children so that they might send them forth to war and to die,
to slay and be slain. Sixty years ago a great English woman
began a second stage in the history of woman, when she, Florence
Nightingale by name, went to the battlefields of the Crimea in
order to bring to the men there, wounded and maimed, the healing
of a woman's help, and the magic touch of a woman's sympathy.
The third great stage in the history of woman's attitude is about
to dawn. It won't be easy to make you gentlemen understand it
because you are British and therefore fundamentally conservative,
but somebody has got to say it to you and I might as well be that
somebody. The next great stage in the history of woman's
attitude toward war is going to be just this, that the women of the
European lands are going to arise and say: We are satisfied to
be the mothers of men. We are ready to be, as women have ever
been, ready to go down into the depths of agony in order to give
life to a child and a child to life, but we will refuse to be the mothers
of men unless, humanly speaking, we can be sure that our sons

157

Is War Cureless?

will be permitted to live, and not be fed to the cannon's mouth
by the order of kings, and czars and emperors and rulers. I do
not mean, gentlemen, that war is never defensible. If I were a
Briton, as I am an American, I would want to be in this war and
I should want my boy to go to this war. Great Britain is, in my
own judgment, fighting for the cause of liberty. Great Britain
is standing like a rock for the cause of democracy as against the
cause of autocratic militarism in the world. English navalism
has never reached the power that German militarism has, for as
long as British men live British men will never subordinate civil
power to military power. The British will always be masters of
their armies. But I say again to you men that women have the
right to say : We will not be the mothers of men if we are to bear
them only that they may be fed to the cannon's mouth. About
a year ago a young lady of my congregation came up to me and
said : "Dr. Wise, isn't it perfectly beautiful to think how romantic
are the European countries?" I had not noticed that these
countries were particularly romantic now and I said so, and she
said : "Why, have you not heard about war brides and war mar-
riages ? Of course after a man reaches middle age it is hard for him
to perceive romance. ' ' That little girl really imagined that war
brides and war marriages meant romance. When such things are
encouraged and sanctioned by the churches and the nations what
does that mean? That the churches and the powers of Europe
are inflicting the last and grearest disgrace on woman. They are
converting them into human breeding machines in order that by
a higher birthrate they may neutralize the deathrate. Women
want to be the mothers of men, but they are not and will not
always be satisfied to be breeding machines. I am not asking
for the vote for women. Heaven forefend ! I am asking for so
much more. I am asking for a share in the government. I am
not asking for a share in government for the other half of
the race, but for the mother half of the race. We men have not
gotten along so well and so gloriously that we can afford to dis-
pense with woman's help, without the mother conception and the
mother understanding and the mother pity and the mother love.
I ask for women a share in the government of the world.

Now for my third point. We are never going to have an end
of war in the world as long as you and I believe in that lie which
must have been born in hell: "If you want peace prepare for

158

Is War Cureless?

war." I speak with feeling about that, because we in America
are passing through a critical time. We are not situated as you are.
The United States of America is an island, half of an island, the
bigger half of an island ; but we are not like that tight little island
with its tight little islanders from which you or your fathers have
come. The way it is put is this: we must in America prepare
for war as the only way of ensuring peace. That is what Europeans
have been told for the past forty years and I have heard Americans
stupid enough to say, what a pity this war had to come because
the Archduke of Austria was assassinated, as though any such
excuse were needed for war. You know that one of the reasons
Tor this war is because Europe has been an armed camp for the
last forty years, because no concerted move has been made by
the powers, led by Grear Britain, to stop the piling up of ar-
maments, to stop the burdening of the peoples of Europe. Now
when a great American, or at least one of the foremost Americans,
one of the best-loved Americans, Colonel Roosevelt, says that we
must have a great army in my country and a great navy, because
we are situated exactly like Belgium, we begin to ask questions.
Have you ever considered how closely parallel is the position of
the United States to that of Belgium? For one thing the United
States of America, to say nothing about you, have a little river
to the East known as the Atlantic brook, and we have a fair sized
stream to the west known as the Pacific ocean, and we are reason-
ably sure, and reasonably secure. If you believe certain of our
American gentlemen, Mr. Hearst and Mr. Hobson, some day
New York will wake up and we will find a German fleet of sub-
mersible battleships (if they only were) in the East River and a
fleet of Japanese battleships in the North River or the Hudson
River and then what will we poor New Yorkers do? We would
have to dim the lights of Broadway. Can you think of any more
tragic thing in the life of New York ? Now we have had one hundred
and one years of peace with Canada, haven't we ? Why ? Someone
has answered because we speak the same language, but we don't.
You in Canada speak English, when you speak at all, and we in
New York, for example, speak an Indian dialect known as Man-
hattanese. So we do not speak the same language at all. We
have had no war with Canada for 101 years — I have not told my
fellow-Americans what in my heart I believe, that you are afraid
of being licked — but do you know why ? Because we have not been

159

Is War Cureless?

ready for it. Because we have never thought of war as a way
out. That is why. We have had rather critical times. Some
of us remember that Saturday afternoon about twenty-five years
ago when things trembled in the balance, and if it had not been
for Britain war might have come between Britain and the United
States because of an unhappy error in diplomacy. Do you know
why we have had no war? We have had no war with Great
Britain for 101 years and we are not going to have war with Great
Britain, I can prophesy that much, for another thousand years.
Every war is cruel and devilish, but a war between Great Britain
and the United States would be a fratricidal war. It is not worth
talking about, it is so far beyond the realm of possibility. As
I said before, the answer to the question, why have we not had
war with Great Britain is this, that we have not been ready for
it. We have had no forts on the Canadian-American frontier,
no battleships on the St. Lawrence, Lakes Erie and Ontario.
Suppose, gentlemen, on the Great Lakes now you had battleships
named in the modest British manner, the Unconquerable, the
Invincible, the Indomitable, the Irresistible, and so on and we on
our side had a lot of battleships. We should not have named them
in this way, we should give them simple, plain American names
such as Killemquick, Eatemalive, and so on. Suppose we had
two great fleets of battleships facing each other for one hundred
years and more, gentlemen, we should have had war long before
this. Some diplomat would have dragged us into war if it had
been at all possible. But we have gotten along for a hundred
years without a fort, without a battleship in those waters, and we
are going on and on and on for another thousand years; and war
shall never be dreamed of between your Dominion and our own
Republic.

What about the Southern and Central American Republics?
We have not had a war with them for one hundred years or more.
You can't count that little skirmish in Mexico about seventy years
ago. That little war in 1840 was something like those little en-
gagements in which Great Britain was involved in her earlier
days. That was not a war at all. Our little difference with Mexico
was an act of purely Christian charity on our part, that is all.
We found Mexico over-burdened with territory that she could
not control. We relieved her of a part of that territory and took
over the burden. If we had waited until now it would have been

160

Is War Cureless?

too late. The trouble is that some Empires on earth are centuries
too late, but they don't know it. And so we have had no war
and we are going to have no war with the central and southern
American Republics, because we of the American Republic are
beginning to understand that even though the Latin races of the
central and southern American Republics are a poor inferior
lot of dagoes as compared with us, to say nothing of you, still they
have the right to live. Speaking earnestly to you, gentlemen,
we of America, of the Great Republic, are beginning to understand,
that the Latin Republics have just the same right to live that we
have. When Admiral Peary dared to say a year ago that he
wanted the American flag to fly over every bit of soil in the
western world, I said that that man is not fit to wear the uniform
of an American officer. I would rather have my country go
down in shame, than raise her flag over one foot of soil in the
western world which is not rightfully her own. That is how I
feel about the American Republic. And more than that. What
about Japan? We are warned against Japan all the time. There
is danger of war with Japan. I think we are going to have war
with Japan, unless we learn one thing — it will not be easy — to
treat Japan as if we were gentlemen, as if we Americans were gen-
tlemen. Not as if the Japanese were gentlemen, but as if we were
gentlemen. The Japanese people will not forever endure the
insults which we have heaped upon her head. Japan represents
a great, proud, splendid people, and my people have got to learn
to treat Japan with respect, otherwise war will come and war ought
to come with Japan.

I'll tell you another reason why I do not want my people
now to go in for a great army and a great navy. When peace
comes at last, as come it must, and God grant it soon, I want
America to go into the peace negotiations as the one great neutral
power of earth, with hands clean and undefiled. If we build a
great army and a great navy, what right will we have to plead for
the disarmament of the world ? I want my country, by your side,
to throw its weight in the balance in favor of peace, and not of
the continuance of the crushing and insupportable burden of
war armaments. That is why to-day I am against a great army
and against a great navy. I think it would be a violation of
American tradition. If, Heaven forefend, victory come in another
way, it may become necessary for us to have a great army and a

161

Is War Cureless?

great navy; but I do not believe it will, and feeling as I do and
hoping as I do and praying as I do for the triumph of the allied
powers, it will not be necessary for us, as a power, to go into the
mad scramble for armaments, to become a great armed power.

There is one thing more. You may not agree with me again,
but I have to say it to you. We are not going to have an end of
war until the whole world learns, what Great Britain has recently
become almost big enough to understand . We are not going to have
an end of war until the powers of earth understand that there is
room and need on earth for every variety of race, for every variety
of faith, for every diversity of spirit and nation; in other words,
there is just as much need in the world for little Serbia as for
mighty Germany, and I consider the resurrection and the saving
of Belgium to be as important to the moral welfare of the human
race, as the maintenance of the British Empire itself. The Powers
have got to understand that no power is great enough to rule the
world. I am speaking of the things that make war, for wars are
not made by armies, wars are waged by armies but made by the
feelings of human hearts. I think Great Britain has set a wonder-
ful example in the world in that her horizon has been as wide as
her Empire and her tolerance as broad as her lands and seas.
She does not try to make every man cease to be what he is in order
to become a Briton. Britain expects that every man shall be him-
self and then be a Briton. You do not ask the Jews to cease to
be Jews, the peoples of the Empire to cease to be that which they
are. In your worldwide fraternal grasp you take in the peoples
and the races and the faiths, and while preserving an outward
unity you leave them to form their spiritual unity, and that
spiritual unity is the glory of your Empire.

Why do I feel so deeply about this? Let me tell you an in-
cident. A little more than a couple of years ago Mrs. Wise and
myself went to Palestine and we went on to Bethlehem. We
wanted to look upon the shrine where your Lord and Master, as
you name him, was given to life and immortality. We sought
to enter through a little, narrow portal that leads to the chapel,
the Chapel of the Holy Mother, and at the door I noticed two
priests, one a Roman Catholic priest and the other a Greek
Catholic Priest. Now I wish you might have seen these two
Christian priests. It was three days before Easter, and they were
looking at each other in such a way that I thought, how they love

162

Is War Cureless?

each other! I never saw men face each other with the hatred
that was in the hearts and faces of those two Christian priests.
An Arab with whom I was conversing said to me: "Jesus Christ
must have left Bethlehem long ago." About twenty feet away
I noticed a company of Turkish soldiers. I asked, what are the
Turkish soldiers doing here? Gentlemen, what do you think?
The answer was that during the Easter festival it is always neces-
sary to have Turkish soldiers on the spot in order to prevent these
Roman and Greek Catholic priests from killing one another.
A few years before the time of which I speak a Roman Catholic
priest had been slain because he dared to touch a lamp belonging
to the Greek Catholic communion.

The next day we journeyed on to Jericho. I have often been
invited to go there but it was the first time I went. We came to
Jericho and we reached the Jordan. We looked upon the beauties
of the Dead Sea. When we got to the river Jordan what do you
think I wanted to do? It was a very warm day. I did not want
to take a bath, but to dip my hands into the waters of the river.
I noticed around me some Russian peasants; but I thought no
more about them and paid no more attention to them than they
did to me. I took off my coat and rolled up my sleeves and was
about to dip my hands into the river, when a Russian peasant
woman of about eighty years began muttering and coming towards
me. I asked my guide what the matter was with the dear old
lady, and what do you think she wanted? She said: "Jew,
what are you doing with your Jewish hands in my Christian river?"
Here was I, a Jew and a Rabbi, come back after nineteen hundred
years of Christless exile, to the lands of my fathers, and about to
dip my hands in the river in which my great grandfathers had
been accustomed to bathe before her great grandfathers ever took
a bath in their lives. Now perhaps I was a better Christian than
she was, for she did not love me, or she seemed not to. I have
never been loved in that way before. I am afraid she swore at
me. I blessed her and I forgave her. I remembered the word of
the Psalmist: "Let them curse, but do thou bless," and I blessed
her and I bless her memory if she be gone; but I tell you now,
gentlemen and Britons, we are never going to have an end of war
in the world as long as there be in the hearts of men the spirit that
moved that woman to address me as she d id . We have got to get the
old hatreds, the old prejudices, the old bitternesses, the inveterate

163

Is War Cureless?

animosity out of our souls. Then and only then we shall have an
end of war. I think of that Russian woman because there is a
heavy burden upon the souls of some of my people. I am asked
again and again, "Dr. Wise, how can you proclaim that you
favor the allies and the victory of their cause, knowing as you do
how your people are suffering at the hands of Russia?" I think
the important thing in the world to-day is that Britain win this
war regardless of every other consideration; and then, I have
faith that Britain and France together will move Russia, (as
they ought to move, otherwise every profession of theirs is a lie)
to be just at least to her subject peoples, so that there be an end
in the Russian Empire of the wrong and the shame of inequality
and injustice and oppression and cruelty. I have such faith in
the British Empire that I believe this war is going to mean,
under the hegemony of Britain, the end of wrong against the lesser
races, the lesser faiths on earth. I believe, and therefore I am with
and for Great Britain and her allies, that the end of the war is
going to mean the end of much of the wrong and injustice and
shame that have defaced the earth for century after century. I
want Great Britain to triumph, but I want Great Britain to be
greatest in the hour of her triumph. Not to be great in demanding
vengeance, not great in dismembering peoples and Empires,
but greater than she has ever been before, with the aid
of her allies and the spiritual co-operation of the American
Republic, in bringing about a reign of peace and justice and honor
among the nations of the world. May that end come soon and
may God in his mercy and power speed them.

164

(March gth, /g/6)

PRUSSIAN DIPLOMACY

By DR. C. W. COLBY

DR. Colby began by defining the subject and stating his in-
tention to describe the circumstances under which Great
Britain came to have France, Russia, Japan and Italy as allies
in the present war. He dwelt upon the advantage which Germany
enjoyed at the outset of the Kaiser's reign, through possessing
three great diplomatic assets; namely, the Triple Alliance, the
traditional antagonism between England and Russia, and the bad
feeling which had come to exist between England and France over
the British occupation of Egypt.

What use did William II make of these advantages which
had been bequeathed him by Bismarck? His first step was to
suffer Russia to drift away into an alliance with France — an
association which might have been prevented, if the Kaiser had
been willing to renew the secret reinsurance treaty of 1884 with
Russia. In consequence of Germany's neglect to maintain a
friendship with Russia, together with her alliance with Austria,
Alexander III formed the entente of 1891 which was celebrated
by the reception of the French fleet at Cronstadt.

Even so, the Kaiser had not alienated Russia completely,
since fortune gave him another chance to re-establish the old
bond which had existed between William I of Prussia and the
Tsar Alexander 1 1 .

This opportunity came in 1 894 with the accession of Nicholas
II, who, at the outset of his reign, felt a warm admiration for the
talents and versatility of his first cousin, the German Emperor.
During the first eighteen months which followed the accession
of the Tsar, Germany began to play with fire by entering upon a

This report is from the Montreal Star.

165

Prussian Diplomacy

line of action which has since led her into open antagonism with
both England and Russia. The year 1895 witnessed the active
prosecution of German intrigues in the Transvaal, and the com-
mencement of that co-operation with Russia in the Far East,
which was to react so disastrously upon Russia, thereby weakening
the connection between the Tsar and the Kaiser which could
have been maintained if the German Government had acted with
greater sincerity.

The Kruger telegram and the commencement of German
activities at Constantinople were the first fruits of the policy
inaugurated by Germany in 1895. The Germans wished to side-
track Russia in Manchuria, in order that she might mortgage her
resources for the prosecution of adventures on the shores of the
Pacific. Meanwhile, deflected thus from the Balkans and Con-
stantinople, she would be unable to interfere with German pro-
jects to secure Asiatic Turkey. From the outset the clearest
objectives of the Pan-German League were to destroy the maritime
ascendency of Great Britain, and to give Germany control of an
unbroken territory from Hamburg to the Persian Gulf.

The speaker devoted considerable attention to the work
which was done at Constantinople by Marschall von Bieberstein,
the ablest statesman Germany has produced since the fall of
Bismarck. Simultaneously with the efforts of Baron Marschall
at Constantinople went on the prosecution of designs in the Far
East, ending in the German acquisition of Kiao-Chau as part of
the same operation whereby Russia secured Port Arthur. 1898
was taken as marking the high point reached by William II. At
that date all his diplomatic plans seemed to be progressing as
well as possible. Germany had secured Kiao-Chau, the Kaiser
was on the best of terms with Abdul-Hamid, France was dis-
tracted by the Dreyfus case, and at the same moment seemed
on the verge of war with England over Fashoda.

Then, through over-confidence, began that series of mistakes
which ended in the consolidation of the Triple Entente. The be-
ginning of German blunders is to be associated with that outbreak
of Anglophobia in Germany which occurred during the autumn of
1899. The British reverses in South Africa kindled the resolve
of the Pan-Germans to challenge Britain's naval supremacy
without further loss of time. Instead of cajoling England by fair
words until France had been overthrown, the Germans announced

166

Prussian Diplomacy

their great Navy Bill on the day after the battle of Magersfontein.
By this act they antagonized France no less than Great Britain,
for by doubling their fleet they menaced the security of that
colonial empire which ever since the Franco-German War, has
come to mean so much to the French people. Even as early as the
Fashoda incident of 1898, Delcasse had desired to establish
friendly relations with England. This disposition was still
further encouraged by the German Navy Bill of IQOO.

In iqo2 Germany's chickens came home to roost in the alliance
between England and Japan, which was a result of the loss of
Port Arthur. The treaty between England and Japan had an
extremely important effect on the relations between France and
England — Delcasse feared that France as the ally of Russia might
be drawn into a war with England, the ally of Japan. On the eve
of war between Japan and Russia, alarmed at this prospect,
Delcasse hastened negotiations with England and arranged the
famous visit of King Edward VII. on May i, 1903. In 1904, the
year of the Russo-Japanese war, England and France had already
settled their differences over Siam, Newfoundland, Egypt,
Morocco. In other words, the entente cordiale had come into
being as a result of the suspicion France and England felt re-
garding Germany's motives in doubling her navy.

Dr. Colby also touched upon the features of the Anglo-
Russian treaty regarding Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet. Here,
he alleged the conviction had grown up in the mind of the Russian
Government that Germany was not sincere in encouraging Russian
adventures in Manchuria. After the disastrous war with Japan,
Russia turned her eyes towards Constantinople and found Ger-
many there.

Summing up, the speaker said: "The root of the trouble
was Germany's plot against modern civilization — her effort to
substitute her own priority by brute force for that co-operation
which is the keynote of modern life. But having made this fatal
error in the choice of her objective and ambition, she technically
overplayed her hand and arrayed three great powers against her
by attempting to outwit Russia, to browbeat France, and to act
as though the British Empire had feet of clay/'

167

(March 2oth, 1916)

ITALY'S POSITION IN THE WAR

By DR. BRUNO ROSELLI

WHEN the lust for power of the Central Empires sprang
this conflict upon an unprepared world, Italy found
herself in the most puzzling, the most difficult situation of any
of the countries now fighting, or any of the countries which are
still trying to preserve neutrality in this world conflict. Italy's
position at that time was that of an ally of Austria-Hungary and
Germany, and that of a friend of both England and France.
You may remember that at the time of the conference which was
held only a few years ago, Italy stood by France because France
stood by what was right, and not by Germany, in spite of the
constant recriminations of that country or their ally, Austria-
Hungary. I will illustrate the more human phase of the situation
by telling you that a naval officer, whose name I am not at liberty
to mention, but who was very close to me indeed and who is
fighting now in this war, told me several months before clouds
were massing upon the political horizon, that it would be perfectly
idle for Italy ever to try to fight England ; that his own men would
not consent to shoot upon an English man-of-war. Now, the
reasons for this are very complicated. It can be explained in a
great many ways. I have no time to deal with it fully, but the
fact remains that this officer, who knew his men, knew that that
was the case. And you must not ascribe this to lack of military
discipline; for the Italy who has fought such good fights does not
lack discipline, that discipline which has made Italy the trusted
and valued friend and the much feared enemy. It merely means,
that Italy knew that England, throughout her history, has stood
for right ; and on the contrary only a chain of circumstances still

169

Italy's Position in the War

compelled Italy to feel herself bound by that terrible treaty of
the Triple Alliance. I was in Italy when the Triple Alliance
treaty was renewed for the last time in its increasingly inglorious
history, and I recall how the people received this news. It was
a case of universal consternation, a blow, a bolt from the blue,
for the treaty was not due for several months. It had to be
renewed several months before it fell due for the simple reason
that the government did not dare to wait for the appointed
time, lest the renewal of the treaty should find Italy in the throes
of a revolution. Why did the government then renew this treaty?
It had to be renewed because it was a matter of absolute ne-
cessity. There was no way out of it. It had been made first
thirty-five years before, but the Germany of the 20th of May,
1880, was not the Germany of the 3oth July, 1914, and the change
in the attitude of Germany during this thirty-five years had been
constantly and steadily becoming obnoxious to the Italians.
Conditions had become such that the Triple Alliance constituted
merely a protectorate, with Germany as the protecting country,
Italy as the protected. How could Italy free herself from it?
It was a situation of unusual complication and difficulty, and only
the impossible could save her. But the impossible happened
when, at the end of July, 1914, Austria-Hungary disregarded the
wording as well as the spirit of the Triple-Alliance Treaty, sent
against Serbia the most shameful ultimatum which a self-re-
specting or independent country ever dared address to another
independent country. This ultimatum did not find Italy alto-
gether unaware, and this explains the situation of Italy at the
beginning of the world conflict. In the terms of the Triple
Alliance Treaty, which have only lately and but as yet incomplete-
ly come to be known to the rank and file of the Italian people,
to which I claim to belong, it was made quite clear that any
one of the contracting parties which wished to initiate any hostile
steps in the Balkan Peninsula must notify the other contracting
parties not only before such steps were brought about but actually
before they were completely planned, and Austria forgot it. The
foundation of that Treaty she forgot, as she said. Then of course
when Serbia answered, and the other lands of Europe could not,
in self-respect, be deaf to the appeal coming from Serbia, then
Germany and Austria told Italy to come forward and help them.
Help them, why? The third of the articles of the Triple Alliance

170

Italy's Position in the War

said that Italy was to help Austria-Hungary and Germany in
case either one or both of these countries were attacked. Austria-
Hungary and Germany are still claiming that the Russian bear
and the English lion sprang on them unprepared, and of course as
a natural result the word "traitor" was hurled at Italy. It is
still the word which the Italian boys hear in the trenches on the
Alps hurled at them from the opposing forces a few feet away,
hurled at Italy, the country which was betrayed most -shame-
fully by Austria-Hungary and Germany at the time of the Tripoli
expedition. You remember the great opposition which came
from the allies of Italy, from Austria-Hungary and Germany,
the opposition which stiffened Turkey so that a war ensued, a war
which drained Italy of her resources in men and money. This
was the result of the alliance of Italy with Austria-Hungary and
Germany, and now after what they did they dare hurl the word
"traitor" at Italy. Italy answered in the only way it was digni-
fied and self-respecting to answer, by declining to accept the
shameful offer of territory, which included much more than has
been acquired with patient and persistent effort on the part of
the Italian troops since, which shows an unusual amount of
heroism on the part of Italy. I am not here to remind you of
conditions as they are now in the Alps, and just a few words will
suffice. Let me quote from a letter of a friend of mine now fighting
on the Isonzo front. He wrote to me the other day and this will
give you an idea of the situation: "We tied ropes around our
waists, ten of us to a rope and then with all the paraphernalia
used by the Alpine guides in summer we scaled under concen-
trated fire." I will omit the details of what happened to the
wounded and dead in that terrible scaling, but the fact remains
that the conditions there are not equalled on any of the fronts
in the present world war, and that Italy dared do all this in
spite of the fact that she was practically offered all she wanted,
She dared refuse the territory she was coveting for the simple
reason that it would have come to her indelibly marked with the
stigma of dishonour, for the simple reason that she never would
have dared tell her sons in future generations how this territory
was acquired. But if the officers and soldiers of the Italians think
of this point it must be an awful thought that they are sacrificing
men by the hundred thousand for what as a matter of graft, as
a matter of blackmail, by eleventh hour concessions of Austria,

171

Italy's Position in the War

they could have had. This is what justifies the word heroism
which I like to repeat once more.

What has been Italy's action in the war since the ^^rd of
May, 1915, after what is usually referred to as the Passion Week,
the week of the final negotiations between Italy and her ex-allies?
This has been a big chapter in the military history of Italy. Why
is it that Italy has not yet succeeded in taking those two cities
which she has been trying for for the last two months? Modern
man knows little about mountains. We build our cities on the
plain. We build railroads which enable us to go from one of these
cities on the plain to another of these cities on the plain, either
avoiding these mountains or passing under these mountains.
Very few of us unfortunately know much about mountains any-
way and certainly very few of us know anything about moun-
tain fighting. Did you not see in yesterday's communication
that the Italians had taken some territory at an altitude of 2,300
odd meters up in the air? This is practically 7,500 feet, and the
boys who are storming those positions are from the sunny slopes,
from Vesuvius ; they never saw snow or ice except as a background
for their beautiful mountains, they never set their feet on snow or
ice, and now they are fighting at an altitude of 7,500 feet. This
is the position of Italy at present, merely because she would not
accept, under any circumstances, peace unaccompanied by honor.

The position of Italy at present in other ways is good.
The financial, the military and the moral position of Italy is good.
Let us not try to deny in any way her power by expecting her to
do things which perhaps it is not wise she should do as yet. I
have come to a very delicate part of my address, to the reason
why Italy has not as yet declared war against Germany. It is
a point on which I desire to be very plain indeed, at the same time
I desire to offend nobody. The reasons are many, but this re-
minds me of a gentleman friend of mine who was in the habit of
answering, whenever he was asked why such a thing was so,
"Oh, there are a thousand reasons," and he was broken of that
habit by a gentleman saying to him one day, " I beg your pardon,
sir. Will you kindly keep your nine hundred and ninety-nine
and give me one good reason?" I am going to give you three
good reasons and after you have heard them you will realize why
it is by far best for the allies that Italy has not as yet declared
war against Germany. The reasons are as I care to divide them —

172

Italy's Position in the War

one, strategic; two, psychological; three, diplomatic. The
strategic reason, gentlemen, is easily explained by a brief de-
scription of the position of the Italian- Austrian border. This
border is like a gigantic S. Do you realize that in this enormous
indentation of the country the Austrians are able, or were at the
beginning of the war to hurl troops as far down as the Po Valley?
The gate of Italy was open at the beginning of the war, and this
point lay only twenty-five miles from the Venetian lagoons.
It means that a terrific drive such as Austria-Hungary and
Germany combined might have undertaken at the start would
have been able to sweep down on the Po Valley and shut off
from all communication the Venetian regions where two-thirds
of the Italian troops were located, and that over a million men of
the Italian army would now be in a concentration camp in Austria-
Hungary. Would it be good for the allies if such a thing hap-
pened? I leave that to you. Why is not Austria doing the same
thing now? Because she cannot. Austria and Germany have
not that half a million men to spare which alone would have been
able to accomplish that terrible deed. Austria has her hands
full without Italy and she cannot concentrate half a million men
there, and in fact as conditions are now it would require some-
thing more like one million men for this advance into the Po
Valley. With every day that passes it is less and less impossible
for Italy to find herself at war with Germany. So much for the
strategic reason.

But there is a psychological reason which some of you who
are conversant with Italian conditions may be able to realize:
it is the fact that the Italians hate the Austrians. The hatred
which has swept all over Italy toward Austria is absurd, but
inborn. There is not one Italian out of one hundred thousand
who has anything but unkindly feeling toward Austria. This is
something which has always existed, left over from the centuries
of persecution which are behind. I will not discuss the reason for
it. The same is not altogether the case with regard to Germany.
I do not mean to say that the Italians are kindly disposed to
Germany, but the percentage of people who hate Germany is not
as great as the percentage of people who hate Austria. That is an
instinct. You do not have to think about it, it just comes natural
to us, it is in our blood. In Italy the people might say that one
per cent of the things that were done by Germany might after

173

Italy s Position in the War

all not be so bad; but not one Italian will ever admit that one
of the things ever done or thought of by Austria was ever to any
extent good. This hatred rises occasionally to absurd heights.
I have known of people being socially ostracized for the simple
reason that they dared say that such and such a phase of the
Austrian Government was well conducted. This state of affairs
is not the same with Germany. There are a great many Italians
with German wives. A great many of them are in the navy and
in the army. In a great many parts of Italy where blood is some-
what mixed, especially in Lombardy and Milan, there are a large
number of Italians with German names, descendants of Germans,
who will not relish killing their uncles and cousins in war. There
are a large number of Italians with German connections. German
gold has undoubtedly worked its way by devious methods into
the pockets of a great many Italians. • Italian scientists and
bookworms have been dazzled for two generations by the chemical
discoveries of Germany or by what the Germans call their
"Kultur." The result is that the psychological situation would
by no means be improved in case the war spread directly to Italy
and Germany, in case Italy should take the initiative and declare
war against Germany.

The diplomatic situation is of the gravest importance;
it has not as yet appeared quite fully on this side of the Atlantic.
The less said about it the better and the more delicately handled
the subject, the better. I will remind you of the fact that by
Italy's entrance into the hostilities a country to the north of
Italy found herself completely shut off from any communication
with the sea. That country, gentlemen, is a confederation, and
the word confederation will explain to you why the difficulties
there are very great indeed. The people of Switzerland are not
amalgamated, they are confederated. The result is that as soon
as some of the countries involved in this general conflagration
had not dealt with much skill and delicacy and openness with
that confederation, the Swiss turned toward those countries with
which they are kin of race and blood. German Switzerland
sympathized openly with Germany, and French and Italian
Switzerland sympathized quite openly with the Allies. Let me
remind you of the fact that German Switzerland means now 70%
of the population of the Confederation. This ought to open the
eyes of some people who say: "What is the use? They cannot

174

Italy's Position in the War

fight because their racial strains are mixed." They are not. I
would like to call your attention to this problem, which I shall
not attempt to solve, but put before you as a dilemma. Suppose
the Italians were at war with Germany. Germany would then
immediately ask Switzerland to allow free passage of her troops
through the territory of the Confederation, and the dilemma
presented is this : Would the Swiss, in view of the preponderance
of the German element allow the German troops to sweep through
the undefended passage of the Alps ? This is a much more serious
problem then some of you may imagine. There is not one fortress
on the Italian-Swiss frontier. The City of Milan is only 35
minutes by train from the unprotected Swiss frontier. These
things are very serious indeed. Switzerland might find herself
either .actually or apparently compelled to yield to the request
of Germany made many months ago now to Belgium. "Give us
right-of-way." Could Switzerland resist? She could not be expected
to resist. How could Italy find perhaps two million more troops to
put on that frontier against a country toward which she has never
dreamed of having ever to turn with guns and shot and shell ?

Now these three points which I have tried to bring before you
are very serious indeed. The border between Italy and Switzer-
land does not allow of any leakages. In other words, we know
that the fact that Italy is not fighting Germany directly does not
mean that she gives any help in any way to that powerful country
of the north. But the point is — is it wise for Italy to take the
initiative, is it wise on her own account, and on account of the
general position of all the Allies? That is the answer which I
have to give to things which have been spread abroad too freely
about Italy by poisoned opinion on the American Continent.
Italy is not trying to have a little war of her own, and is not trying
to look for the right moment to sign a separate peace with Austria,
and the proof of this is given by the fact that in December last
she pledged herself by the Declaration of London, not to conclude
a separate peace. If that is not conclusive I do not know what is.
I should like to have you gentlemen act as ambassadors of this
good word to many people who look with suspicion upon the pos-
ition of Italy. A future soldier of Italy tells you that Italy will
not go back on her pledged word.

Another point you undoubtedly wish to have explained by me
is the position of Italy with regard to the evacuation of Serbia and

175

Italy's Position in the War

Montenegro. You have heard a great deal about this, and too
often the statement has been made that Italy is opposed to Serbia
and Montenegro because of their aspirations in the Adriatic,
and that she was glad that Germany and Austria-Hungary were
doing what she herself did not dare do toward Serbia and Mon-
tenegro. This malicious accusation has been spread in spite of
the fact that Italy has shown a remarkable leniency toward those
Balkan countries who are not yet aware that occasionally dreams
are not realities, and that it is impossible to grow by doubling
your territory every year, and that it is better to wait until a
district has been actually incorporated into your rightfully
owned domain before trying to spread over more ground. This
matter is a matter of great importance for Italy because Serbia
shortly after she entered the war proposed to the more powerful
members of the allied powers the request that she be granted the
Eastern shore of the Adriatic, practically all of what Italy wanted.
Italy has not taken up this which might have appeared almost
as a challenge. She has dealt most leniently with countries who
do not realize that dreams of expansion have to be considered in
the light of good fellowship among nations, Italy would have liked
to help Serbia and Montenegro, but the fact remains that she could
not do it. It is very easy to take a map of Serbia and Montenegro
and say; Well, there is this strip, this straight line from the
Adriatic Coast to Belgrade, only about 250 or 300 miles long.
Italy might have sent 300,000 men, figure about 15 miles a day
and they would be there ready to oppose Austria and Germany.
I do not know what you think Albania is. I wonder how many of
you can give the names of half a dozen rivers and mountains in
Albania. Albania has never even been mapped. Central Africa
is better known, for we know just about in what direction the rivers
and mountains of Central Africa are situated, but we do not know
anything about Albania in this respect, and that is the situation.
You have heard, gentlemen, a short time ago of the Serbian army
retreating through mountain passes where only one man at a
time could pass through. Will you kindly tell me how the large
guns which Italy would have had to send to oppose the great
Austrian-German howitzers could have been sent through those
impassable and unmapped mountains? Italy could not do that.
It was an impossibility. All we could do was to use our fleets
to the best advantage and try, as soon as the Serbians and Mon-

176

Italy's Position in the War

tenegrins came down, to help them with stores and provisions and
medicine and nurses and transportation to -the South Coast of
Italy, and that is what she has done and more than that she
absolutely could not do. She might have tried to, perhaps,
in case the other Allied powers on the Eastern part of the Balkan
Peninsula had waked up in time and moved forward toward
Vardar River in such a way as to effect a junction of forces with
the Italians proceeding not north but east.

Now the Allies have made one tremendous mistake, all of
them, as far as I can tell. They have not worked in unison, not
worked together in the Balkans. Each country has had its own
policy there. The ambassadors and diplomats of Russia and
England and France and Italy have all been continuing their
policies which were settled upon previous to the spread of this great
world war. The only way to fight successfully in the Balkans
would have been by a junction of forces not only military but
diplomatic. You would not have had to see such a tragic thing
as the Dardanelles expedition or the advance upon the Vardar
River, which was only the beginning of a hasty retreat upon
Salonica, if the Allies had all planned together their campaign,
diplomatic as well as military in the Balkans. It is to the credit
of Italy that she has been fighting for a general Balkan understand-
ing for months and months and her scheme has finally come to
a successful conclusion, for in Paris three weeks ago a Central
Bureau of the Allied Powers was appointed which is going to settle
this spring the general diplomatic and military situation in the
Balkans.

I want, before I close, to try to explain to you why Italy is
trying so hard to keep the Port of Avlona and has apparently
abandoned the rest of Albania to her fate. What is Italy's policy
with regard to Albania ? There are two things said in this respect ;
one is that Italy covets Albania, the other is that Italy is going
very soon to withdraw from the entire Albania seacoast. The
third theory which tries to unify these two is rather a cynical
theory, that both the previous theories are correct and that
Italy expects the other Allies to act as catspaws. Let me explain
to you that Italy does not want Albania any more than England,
which holds Gibraltar, wants Spain. Valona (or Avlona) is the
Gibraltar of the Adriatic. Italy must hold Valona at any cost,
just as England must hold Gibraltar at any cost. The position

177

Italy s Position in the War

is just exactly the same. The rest of Albania, Italy does not want.
I refer you to the Green Book published by the Italian Foreign
Minister at the beginning of the Italian- Austrian war, and it
will show you that during those terrible months of negotiation
between Austria and Italy a perpetual exchange of compliments
took place between Austrian and Italian diplomats with regard
to the request to kindly take Albania. Said Austria: "Will
you not take all you want in the territory of Albania?" to which
Italy replied: "My dear friend Austria, I really cannot take
away from you something which is so dear to your heart." That
is exactly the gist of the whole thing. Nobody wants Albania.
It is a hornets' nest, where the people are used to living in small
villages on the top of mountains and dropping stones or shooting
on anybody who comes in sight. No map makers have ever been
able to advance very far into the country, because of the strange
viewpoint of the people, to shoot first and then investigate. Such
a territory is not particularly welcome to Italy. She does not want
this land, but the Port of Valona is not thirty-five miles from the
heel of the Italian boot, from the South Coast of Italy, only
thirty-five miles to that Adriatic sea-coast of Italy which she must
hold. If she adopted any other policy Italy might write the word
"finis" on the future of the Adriatic Sea so far as she is concerned.
Now why did she go so far into Albania if she only wanted Valona?
Not for her own sake, but for Serbia's sake. She sacrificed her
own troops on that expedition in order that she might protect the
retreat of the brave Serbian army; and in spite of all that, all over
this continent in editorials you will see that Italy retreated be-
cause she wants to have her own side of the Adriatic and to get
Albania from the powers who will get it by diplomatic instead of
by military means. It is a very serious situation indeed to find
that if something can be said in the newspapers on both sides of
the border against the diplomatic attitude of Italy, something not
altogether to her credit, it should be welcomed by a large per-
centage of the people. You and I, British and Italian are fighting
together and we have to stand by each other, and the fact that
Italy is not fighting Germany and the mass of the British troops
are now fighting Germany, does not take away from the impor-
tance of the fact that Italy is fighting for our composite good.
That is the fact, and it is no child's play. I saw the other day in
the New Republic the statement that Italy is fighting a sort of

178

Italy s Position in the War

operetta war, that they are losing something about what the
American Railroads are losing in men in a year, 50,000 men a
year. I may say that Italy might perhaps have answered to
this by publishing her losses, but she, together with France,
believes that it is not good for Latin countries to know too much
about the actual losses in men. It is a policy which has its draw-
backs, but is good in some ways. Here, though, the editorial was
wrong. Her losses are terrific and it is no use minimizing them.
On every front occasionally there has been some lull in the fighting,
but on this, the most difficult front, there has been steady fighting
ever since the 23rd of May, 1915.

Summing up, then, the position of Italy, it may be reviewed
as follows :

Italy will not want Albania.

She will want Valona at the end of the war.

She will try to push towards Trieste just as fast as circum-
stances will permit.

She will press north from Verona in such a way that she may
be able to look without fear at the future position of the world
relations.

179

(March 27^/1, 19/6)

ENGLISH WOMEN'S WORK
FOR THE WAR

By THE HONORABLE MRS. BERTRAND RUSSELL

I ESTEEM it a very great honor to be here to-day and to have
been asked to come back to Montreal. I came here ten days
ago to address The Women's Canadian Club, and I had no idea
before that I should have the pleasure of coming back again.
It feels like being at home again to be here. I am an American
by birth and education, and an Englishwoman by marriage and
residence of many, many years; and although I have enjoyed
being in the United States and seeing how very friendly they
are to England and the Allies, still it was not quite the same as
in England, for they are not at war. They are most generous
in helping all the relief causes, but their outlook on life has not
been changed as ours has been changed by this war. This war
has just made everything seem different to you as well as to us
in England ; and I think perhaps it has been one means of bringing
England and Canada closer together. I had an illustration of
that when a very delightful Canadian boy landed in my back
garden in an American aeroplane the other day and I at once
adopted him! When I go back I shall tell him that I have been
to his country and have made the acquaintance of so many of
his compatriots.

English women are doing all they possibly can to look after
your boys that you have sent over there to fight for the Empire.
I think they feel even more tender toward them than toward
their own, because they have no mother there ; the women know
the mother is here waiting, anxious, unhappy, and that the boy
needs a mother to help him and look after him.

The things I said the other day about women's work I said
to women; but it is just as important to say them to men, because
this war has shown us one thing, that there are no women's

181

English Women s Work for the War

questions and no men's questions that are distinct from each
other — that all men and all women are citizens together and that
when our country is at stake everything that affects the man
affects the woman, and everything that affects the woman affects
the man also. It has been rather a surprise that this war is
different from other wars. It is not a question only of fighting
men in the field, it is a question of the whole nation, the women
behind the trenches at home as well as the men in the trenches.
We have had to mobilize all our women. You have done it
here as well. English statesmen are constantly saying that this
war could not be carried on another day without the help of the
women at home. Now, as I say, this came as a surprise. The
Society which I represent, The National Union of Women's
Suffrage Societies, — I am afraid you will be disappointed that
I have never broken a window and never been to prison, — was
working along before the war to help suffrage, to help out country
in that way. Then war broke out. We had always said that if
ever there was a war it would throw back our chances, because
the men would be the people of supreme interest and importance.
Now it seems to have worked exactly the other way. More than
ever before England has had need of her women. Women can
organize, nurse, be doctors, do all the work that is necessary to
make munitions. More than ever before they are wanted. What
a great many years of quiet and unquiet agitation failed to do
in England has been done by military necessity and economic
necessity. The women have been needed to help as nurses, that
was always recognized. Florence Nightingale made a mag-
nificent fight for that years ago in the Crimea; but now they are
wanted as doctors, as chauffeurs, as orderlies, as sanitary officers,
as transport workers; they have to make the munitions, the pro-
visions, the clothing. They have been obliged to come out for
military and economic necessity. England is spending enormous
sums every day, and buying a great deal from other countries,
from Canada, from the colonies, from the United States; and those
goods have to be paid for. England has not got the ready cash
to pay for them, but she has to pay with other goods, so the
women must make the goods with which they can pay for the goods
that come into the country ; and so economic necessity has forced
the women even further into the labor market. This only illus-
trates the special point that we well-behaved suffragists were

182

English Women's Work for the War

always making, that the vote was not an end in itself but
only a means to an end, that our end was to serve our country,
and until we were full citizens we could not serve it to the best
of our ability. As long as women were cramped in the labor
market, as long as they were cramped in their professional life,
they could not do the best with their abilities. Now the country
needs everybody to do the best with their abilities. It does not
want to put a highly educated woman to scrubbing floors and
making dresses. It wants to use the brains, the talent and the
endowment of that woman for the very best advantage of the
community, and we felt that until we were full citizens we could
not help our country as we wanted to do. Now the Government
did not quite see this at first. We all love the English Government,
but we must admit that sometimes it is a little slow perhaps,
and the English Government has been so accustomed to telling
us that women's place was the home that it could not turn right
around and say : hurry out of your homes and help your country.
So when the war broke out they mobilized the men but they did
not mobilize the women at first. Of course it did not very much
matter, for the women mobilized themselves. Those first anxious
days, every woman was saying: What can I do to help? We
could not then take the men's places. There was a prejudice
against us, the War Office did not want us. Women were not well
received by the War Office, so we could not at first take the work
of the men who had gone away to fight, and so we at once began
working for the soldiers and for the wounded. Never shall I
forget the first train with the Red Cross on it, that came through
my little country village with the wounded. Every woman
there felt she must do something and we all started to make war
clothes, and fortunately most women were trained in that way
and most women were able to make shirts that the soldiers could
wear. Then there was all the Red Cross mobilization, and the
Government accepted the nurses — that fight had been won —
and they were part of the military organization and in ten days
something over three thousand nurses were ready to be at their
posts. Then the Queen felt that she would organize women and
she enlarged the borders of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild ; they
have spent something like a million dollars since the war began,
and have distributed about a million garments to soldiers and
sailors — Canadian soldiers as well. Then she organized a women's

183

English Women's Work for the War

unemployment fund. Most of the women in the luxury trades
were thrown out of work in August and there seemed to be no
opening for them. Queen Mary, with great good sense, formed a
Committee of ladies, women of leisure and working women who
knew the ground and they organized an Employment Bureau to
handle the unemployed women of the country. I cannot tell you
the number of industries opened, but their one aim was to train
the women as well as give them employment, to see that a girl,
untrained and getting the wages of an unskilled worker, with no
hope of being anything but the "bottom dog", should be
trained to be efficient. When the call came last Spring, when the
labor market was enlarged and women asked to go into the
munition factories, here were these women ready to be efficient
workers, so that their status has really been raised by what seemed
to be a great calamity in the labor market. Then the women
started Emergency Corps. This is very convenient. If you have
any job you want done and don't want to do yourself, the Women's
Emergency Corps would undertake it and they are ready to pro-
vide anything or do anything. A number of clever women of
leisure give their time and energy to this sort of work. Then came
the Belgian refugees. That was very much women's work.

I think Englishmen did not quite understand the Belgians
at first. They thought they would all talk English and they did
not understand their domestic life. A great many of our women
knew French and the languages of the Belgians and you had to
be very discreet in the way you arranged for them to pay family
visits. They don't like to go alone or with one other, they like
to go eight, ten or twelve together and pay a visit. All this re-
quired a good deal of woman's tact and insight to find out, and
so provide homes for the Belgians. Our suffrage women insti-
tuted a system, receiving the Belgians in London when they came in
hundreds and thousands, conducting them to shelters, visiting
them, card cataloguing them, which was a most important part
of the procedure, so that families who had become separated
could find each other; and that system, when it became too big
a task for voluntary workers was adopted by the Government.

Then the women doctors mobilized themselves. There again
the War Office was not quite ready for their help, so they offered
themselves to the French and Serbian governments and were
most gratefully received. One doctor in particular, Doctor

184

English Women s Work for the War

Louisa Garrett Anderson was so successful at Claridge's Hotel
in Paris that the War Office — it is very sensible and does not
mind going back on what it said — sent over a distinguished
officer of the Red Cross to ask her to come back to London and
open a military hospital for British Tommies.

Then we were very anxious that women should become
civil servants. Custom does not allow them to become so. There
are a great many young men in the civil service who ought to
be out righting for their country, but there are no young men to
take their places. But there are plenty of clever young women,
plenty of graduates of colleges, who would be very successful
in that work, and the Government will I think overcome that
prejudice and admit women as civil servants.

Then we are very anxious to have women policemen. You
will understand that during a war a great many young men are
taken from their homes, from their wives, sisters, are sent out to
a strange town, and there are a good many girls hanging about,
and it is very important to protect young men and girls. Many
exaggerated things have been said about their behaviour. They
are exaggerated on the whole, for those young people have be-
haved very well and are a great credit to England; but still we
had women who went as voluntary police workers to be near the
camps and watch over these young people. Motherly women
with a knowledge of the world went to take care of them. They
ought to be recognized by the Government and paid salaries and be
a permanent part of our police system. We ought to have mature,
sensible women to look after the girls and boys of the country.

We are very anxious to get women into banks. We thought
it would be very nice to cash our cheques with a lady, but we only
got them in as clerks. They thought it was very dangerous
to have women behind the counter. It might upset their idea of
finance, so we have not any women cashiers as yet, but we shall
have them, because the men will have to fight.

The women are needed in agriculture. At first the farmers
were very conservative and did not want them at all
but now they are beginning to clamor for them and we have thou-
sands of women in agriculture. Just recently there was a call for
200,000 women to go on the land and work while the men are away.

Then there are the women who are wanted in thrift work.
If England is to win, women must economize, they must put their

185

English Women's Work for the War

money in the war loan and free the person they would have em-
ployed if they were not economizing and so have another servant
to work for the country, and women all over are being asked to
form committees to take up this work.

But the work which I take a special interest in and
always have done, is the care of the babies. My suffrage
society has done a great deal to care for the babies of England
All over the country we have been building up milk depots,
baby clinics, schools for mothers, to give working class women
the kind of help and education in nursery lore that better class
women can afford to get in their own homes. When the war
broke out this was of course doubly important. We feel, well we
cannot help losing men on the battlefields, but we can save the
babies born at home. Every hour England and Canada and the
colonies are losing ten brave men on the battlefields, and number-
less ones wounded and missing and maimed. At home in that
same hour ninety-seven babies are born and twelve of those
babies die. We feel we must make great efforts to keep them alive,
and because it is my special interest I have been trying to find out
the conditions here and the statistics over here. They are having
a baby campaign in the United States and I have been hearing
something about the work in Montreal, and I am glad to know
that you have taken up the milk depot and that you have ap-
pointed doctors and competent nurses to advise the mothers and
look after the babies. But dear friends, you have a long way
to go yet. Your infant mortality is terribly high. In England
we have one baby dying in eight. In Montreal you have one
baby in five. You cannot afford to lose one baby in five when you
are losing so many of your best young men over there in Europe,
and you must do something. Citizens, you will have to work
together, men as well as women — they say it is woman's work;
then the men will have to pay for it, if women do the work — and
I feel we must all do something to stem this awful mortality.
In New Zealand where they have a magnificent system, they only
lose one baby in twenty. That is better than England. We
lose one in eight, but you are losing one in five. But you
are much better than you were four years ago, when you
lost one in four, so it shows you have done good work;
but you have a great deal of work to do to catch up to
New Zealand.

186

English Women s Work for the War

Now our societies have done a great deal of humanitarian
work. There is not time to tell you all about that. You have
an Irish girl coming, Miss Bourke, in a few weeks, who will tell
you about the hospital work. I want to tell you about a special
piece of baby work that English women have taken up, because
babies are my specialties. We have done a great deal for the
soldiers in Serbia and France and for the refugees, and then we
heard of the terrible need of the Polish people. You realize what
happened in Poland last Summer. In that whole stretch of
Russian Poland which lies near Germany the people were asked
to leave their country and their homes and move into Russia
under whose government they were. Now there were many
reasons for this great trek. One was the Russian Government
was not prepared to meet the onslaught and they were afraid to
leave the old people, women and children to an invading German
army; and there was the further strategic reason that it was
better that the Germans should find an empty country, nobody
to work for them, no cattle, nothing that they could requisition.
So the order was given and last summer the great trek began.
Out of Poland into Russia hundreds, thousands, finally millions
of people came. In England we only had 220,000 Belgians and
we thought that we had a great many to deal with, but Russia
has had four millions of these people to look after. They came
on along the bare and desolate roads, because Russia is not thickly
populated just there, and at first all went well. Russia did its
best to receive them and we do not know yet what magnificent
work the Russian democracy has done in this war. The Muni-
cipal Councils which seemed to have so little power and life,
organized themselves and have done magnificent work for the
wounded. Now they organized to receive these poor victims of
the war, and at first they were successful, but as they came and
came and came, — living in the woods, camping out at night,
eating up everything on the way because with Russian peasants
hospitality is a religion and they gave them everything, — it was
impossible to deal with them adequately. Along all the roads
the children, the women and the old people were dying, and every-
where they put up white crosses to remind the passerby to pray
for the souls of the departed. The Ways of the White Cross,
those roads were called. The suffering was terrible. The old
people got bronchitis, the children died of pneumonia, and the

187

English Women s Work for the War

suffering was most terrible. Families got separated, children
were lost, drowned, the babies died of colic, and the suffering
was awful ; we felt as English women we must care for those poor
refugees, the women and children. We heard they were living
in huts eight square feet to a family, where the mother would
be confined and no proper attendance given her, and where every
baby that was born died. So we sent to Russia and said we could
provide them with skilled doctors and nurses. They have not
enough in Russia. Many of the nurses have gone mad from the
strain and the doctors are terribly overworked; and they tele-
graphed the need was urgent, would we send out these workers?
We had not a penny, we had spent everything on something else;
but we managed, however, to raise $15,000 and we sent off a
complete maternity hospital unit and now they are working in
Petrograd and with the entire approval of the Russian Govern-
ment. We have been asked to do another thing. All these
numberless lost babies; Russia does not know what to do with
them. The Countess Tolstoy had one hundred babies sent to
her the other week, and nobody knows who or what they are,
where they come from. Their parents have either died or are
missing. One little baby was found half frozen on the banks of
the River Dwina and they named it Dwina and nobody will
ever know who she is or where she came from, If we can get
the money — and we want our friends everywhere to help us —
we are sending it over to open homes for these babies.

Now that suffering has been awful, and sometimes I say
to myself, they suffered so horribly, perhaps they had better
have stayed behind, but on Saturday I met an American Polish
lady who told me that when the great trek came her husband
wanted her to leave with their three children, but the little boys
had typhoid and she had to stay in her little Polish town. Her
house was occupied by a well-known German general and the
treatment of that lady, a fine looking, splendid, intelligent woman,
was simply awful. She was shut up in one room, was given almost
no food; from being confined in one room her little girl took
typhoid fever; a prisoner was killed in front of her door, she was
not allowed to cover his face, and the body was left there for a
week. Finally because she had influence she was sent out into
Germany and in a German railway station the women of the
town came and spat in her face and on her children. I cannot

188

English Women's Work for the War

tell you what happened to the children's nurse, a girl of sixteen,
who stayed behind to look after the children. No doubt she is
dead now, and I hope she is. Every woman left behind in the
country, this woman tells me, would certainly commit suicide.
That is what the refugees had to endure when they stayed.

But we can do something for those who have escaped and I
should like to appeal to you, if you have given your last cent,
give me your last dollar. The ladies here have very kindly found
a lady, Mrs. Pitcher, who will receive all contributions. Papers
will be given you at the door telling you about the work, and if
you would rather give me cash than send a cheque I should be
perfectly delighted.

189

(April loth, /g/6.)

WITH THE CANADIAN BOYS
OVERSEAS

By THE REV. GEORGE ADAM

WHEN war was declared, I happened to be crossing the
ocean on the Cedric and we got some unwelcome attention;
your fogs of Nova Scotia covered us and permitted us to make
Halifax in safety, for which we were very grateful indeed. I
was delighted to see at Halifax the enthusiasm with which the
Canadians entered the war. The whole population seemed to
be interested and anxious about the war business. I was walking
down behind a regiment of your Kilties, and beside me, following
the band, was a little black boy, walking all straightened up like
a soldier. I was rather surprised to see a black boy, just a child,
walking in this way, and I said to him: "Are you a British boy?"
and he said "Yes sir, sure. I'm Scotch." Of course I doubted it,
and I asked him his name. He said it was MacLeod !

Well, it really was wonderful to see how the people enthused
over the war and how anxious they really were to give a good
send-off to the boys away up there, and right through the Domin-
ion of Canada the same thing happened, as you know only too
well. You know on the other side we were not quite sure about
Canada. We always knew that Canada was filled with hard-
headed business men who were out for business all the time, and
some of our great political men felt that if there was going to be
any real association between Canada and the Old Country it
would have to be paid for. All that has been falsified, and Canada
has responded with absolute magnificence to the unspoken call
of the Motherland in the time of her distress. We are very, very
pleased, over on the other side, with Canada's attitude, with

191

With the Canadian Boys Overseas

Canada's gifts of men and material and money. But when you
think of it it could hardly be otherwise, because most of you men
have sacred places over in the Old World, in France, in Scotland,
in England, in Ireland and in Wales; there are shrines dear to
all your hearts, where your mothers and your grandmothers were
bred and born and married. Even the grandsons and the great-
grandsons of the old land have heard the great story of that
wonderful old place — that wonderful, wet, weary old place —
and even with all its disabilities and disadvantages it has got
into the texture of your Dominion life, and you have expressed
this feeling as never before in the history of the world, during
these last two years. There is not a man or a woman, there is
not a boy or a girl over on the other side but loves Canada and
adores her soldier sons. My own little boys, three of them, they
get dressed up as soldiers and kill a whole lot of Germans. They
tie up the Kaiser into all kinds of knots. But when they get
dressed up as soldiers they are always Canadian soldiers. I
have a good many Canadian soldiers come about my house and
that accounts for a little of it. But the witness they have given
to the grandeur and the strength and the patriotism of this great
Dominion has inspired the imagination and gripped the heart
of every man and woman in our land. There is no man more
welcome in our homes than your boys, and everything has been
done, that can be done, by the people, to make them comfortable.
Their homes have been open, their gifts poured out, and you
fathers who have your boys out there know that what I am saying
is true. But not only did the people open their homes and the
women their hearts, but the men in the high places and our King
delight to honor them, and I can never forget Queen Mary going
down to Salisbury to a review of your first Contingent, getting
out of her car and walking more than ankle deep in mud, giving
a word of encouragement and gratitude, up and down the line,
and the enthusiasm of your soldiers on that muddy old plain
when Queen Mary honored them. In your hospitals, too, our
people are all the time giving gifts of flowers and fruits and kind
words, just to make things as pleasant and happy and as good
as they possibly can.

Now just before I came away I was in the House of Commons
seeing some of the members of our Coalition Government and of
the British Parliament, and I can assure you that when they

192

With the Canadian Boys Overseas

knew I was coming over here to Canada just to talk about the
soldiers and our debt to Canada, they said: "Be sure you give
them all praise, because they deserve it. Give it to them because
the bonds of Empire have been made now so strong that nothing
in the world can ever break them."

Your men's experience on Salisbury Plain was a tragic ex-
perience. We were not a warlike people, not prepared for war,
and our War Office was up to the eyes in all kinds of activities.
It was impossible to make just the right arrangements and
the most comfortable ones. The Canadians were sent to the
historic British camping ground. There was mud! I had to be
dug out twice myself. Well, of course they told you about it,
didn't they? You heard all about it. Well, the thing that sur-
prises me is this, that the tale of that terrible and tragic experience
was told all over Canada — not grumblingly, but in a humorous
way, in real good part. It is surprising that notwithstanding
these stories your young fellows should keep on coming and your
army should reach the enormous dimensions to which it has
risen to-day. It is to the everlasting credit of Canadian youth
and the Canadian fathers and mothers who aided and encouraged
the fine flower of their youth, to throw itself into the breach for
liberty and Empire.

Now the conditions of life in England are not the conditions
of life in Canada. The weather is not so good in England, I
believe. I have been told that here the weather is excellent.
You get a good deal of sunshine and it is very seldom wet under
foot. I am hoping that some day I may experience your climatic
delights. We suffer by comparison on the other side. I remember
one of your soldiers saying to me at Salisbury: "I say, there
is one thing I can't quite figure out: why all your people don't
get hold of all your boats and take everybody on them and send
them over to Canada where they can live, and let the bally Ger-
mans come over here and get drowned for good and all." Well,
the conditions of life are not so good over there. Of course Eng-
land is a wet country — we have no prohibition — the Old Country
specific for wet outside is wet inside. Out of the kindness of their
hearts for Canadians they occasionally take them in out of the
wet and give them a wet. Well, that is not to the good of the
Canadian boy. Canada has not thriven on anything like that.
It has thriven on good honest business and clean living, and when

193

With the Canadian Boys Overseas

your boys get over there there are many terrible temptations
which spring out of the conditions themselves; temptations to
drink, to get on the loose. They are away from home, away from
fathers' and mothers' care and religious influences, from the hold-
ing hand of love itself, and occasionally things happen over there
that are to the disadvantage of your boys. It is a great pity. We
are all sorry for it, and the Government, as far as it can, has
done its best to safeguard their interests, but we cannot take
away the liberty from the people. We are fighting for liberty.
Some people would be far better without liberty but liberty
cannot be denied to them; and the result is that the conditions
of life and the temptations of life are enormous for your boys
coming s from your country districts; your strong, full-blooded,
brown-faced Canadian workers, and things have not gone as well
as we should have liked them to have gone. But life among the
Canadian soldiers would have been one colossal tragedy from
beginning to end if it had not been for the enterprise of the Y. M.
C. A. of Canada. Now I do not want there to be any misunder-
standing at all. I am not a Y. M. C. A. man. I never had any
use for it at all. Mr. Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland,
hit the situation off very excellently one day. He was talking
to Major Birks and myself and he said : "The Y. M. C. A. always
seemed to be an institution financed by maiden ladies, " and that
is the fact of the matter. We always looked upon it as a thing
that bred namby-pamby, milk-and-water sort of people, and of
course a man who played a good deal of football in his youth and
never said no to a fight if there was a decent chance to get home,
had no use for an Association that attracted and held and bred
people of that type. But the Y. M. C. A. from the beginning
stood for an idea, and that idea was the protection of the life of
the young man in the cities. Now that idea has widened and
grown. The Y. M. C. A. has stuck through to its idea, and when
war broke out there was no other organization possible that
could step in and help out the Government in their social and moral
care of the soldiers but this Y. M. C. A. The Church was unable
to do it. There is a whole lot the Church is unable to do, and that
was one of the great things that they failed even to attempt to
tackle. The Y. M. C. A. was weak in numbers and finances,
suffering from the disadvantage of a public opinion more in its
disfavor than for it ; yet it went in to care for the men, and glor-

194

With the Canadian Boys Overseas

iously they have done it. Not only have they served our men well,
but the old British Association has served your men well too.
Think of it. This organization has become one of the most effec-
tive instruments in the whole social order, because it unifies
under its roof every kind and condition of religious, moral and
social element. The Y. M. C. A. here is just one great, united
social enterprise for the well-being of the whole community.
Our Association had no such condition, and yet we were able to
help your men when they came over. General Hughes, a man of
wonderful insight, prepared the way for the Y. M. C. A. operation
in the first place, I think, by giving official place and official
power to Y. M. C. A. Secretaries as officers in the Canadian
army, whose duties were the careful looking after of just this
important business. Those men went over there without any
equipment, without any huts or arrangements made for them,
but they were immediately received by the British Association
and equipment put at their disposal and great use has been made
of it.

I wish to God you might drop over there some dark, dreary
night — there are no lights over there now. The camps are just
one muddy, murky expanse of living men, with no arrangements
made for their comfort beyond ordinary military requirements,
and apart from what the Y. M. C. A. is able to give them these
men are absolutely stranded in the mud and darkness. I submit
to you that this is a great thing. Mr. Asquith says it is the great-
est thing in Europe to-day. Mr. Lloyd George says it is impossible
to say anything too good regarding the Y. M. C. A. enterprise
and work, because its work has been beyond praise. It has entered
into the whole texture of our soldiers' lives and made them better
and greater soldiers by its operation. If you could come with me
some night down to Shorncliffe in the early part of the night
there you will see the soldiers leave their huts and go to the Y. M.
C. A. hut to write their letters. There is always ink and writing
paper and envelopes there, and the hut is made comfortable —
as far as anything can be made comfortable for a Canadian with-
out steamheat. But it is made as comfortable as we poor benighted
people over there can make it, and there are calls to all the soldiers
to mail that letter home. All the time this domestic note is struck
to these men, and I can tell you that millions of letters to Canada
from those boys would never have been written at all had it not

195

With the Canadian Boys Overseas

been for the Y. M. C. A. organization. That is a contribution
to your domestic life if you like. Your know what your fathers'
hearts would have felt, what the mothers would have experienced,
what the wives would have suffered, if weeks on end had gone
past without a letter coming from the trenches, the weeks of
worry, the nights of weariness and distress, the fear that untold
dangers had gripped and carried off that loved life. There has
been a whole mass of worry, a whole volume of tears saved to
Canadian men and women by just this organization.

But there is more than that; much more than that. This
organization has stood between your sons and moral death.
You know what I mean. Some of your man's hearts are aching
because some of your sons are in a certain type of hospital. There
would have been many more, God knows and I know too, had it
not been for the Y. M. C. A., its officers, and all that it stands
for ; if those men had been robbed of the counsel and comradeship
and the patient endeavors to save their souls alive. If it had not
been for all this Canada would have had to pay even a more
bitter and deeper price for her loyalty than she has up to now.
I tell you, men of the Canadian Club, thank God for a man like
Gerald Birks, a man of a strong heart. I was afraid when I saw
him first that he had a weak body. I felt that he could not stand
the rigors of the work he had taken voluntarily upon his shoulders.
He saw the need and God has given him the strength, Providence
has come to his aid. He has done a great work for Britain and
for Canada too. You are business men and you may not be inter-
ested in this matter from the religious side; but there is the
military side of efficiency, and there is the problem too, when the
men come back. You know as well as I do that for every man who
goes into hospital the army is weakened. For every man who is
occupying a bed, for every man demanding attention of doctors
and nurses, the whole strength of the British army is weakened
in the face of a relentless foe. Our power of resistance, our power
of offensive is weakened by every man laid aside ; and if we can
protect the boy, save him from temptation and from the con-
tagion that is going round, we are doing a great deal to maintain
the complete vitality and effectiveness of our army. And there
is that important question, when the men come back. They are
not all coming back. Some have gone down the pathway of death.
Canada has taken her place in the Empire with her blood. The

196

With the Canadian Boys Overseas

glory of that shed blood can never fade from the memory and
never cease to adorn the pages of our Empire's history. Canadian
courage, Canadian perseverance and Canadian death have be-
come immortal. Your wounded men will come back, your men
who are maimed and blind and shattered, and you will honor
them and you will maintain them and make their lives not only
comfortable but happy, I know you will ; and the Canadian soldier
knows too that you will. The married ones know, that if they
come back minus legs or arms or eyes, not able to provide for
their wives and children, you will. But, sirs, what about the men
who come back to impoverish the blood of your Canadian stock ?
What about the men who come back to vitiate the moral grandeur
of your Canadian race? These are serious things. They are not
little matters; not things that can be approached as a mere piece
of sentiment. These are vital things. Your blood and your virtue
is your life, and the Y. M. C. A. has stood almost in the place of
God protecting these. It has been a noble service, a service that
deserves of you the best that you can give. This whole move-
ment, this whole organization must take a foremost place in your
heart. You must open your heart to it, you dare not hold back,
or your conscience will condemn you in the years that are coming.
For every case of transmitted evil that comes before your view
you will condemn yourself if you do not give your interest, your
praise, your gifts to the consolidating of this great work. Men,
I know your heart is in this business because your sons are in the
war. Will you follow your heart in this matter? Follow your
heart and you follow the right. Follow the right and you will
link yourself with God in one of the greatest things that has ever
happened.

197

(April i7th, 19/6)

SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITALS
IN FRANCE AND SERBIA

By MISS KATHLEEN BURKE

A LTHOUGH these hospitals are always known as the Scottish
•*\ Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, this should be ex-
plained. A Committee of Scotch women first organized them,
and as Scotland has the knack of holding on tightly to anything
it may acquire, the hospitals will go down in history as the
Scottish Women's Hospitals. As a matter of fact the workers
were drawn from all over Britain — we even had some fine girls
from overseas with us. One doctor, who is a member of our staff
at Salonika, is Dr. Honoria Kerr, of Toronto.

The National Union of Women's Suffrage, with that splendid
spirit of patriotism which animates every man, woman and child
in Britain, drew on its funds and founded the first Hospital
Units. It was no longer a case of politics, it was simply a case
of serving humanity and serving it to the best possible advantage.
Now we have anti-suffragists and suffragists sitting side by side
on our Committees, realizing that this is a time for organized
effort on the part of women for the benefit of humanity and the
alleviation of suffering.

The first hospital unit was offered to Britain, but Britain
at that time had all the help that she required, and it was our
own Government that suggested to us that we should go to the
help of the nations needing assistance. We had heard much of
the plight of Serbia. France said but little, but those of us who
loved her realized that her very silence told us all that we required
to know.

We first worked in Belgium and stayed with the Belgian
army at Calais during the outbreak of typhus, and the head of
this unit, Dr. Alice Hutchinson, worked later in Serbia.

199

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

Each unit consists of from seven to eight doctors, about
forty nurses, twenty to thirty orderlies, bacteriologists, X Ray
experts, sanitary inspectors, cooks, etc., etc. When I speak
of a unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, I want you to
draw one mental picture, which is that from the head surgeon
down to the last little rosy cheeked orderly, each unit is staffed
entirely by women. The units were formed in this way not
with any advanced feminist idea, but in order to utilize to the
utmost all the skill, science and devotion of the women of Britain.

The first of our Serbian Units arrived at its headquarters
at Kraguejvatz in January, 1915. But before I commence to
speak of our work amongst the Serbians, I would like to endeavor
to win from you a little sympathy for that stricken people. Serbia
is a little land, but oh! at the present time she is so desolate.
Serbia is now under the heel of a Christian invader as five hundred
years ago she was overrun by the Islamic and Asiatic hordes.
During the dark and starless winter nights of her slavery she
dreamed of only two summers, the summer of her past glory and
of her future freedom to come. She regained that freedom at
a price that only those who have studied Serbian history can real-
ize, and when recently she was asked to accept the humiliating
terms of a powerful and arrogant foe, she took up the gauntlet
and flung it in the face of her enemy. Nobody realized better than
Serbia how slender were her resources, nobody better realized
than Serbia the price that she would have to pay in blood and in
tears for her daring, but she never hesitated. Old King Peter
of Serbia, placing himself at the head of his troops, called them
to him and said to them, "Men of Serbia, I am an old man, and
because of my age I release you from your oaths to me. But
there is one thing that is ever young, ever green, ever growing,
your motherland of Serbia. To her you owe allegiance through
all eternity, go forward and fight for her." And they went.
They realized that it was far better for them to perish in honour
than live in dishonour, and so, taking no heed of the cost, they
plunged into the fray.

The present condition of Serbia is apparent to every seeing
eye and to every feeling heart; but this is but one chapter in the
tragedy of Serbian History. Yet as the last chapter of the great-
est tragedy of all the world was not death, but resurrection, so
we must look forward to the resurrection of Serbia in her former

200

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

splendour, realizing that she has won it. We have heard much
of Serbian aspirations and of "Greater Serbia" but she will never
be greater than she is now in the hour of her supreme desolation.

Those who knew Serbia well realized that she could not
hold out long with the resources at her disposal, and so we organ-
ised our units without delay and sent help to her. When our
first unit arrived in Serbia there was only one other foreign unit
working there — Lady Paget's — and when I tell you that we had
the only X Ray apparatus in the whole country, you will under-
stand to what a state of necessity Serbia had been reduced.

The wounded were sent in to us from sixty and sometimes
seventy miles away. Of course that sounds nothing to us with
our idea of distance and rapid transit; but what one must bear
in mind is that those wounded came to us on bullock wagons
over the rough and rocky roads and that those wagons never
travel at a greater speed than a mile to a mile and a quarter
an hour. Imagine the condition of the men by the time they
reached us.

The Serbian Government at once placed us in charge of 500
men. We pointed out to the authorities that we could not nurse
this number of men satisfactorily in the building at our disposal ;
so they gave us six inns in the town, and into these six inns we
moved about 250 of the convalescent patients, men who required
the attention of the doctors only once a day. They were fed from
the main hospital and waited on by the Austrian prisoner order-
lies. It was our girls who went into the town, whitewashed the
inns, cleared them of vermin and prepared them for the patients.

The Austrian prisoner orderlies rendered us a great deal of
assistance in the hospitals. When the Serbians flung the Austrians
over the frontier for the second time, they took between 60,000
and 70,000 Austrian prisoners. Two thirds of these men were
entirely pro-Serb in sympathy (being themselves of Slav origin)
The Serbians placed no guards over them, left them to wander
around the towns at their own free will, and when I tell you that
the Serbian mothers would give their children to the Austrian
prisoners to mind whilst they went to work in the fields, and
that at one time the only armed man in our hospital was an Aus-
trian prisoner orderly, you will realize that no one feared them.
One would see them at night sitting around the camp fires, holding
the hands of the wounded Serbians, calling them their brothers,

201

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

and singing the songs of Serbia. I feel that when the record of
the war is being prepared, when we are making up our balance
sheet of good and evil, we must remember to the credit of these
men that they did their best even at the time of the typhus epi-
demic.

It was after we had been in Serbia for six weeks that the
real trouble came to our notice, i.e., the outbreak of typhus
which swept like a flame across the whole land. The Serbians
maintained an almost Spartan silence on the outbreak, they
feared that Austria would hear of it and attack them, and had
Austria attacked them at that time, they could not have put
up the splendid resistance that they put up later. We managed to
get a telegram through the censor which read as follows: — "Dire
necessity, send ten more fever nurses." Now in our first Serbian
unit there were no fever nurses, so we hoped that Scotland would
realize that when we asked for ten more of something that we had
not got, that there was grave danger to face. Scotland grasped
the situation, sent out at once seven more doctors and forty fever
nurses and so the second unit of the Scottish Women was formed
in Serbia and stationed at Mladanavatz.

The third unit, for Serbia continued to appeal for help
and through the generosity of the British public we were able to
extend our work, was stationed at Lazaravatz where we had a
military hospital of 300 beds, and the fourth unit went to Valejvo.
Those who knew Austria in peace times would find it difficult
to understand the total breakdown of the Austrian Red Cross
Service; when the Austrians were driven out of Valejvo they left
2500 dead and dying behind them without a single doctor to wait
on them. Twelve Serbian doctors went into the town and six
of the men laid down their lives. It was into this disease stricken,
famine stricken land, that the fourth unit of the Scottish women
went.

It was no longer a question of housing the women in build-
ings. In practically every building there were dead bodies, so
we sent the hospital out under canvas and the girls pitched their
tents on the hillsides. The fresh air was also of great benefit to
the men, and when I tell you that in the Serbian typhus hospitals
in the town the percentage of mortality was as high as 85% (I
pray you not to think that I state this in any spirit of criticism,
the Serbians did their best, but one cannot carry on work without

202

Scottish Women s Hospitals in France and Serbia

the bare necessities) and that in our tent hospital we were able
to reduce the mortality to 1 2%, you will see what fresh air, efficient
nursing and science meant in the care of the sick and wounded.

Because I speak with so much enthusiasm of our tent hos-
pitals, I do not want you to imagine they were perfect paradises.
Our doctors, waxing poetical, would sometimes write home describ-
ing how the "smoke of their camp-fires blended with the gray
haze of the hills" and that "the tents were like great white birds
winging their way under the trees." Very charming on paper.
What we do know is that the girls were up all night hanging on
to the tent poles to prevent them from collapsing over the patients,
and that the most dignified of our doctors, with her hair streaming
down her back, her eyes full of sand and her hands blistered,
would spend hours grasping a rope to prevent the tent from blow-
ing away, since Serbia is a land of sudden storms. However,
there were days of peace, when one would see the men lying in
their little beds, each with his little red blanket and at night by
his bedside a small red lamp — those patient, all enduring men of
Serbia, never complaining, only asking how soon they could go
"Kod Kuche" which is the Serbian for "Home." I can assure
you that they were not the only ones who thought of home.
Often our women seeing far beyond the tents, far beyond the hills
of Serbia, would go back in spirit to their native land, and it is
very much to the credit of the Serbians that not one of those
girls ever asked to return and that now after the great invasion,
all those who have come out of Serbia are asking to go back to
serve the Serbian people. There must be something very fine
and very noble in a race of peasant men that can so command the
respect of our British women.

However, there is just one thing in Serbia on which no reliance
can be placed and that is statistics. Serbia is a country which
has always been obliged to fight for its existence (it has had three
wars in the last five years) and consequently the only people
who count in Serbia are the fighting men. Hence when the
Serbians prepare statistics they never by any chance include
any man over sixty nor women or children. We felt that something
must be done for the women and children, so we attached dispen-
saries to each of our units where the women and children could
come for treatment. At first they were shy, only one or two drifted
in, but finally we would sometimes have sixty or seventy a day

203

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

coming to us. You would see the Austrian prisoner orderlies
marching up and down with a baby on each arm, waiting until
the mother had come out from consultation.

Because I speak so well of these prisoners, please do not
think that they were always angels. Sometimes they gave us a
great deal of trouble. One of our doctors had a Viennese Pro-
fessor as orderly. One day she called him and enquired what was
wrong with her bath water that morning. " I don't know, Fraulein,
but I'll find out," he replied. Presently he returned stating
"Really I don't dare to tell you about that bath water, Fraulein."
"Come, come," said the doctor, "it can't be as bad as all that.
What did happen?" "Well," he replied, "I went into the camp
kitchen this morning and there were two cauldrons on the fire,
one was your hot water and the other was the camp soup, and
oh! Fraulein, you had the camp soup." This was only one little
incident in camp life, and perhaps it helped the girls to bear the
sadness and monotony.

Seven of our girls laid down their lives in Serbia. The first
to die was Madge Neil Fraser, the international girl golf champion,
and the second was Nurse Jordan. For Nurse Jordan I would
claim a place in the hearts of the women of all the world, since
heroism has no nationality. Dr. Elizabeth Ross, a woman mis-
sionary in Persia, came into Serbia and was placed in charge of
a Serbian fever hospital of 1,000 beds at Nish. She had only a
young Austrian prisoner doctor to help her. She fell ill of typhus
and appealed to us for help, and Nurse Jordan volunteered to
go to her assistance. To realize what that meant you want to
know what the typhus hospital was like. It was situated in an
old tobacco factory, no room higher than twelve feet, just slits
in the wall for air, on the floor straw on which the men flung them-
selves down in their filthy uniforms, whilst around the wall
men sat on stone benches in that state of torpor which is part of
the typhus, watching. They were just watching for one of their
comrades to die in order that they might take his place on the
straw. It was into that hospital that Nurse Jordan went of her
own free will, realizing what she was facing in an endeavor to
save the life of her own countrywoman, and it was there that
Nurse Jordan and Dr. Ross died.

At the time of the great invasion, two of our units remained
in Serbia to care for the Serbians, facing the unknown enemy,

204

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

never flinching, only desiring to serve that little Serbian people
until the bitter end. Two of the units came out of the country
with the retreating army and the refugees. These units estab-
lished dressing stations all along the route, and at one time they
had as many as 1 500 men pass through their hands in three days.
Some of our girls were even seen to be dressing the wounds of
the Serbians as they retreated across the passes.

I would wish to tell you just one incident of the great retreat.
The Serbian Government knew it was threatened that an attempt
would be made to exterminate the Serbian people, and with this
in mind, the mothers of Serbia were asked to make a sacrifice.
They were asked to give over their sons into the care of the
military, and these poor little men of eight years of age, sometimes
under, were marched in bands of 300, 400, and 500, over the pasess
out of Serbia. Whilst crossing the Ipek, 7,000 feet above the sea
level, where every breath of air that one drew was like so many
sharp particles of steel cutting into the lungs, two of our women
became separated from their own unit and joined another British
unit. They passed a band of 300 of these miserable little lads,
all in rags, their little faces lined with tears, each grasping in his
hand a grubby biscuit he did not dare to eat, since he feared it
might be the last food he would see, and they passed on. As
night was falling they went to the head of the British unit and said
"We think we would like to stay here and join our own people."
He replied, "That is not a good excuse, you do not know if you
will ever join your own people, you must tell me why you really
want to remain." "Well," they said, "we cannot bear to see all
those children without any woman with them, and we are going
back to them." They returned to the boys and had the happiness
of bringing them out of Serbia and down to the coast. We do
not know the names of those two nurses, but when later we are
making our records, I feel sure that all the world will be proud of
those two mothers of three hundred boys.

We went to the help of the Serbian people because politically
we felt that the Allies owed them a debt of gratitude. Serbia was
the Belgium of the east; and she helped the Allies to gain all that
they needed — time. Putting aside all question of gratitude,
we owed them a debt of humanity. It is so easy for us in the splen-
dor of our years of peace, with the opportunities that we have had
to study and perfect our knowledge of science, to stand and say

205

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

that we are a great people, and that they are a small and ignorant
race. They have had no chance to study, for hundreds of years
they have fought, daily, nay, hourly, for their bare existance as
a nation. It was for us, who had had the necessary opportunity,
to go to them and whole-heartedly offer them such knowledge,
and science as we had acquired. They are an ignorant people.
Sometimes their ignorance would be humorous, but more often
it is serious. I remember one man had a very suspicious bulge
under his pillow, we had to investigate it finally, and discovered
he had a little roast sucking pig tucked away that his wife had
brought in over a week ago, and that he was keeping until he felt
well enough to eat it. That is the funny side of their lack of
knowledge, but there is the danger of the spread of disease through
their very ignorance. For instance every Serbian soldier is allowed,
by law, a loaf of bread. We found that the Serbian women were
coming in from the villages, buying the bread from the soldiers
and taking it out to their children. In other words, they were
taking the bread from under the pillows of the typhus patients
and giving it to their children to eat.

The Serbians possess a wonderful imagination. If directed
into proper channels, it should produce for the world, poets,
musicians and inventors. I remember hearing two dirty, trench-
stained Serbian soldiers sitting talking at a railway station.
One said to the other: "Do you know how this war started? Well,
the Sultan of Turkey took a sack of rice and sent it as a gift to
our King Peter. King Peter looked at it, and then he went out
into his garden and picked a little bag of red pepper. You see
the Sultan, by that gift, said to our Peter : ' My army is as numer-
ous as the grains of rice in this sack,' and our Peter, with his gift,
replied, 'My army may not be numerous, but it is mighty hot stuff."
This just illustrates their fertile imagination, it is found in the
highest and the lowest in the land, and if one adds to this their
glorious patriotism, it makes them a people worth saving.

When the guns boomed over Belgrade, we had to tie the
frightfully wounded men in their beds to prevent them answering
to the call of the cannon. Many of them escaped and fell fainting
across the threshold of the hospital, and even now when Serbia
is down and out, Pashich, the great Prime Minister speaking
recently in Paris, said that "the bell had not yet tolled for the
passing of Serbia."

206

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

We are still able to serve the Serbian people. We had a
fifth unit prepared and felt it very hard that it should be held
up at Salonika at the time of the great invasion of Serbia. How-
ever, it was really all for the best since it was this unit that the
French and Serbian authorities took and placed on the Island of
Corsica. The strongest of our girls travelled to and fro on the
warships, fetching the refugees, and when I left England we had
already 6,000 refugees under our medical care on the Island of
Corsica.

Serbia is only one branch of our work. There is yet another
which is perhaps even a little nearer and a little dearer to us,
since it has been rightly said that everyone has two countries,
his own, and France. We realized the burden that France was
bearing silently, and we went to her help, even before she asked
us. The French are known as a talkative people, but when France
talks, it is just so much dust that she casts in the eyes of inquisi-
tive inquirers, and faced with serious problems, she maintains
the dignity of silence.

It may seem strange to you that as a daughter of Britain, I
speak so little of my motherland. No one is expected to speak of
the work of Britain, but deep in its heart the world knew that
Britain would mother not only her own people, but also her Allies.
So if I say little of Britain believe me, behind me stands the pride
of race and the feeling that my own people hold and will maintain
a high place in the respect of the whole human race.

France accepted at once one of our units, and we have some
three hundred Frenchmen under our care at the Abbaye de Roy-
aumont. Royaumont is some thirty miles behind the firing line,
so close that when the wind is in the north and the cannon boom,
all the nightingales wake in the woods of Compiegne and around
Chantilly and sing.

At first France was a little chary of the women surgeons.
She sent us only what the military authorities call "petits blesses, "
fingers and toes to amputate. We protested, pointing out that the
hospital had cost over £5,000 to equip and that if it could not be
put to better use, it might be moved elsewhere. Two great sur-
geons came from Paris, watched the women operate, and within
half-an-hour, we had permission from the military commander
to go to the railway station and pick our wounded. It was the
greatest compliment that could be paid us since it meant that we

207

Scottish Women s Hospitals in France and Serbia

were allowed to choose the most serious cases. The girl chauffeuses
go twice and three times a day to the station, and we seldom have
a vacant bed in the hospital.

Because I spoke so much of the hardships of the girls in
Serbia, please do not think that it was easy for the girls in France.
Royaumont is an old izth century Abbey. The wounded came
to us before we had beds on which to place them. The girls went
out into the village and begged, borrowed or stole mattresses.
It was the girls who went into the forest, cut down the trees, and
dragged in the logs, piling them up in the centre of the great
stone walled rooms, and making a fire. It was the girls who, under
the direction of a one-legged electrician, installed the electric
light; and they even installed the water in the Abbey.

The second of our units with France was stationed at Troyes.
It was a mobile base hospital under canvas. The French authori-
ties sent it out with the expeditionary forces to Salonika. It
went with the French forces into Serbia, remained at Gevgheli
until the building in which it was then housed was in flames, and
it is now with the French forces at Salonika.

From long association we have learned to love our French
patients and love them dearly. We are all women in the hospitals
and the men might take advantage of this fact to show lack of
discipline, but we have never had to complain of any of our men.
These soldiers of France may some of them have been just rough
peasants, eating, drinking, sleeping, even having thoughts not akin
to knighthood, but now through the ordeal of blood and fire each one
of them has won his spurs, and come out a chivalrous knight, and
they bring their chivalry right into the hospitals with them.

When new wounded are brought in and the lights are low
in the hospital wards, cautiously watching if the nurse is looking
(luckily nurses have a way of not seeing everything), one of
the convalescents will creep from his bed to the side of the new
arrival and ask the inevitable question, "D'ou viens tu?" "I
come from Toulouse," replies the man. "Ah!" says the enquirer,
"My wife's grandmother had a cousin who lived near Toulouse."
That is quite sufficient basis for a friendship, and one sees the
convalescent sitting by the bedside of his new comrade, holding
the man's hands whilst his wounds are being dressed, telling him
he -knows of the pain, that he too has suffered, and that soon all
will be well.

208

Scottish Women s Hospitals in France and Serbia

Lions to fight, ever ready to answer to the call of the defence
of their country, yet these men of France are tender and gentle.
In one hospital there is a baby. One of the soldiers passing
through a bombarded village saw the little body lying in the mud,
and although he believed the child to be dead, he stooped and
picked it up. At the evacuating station the baby and the soldier
were sent down to the hospital together. Our doctors operated
on the baby, took a piece of shrapnel from its back, and now
it is well and strong, and lord, master, and king of all that it sur-
veys. When it wakes in the morning it calls "papa" and twenty
fathers answer to its call. All the pent up love and affection of
the men for their own little ones, from whom they have been absent
for so long, they lavish on the tiny stranger. But all his affection
and his whole heart belongs to the rough miner soldier who
brought him in. As the shadows fall, one sees the man walking
up and down the ward with the child in his arms, crooning the
Marseillaise until the tired little eyes close. He has obtained
permission from the authorities to adopt the child and he remarks
humorously, " It is so convenient, Mademoiselle, to have a family
without the trouble of being married." Yet what we must remem-
ber is that the rough soldier, himself blinded with blood and mud,
stumbling along to safety, yet had time to stop and pick that little
flower of France and save it from being crushed beneath the
cannon wheels, and we can only hope that the child will grow up
to his eternal honor and the glory of France.

These men are so great in their heroism and yet one hears so
little of it. Those who have medals are almost ashamed since
they know that nearly all of their comrades merit them. It is
even difficult to be a hero to one's own family. One of our men
had been in a trench during a grenade attack. One of the grenades
struck the parapet and rebounded amongst the soldiers. With
that rapidity of thought, which is part of the French character,
he sat on the grenade and extinguished it. For this he was decor-
ated and he wrote home to tell his wife. I saw him sitting up in
bed gloomily reading her reply. I enquired why he looked so
glum and he said, "Well, Mademoiselle, I wrote to tell my wife
of my honour and see what she says : My dear Jules, we are not
surprised you got a medal for sitting on a hand-grenade; we
have never known you to do anything else but sit down at
home."

209

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

May I take you with me for just a moment into the trenches?
As from the most fertile soil there sometimes springs a tree in
which the birds make their home and pour forth their souls in
song and beneath whose boughs humanity finds shelter and shade
from the glare of the sun, so there is developing from war, a glorious
spirit of tolerance that later will benefit mankind, — the tolerance
that is beating down and wearing away all social, racial and relig-
ious hatred or misunderstanding.

I remember kneeling once by the side of a dying French soldier
who was being attended by a famous young Mahommedan
surgeon. The man's mind was wandering and seeing a woman
by him, he talked to me as his betrothed, "This war cannot last
always, petite, and when it is over we'll buy a pig and a cow,
and we'll go to the Cure, won't we, beloved?" Then in a lucid
moment he realized he was dying, and he commenced to pray
"Our Father," but the poor tired brain could remember nothing
more. He turned to me to continue, but I could not longer trust
myself to speak, and it was the Mahommedan who took up the
prayer and continued it, whilst the soldier followed with his lips
until he passed away into the valley of shadow. I think this story
is only equalled in its broad tolerance by that of the Rabbi Bloch,
of Lyons, who was shot at the battle of the Aisne whilst holding a
crucifix to the lips of a dying Christian soldier.

Those men of France, lions in their bravery, spend most of
their time off duty thinking of their homes, reading and re-reading
the letters from their dear ones, and scribbling epistle after epistle.
There are few of them lonely, since those who have not families to
write to them receive either letters or parcels from "Godmothers"
who have adopted them. I remember seeing one man writing
page after page. I suggested to him, smiling, that he must have
a particularly charming Godmother. "Mademoiselle" he replied,
I have no time for a Godmother, since I am myself a Godfather."
He then explained that far away in his village there was a young
assistant in his shop, "and God knows the boy loves France,
but both his lungs are touched and so they won't take him.
So I write and tell him that the good God has given me strength for
two, that I fight for him and for me, and that we are doing well
for France." I went back in imagination to the village, I could
see the glint in the boy's eye, realize how the blood pulsed quicker
through his veins as he read not the singular "I," but the plural

210

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

"We are doing well for France." For one glorious moment he
was part of the hosts of France, and in spirit serving his Mother-
land. It is that spirit of the French nation that their enemies
will never understand.

I speak much to you of the men of France, but the women
also have earned and command our respect. Those splendid
peasant women, who even in peace times worked, and now carry
a double burden on their shoulders. The middle class women are
endeavoring to keep together the little business built up by the
men with years of toil. The noblewomen of France, who in past
years could not be seen before noon, since Miladi was at her
toilette, and who can be seen now, their hands scratched and bleed-
ing, kneeling on the floors of the hospitals, scrubbing, proud
and happy to take their part in national service.

Because these women of France have sent their men forth
to die, eyes dry, with stiff lips and heads erect, do not think that
they do not mourn for them. When night casts her kindly mantle
of darkness, when they are hidden from the world, it is then that
the proud heads drop and are bent on their arms as the women
cry out in the bitterness of their soul for the men who have gone
from them. Yet they realize that behind them stands the greatest
mother of all, Mother France. France who sees coming towards
her from her frontiers line on line of ambulances, each laden with
its gray faced, suffering burden of humanity, yet watches along
the routes her sons going forth in thousands, laughter in their
eyes, songs on their lips, ready and willing to die for her. France
drawing her blood-stained, mud-stained fags around her — yet
what matters the outer raiment, since behind it shines forth
her glorious exultant soul, and she lifts up her head and rejoices
that when she appealed, man, woman and child, the nation,
answered to her call?

And above her sons waves triumphant the flag of France,
red, white and blue, — our own national colors. The red of the flag
of France is a deeper hue than in times of peace, since it is dyed
with the blood of her sons, blood with which a new history of
France is being written, volume on volume, page after page of
deeds of heroism, some completed and signed, others where
the pen has dropped from the faltering hand, and posterity must
needs finish. The white of the flag of France, not quite so white
as in times of peace, since thousands of her sons have taken it

211

Scottish Women's Hospitals in France and Serbia

in their hands and pressed it to their lips, before they went forward
to die for it, yet without stain, since in all the record of the war
there is no blot on the escutcheon of France. And the blue of
the flag of France, true blue, torn and tattered with the marks
of the bullets and the shrapnel, yet unfurling proudly in the breeze,
whilst the holes are patched by the blue of the sky, since surely
heaven stands behind the flag of France.

I pray you to lend me for just a moment your eyes,
your ears, and your hearts. Your eyes, that seeing far past me,
you may behold the women of Serbia as we last saw them,
their gay clothes sodden with wet, trudging across the mountain
passes, cold and starving — taking their little ones and thrusting
them into the arms of the wounded passing in the bullock wag-
ons— realizing that they could not hope to reach safety, yet
hoping that the little ones might be saved for Mother Serbia.
And the women of France, toiling and turning their unshed tears
to smiles of encouragement to urge their men to even greater deeds
of heroism.

Your ears, that you may hear the cries of the children.
What matters it that 4,000 miles separate you? Let distance
not lessen the sound of their voices or the insistence of their appeal.

Your hearts, that for a brief period they may beat in perfect
harmony with the stricken people of France and Serbia, and that
you may desire to show them practical sympathy.

Not so long ago a child, I plead with you for the children;
now a woman, I plead with you for the women. I ask nothing for
the men, but I pray you to give to the women what is to them the
greatest gift in all the world — the gift of the lives of their men.

212

(May 22nd, 19/6)

WITH THE HARVARD SURGICAL
UNIT AT THE FRONT

BY DR. W. T. GRENFELL

NOBODY who has been in Flanders or in the Canadian
hospitals or in the trenches but must feel that the world as
well as the Empire owes a great debt to all Canadians. Part
of it is due to the Canadian Clubs for stimulating a spirit of
self-sacrifice throughout the Dominion. The main fighting line
for the future righteousness and future peace of the world is not
limited to the men who are brave enough to face the hardships
of actual warfare. Nobody knows better than I do that the war
is not won entirely in the trenches, but that it is the spiritual
backing of the older men at home, and the way in which the
country is made worthy of the sacrifice that these men are making,
the supreme sacrifice of their lives, that is one of the very large
factors which is going to win this war. I am more qualified to
speak about the surgical end of this affair in Europe than any
other, so I will speak about that first. The first thing I was
interested in during my stay in London was the history of the
Royal Army Medical Corps. There has never been a war before
this one in which the wounded man really had any rights. That
is to say, the picking up of the wounded, and the provision made
for him, and the equipment of the hospitals was all largely left
to voluntary endeavor. Not only the ordinary layman, but even
the surgeons, like some of us at the base who saw so much of
the Red Cross and its splendid ambulances, and who received so
often the benefits of its splendid experience and stores, thought
that the Red Cross was a very large body responsible for picking
up the wounded on the field and that there was a little thing

213

With the Harvard Surgical Unit at the Front

called the Royal Army Medical Corps attached to it. The
history of the Medical Corps has never been written up, and its
work has not received much publicity.

When I wrote an article in the Times about it I got
letters from all over everywhere saying they had no notion
as to what care was being taken of the wounded. Those who
have brothers, sons and husbands at the front ought at least to
know something of the really magnificent detailed work that
is being done, and the fact that the care of our loved ones is no
longer left to the volunteer units that may or may not thoroughly
provide for all their needs. The fact is — I do no't think many people
understand this, I did not — that the Red Cross, so far as the
British Army in Flanders is concerned, is the one and only channel
through which all voluntary gifts can be given to the Army
Medical Corps; but the nation has realized, as the Canadians
have done, by attaching to their army corps a regular Army
Medical unit, that the voluntary system must give way more and
more to a regular government one. I do not think anyone
realizes this fact either — I did not until I saw the working out
of it in the General Headquarters — that every detail of the sick-
ness and disease and wounds of the men can be told you in half a
minute by very elaborate and graphic charts kept every day by a
competent staff of men in the Army General Headquarters. If
you want to know where your brother is and you know he has been
in a certain section, unless he has been lost they can tell you
instantly his whereabouts. If you want to know what is the
proportion of wounds of the leg to wounds in the head they will
tell you in a second. If you want to know what the percentage
is of wasting diseases they will tell you, and if you want to know
what the relation of wounds is to sickness, etc., you will find that
also immediately set out in colors on the wall. The system is so
good that although the force there is about one million and a
half men, if there is one case of typhoid anywhere on the front,
that case would be reported to Headquarters the same night and
the next morning an inquiry and a water examination made;
that case of typhoid would be put down to the Medical Officer
in that district, and he would be held responsible for it; you
would have someone to blame and someone to punish if it spread.
That is a very desirable thing, because if you have scattered units
on the voluntary basis it would not be at all likely that you

214

With the Harvard Surgical Unit at the Front

would ever be able to find anybody, and this danger is accentuated
when a man for various reasons wishes to escape further service.
Not only is this Headquarters in touch with all the army and
with all the officers directly through these various centralized
media, but it also has a special secret service of its own, so that
they could tell when there was among the enemy diseases like
dysentery, typhoid, cholera, etc., so that they can rush to the
front the remedies needed in case of contagion. Such a thing as
trench feet, which at the beginning of the war was a very real
factor in the waste of the army, is now actually considered a
misdemeanor. If you have soldiers down with trench feet now
you have to give some good explanation of the cause of it; either
you have the excuse of particularly long and arduous fighting
with no time to fulfil the prophylactic regulations, or you are
punished or reprimanded for the thing having happened. The
prophylactic measures I am not going into. It is all a perfectly
splendid thing for the physical welfare of the men. You have to
remember that a great many men who went out there in quite
feeble or doubtful health are putting on weight; and what with
the wet weather and the consequent shrinking of clothes and the
increasing weight of the men, many of them cannot get into their
uniforms. I saw lots of them. One of the wounded men who
came into the hospital was a boy who had been in my employ
some years ago as an office boy. He came in to my office with the
anemic face of the East end of London. He has been in the
trenches since the beginning of the war, and when I saw him with
a German souvenir in his leg, he looked the picture of health.
He was a great big strong giant of a man. You have the figures
I have no doubt in connection with diseases among the men;
and when you think of typhoid in the Boer War, something like
10.5 per cent, and the percentage at the present time and for a
long time back, which is under i per cent, you will see what an
enormous advance has been made in methods. That is not
because from any point of view the trenches are particularly
healthy, but because everything has been so admirably handled.
When the British took over the French lines there were 600
Frenchmen and an immense number of Belgians down with
typhoid, and now the place is all cleared up and they have not
a case in that series of trenches. To make matters short, in spite
of typhoid, trench feet and pneumonia, the actual health of the

215

With the Harvard Surgical Unit at the Front

army at the present time is such that it is just exactly twice as
good as if those men were living in their own homes in England
and Canada. That does not come of haphazard work, but of
splendid personal work and organized work. And then there is
another thing that struck me. All the way from the Coast to
where we joined the French, the sewage and sanitation arrange-
ments have been entirely taken over by the Army Medical Corps ;
and I saw the most heroic people outside the trenches doing things
that would appal most'of us. One time we were crossing the fields
just behind the trenches, within fire. We came to a thing that
looked like an enormous haystack, but which on closer observation
turned out to be socks, pants and vests and things full of vermin,
etc., and they had been piled up there in the mud and snow just
like so much refuse. On top was two or three inches of snow, and
blood everywhere, and then there was a thing that looked like a
building and from it steam was coming, out When I went in —
you could hardly see yourself for steam — there were three hundred
women in it tackling that terrible enemy which poured in at one
end. That is heroic, I say. Just close to the line of course the
necessity for bathing men becomes very imperative. It is bad
enough to stay in a small hole all day long, but when some men
have the itch it is simply impossible to sit still, and baths are
required. I went to visit an old factory which seemed to have
been a dyeing place or something of that kind and in that place
were hundreds of Tommies being bathed. They were really being
washed in batches of 1 50 at a time and when I looked at these
splendidly developed, fine-looking men, dancing around there just
like Spartans, I never saw anything that made me realize the horror
of tearing men's bodies to pieces as that did. They were giving
2,000 baths a day there. I have seen many happy men in different
walks of life and places of the earth but I have never seen a
happier lot of men than those Tommies who had been bathed and
relieved and were going back into the trenches again.

They are not overlooking economy over there. Sometimes
we are blamed for over-elaborate equipment. I remember the
first operation I did in Labrador; I could not persuade the patient
to have an anesthetic, and I had to operate on the woman with
five men sitting on her to keep her down. She got well all right,
which is more than I had the right to expect. But the Army
Medical Corps stations have really developed into all sorts of

216

With the Harvard Surgical Unit at the Front

wonderful things, and even the Field Ambulances have developed
far ahead of what they used to be. Nothing impressed me more
with the absolute knowledge that we have the Germans beaten
over there, than the fact that the very Field Ambulances have
become permanent hospitals. They have to advance when we
advance, but they don't have to retire now; so they are built
with permanent sides and have nurses in them. On many occasions
we had the advantage of having men with through and through
wounds on the operating table within an hour or two; you could
hardly do much better in Montreal. So that men's chances of
getting well from abdominal wounds are very greatly improved.
Indeed the dictum of the Boer War is entirely reversed. They
said at the end of that, that the abdominal cases you operated on
died and those you left alone got well. (They said out in Labrador
that before we went there people died natural deaths !) There was
one surgeon out at the front who was an Irishman. His versatility
was simply wonderful. He had first of all his hospital and all
his stretch of beds made in such a way that he could move them
in a minute, then he had a compartment where Tommy's rifle
was cleaned and refilled, his kit cleaned out, the clothes washed
and put back again, and in the next was a place where his under-
clothing was given him when he was renewed and came out again
and wanted it. In the next place there was a huge affair built
up of old gasoline tins and all the garbage of that station was being
burned there; and even the cans were not wasted, because these
were thrown into another place where he was making all sorts of
things like candle holders and a thousand useful things. So that
even if he left the furniture and linen and silver behind him the
Germans would not get very much. But the time for speaking
about that has gone by.

I would like to speak of another thing from the point of
view I look at life. The time has come when the army as a fighting
factor has ceased to believe that to make a man conscientious it is
necessary to dope him with alcohol or anything else. I had the
joy of seeing at the General Headquarters a large notice on the
wall, very thickly surrounded with black, which read: "Sacred
to the memory of the Rum ration. Died on June i, 1915. Lost
but not forgotten." Nothing made me prouder than to feel that
the West is going to give a chance to this great Dominion to see
what men can do without drink. The same chance will come to

217

With the Harvard Surgical Unit at the Front

Newfoundland on the first of next January, — and the total
prohibition of alcohol as a temptation to those who go out on the
ships will be a great blessing to this country also.

It is a significant point that the spiritual side of man is being
considered as the real factor which makes men brave. I had the
pleasure to see a Y.M.C.A. worker in khaki uniform for the first
time in Canadian history. I do not want the Y.M.C.A. to go
into khaki, but I do feel the recognition of the value of the
spiritual side of men, the men who are taking their lives in their
hands, men dying for a high moral principle, men whom we are
asking to die in our places that this country may be free and great
and worth dying for in the future, I had the opportunity to look
into the eyes of a dying man, a man whose eyes told me he under-
stood that he had no more chance to see those he loved, that he
would never again look upon his home and children, never hear the
voices of those he loved, whose life was dear to him as ours is to us.
What could you say that would give such a man any comfort?
You could only say: "Thank God, you did your bit." And I
have seen a beautiful look of joy light up the faces of such men.
We ought to do all we can to light the way of these men. This has
been recognized for the first time in this war, and nowhere more
than in the Canadian units. I was in many of them and you will
see the same if you ever go — that the men are going into war
knowing they are Crusaders, and this is as it should be, for they
are Crusaders.

One word more. I have lived among the fishermen, and I
am going back among them. I have thought many times that
perhaps the centre of the war is the centre of the world, but I
believe, like many here, that I have good reason for not being at
the war ; for I am sure that you would be in the trenches over there
if there were not some better reason why you should be here.
People often ask me why people live in Labrador. Why do they
not live elsewhere where conditions are better? This same
question was asked thirty years ago. Here were twenty thousand
men cruising at sea among the fisheries, bringing in ten million
sterling a year for England, and not a thing done for them, There
was not a doctor at sea; there was nobody who could help them
in case of trouble, they were being exploited by the saloons on
land and at sea every schooner was a grog ship. Land sharks
were watching at every place where they landed and got their

218

With the Harvard Surgical Unit at the Front

pay. People used to say of these fishermen that they were a
drunken, degenerate, illiterate lot; but I would like to know what
the British expeditionary forces have to say now, when those
trawlers have done so much to make it possible to have a British
expeditionary force at all: while our great, silent navy is doing
all that the genius of the Anglo-Saxon race has made it do through
the ages, and is giving us the pathway of the seas that we may
keep them open for every man.

In Labrador we are not a large number of people, but when
you come to man a crew you do not want a large number of people ;
you want a small number of very effective people, that is the kind
of men we have out there, men bred in the harder parts of the
world, living close to nature. They are brave and strong, they see
straight and they have a simple, loving, hospitable nature, — a
nature not confined to any one particular calling, but one of the
natural heritages of men who live on the sea. My hope is, not to
get men in great aggregations in cities and so deprive the world
of the things of the sea, but to develop and help the men who
are living a big natural life away from the grind of the cities, and
to develop Labrador as far as it is possible to do so. We have been
trying for years to put reindeer in that country but have failed
because we have not had the money. They have had marvellous
success in Alaska, but we have had so many other things to do
that this we have failed in. We should have been a great meat-
producing country and we ought to have been able to send to the
war to-day a tremendous amount of meat if the country had had
its rights. There are many, many other things that need to be
done down there, all worth doing because in doing them you are
helping to produce men of the class who made the Anglo-Saxon race
originally, and could maintain its best traditions. When you
think that little Newfoundland has given 1,500 of its men to the
navy and 2,000 to the trenches I think you will realize that this is
a great proportion, and a worthy contribution to the Empire in
its need.

219

F Canadian Club of Montreal

5497 Addresses

M6C3

1915/16

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

SOTTTHAM PRESS UMITI
MONTREAL

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Addresses"

See other formats