THE RIGHT SPIRIT OF CONCENTRATION.
THE torpedoing of the ' Lusitania,' the poisoning of our men in Flanders by the most virulent gases yet known to science, and the poisoning of the wells in German South-West Africa have caused such a rush of blood to the bead of the nation that it is no exaggeration to say that during the past fortnight the war has brought to us an entirely now set of emotions. Never before was there such a ferment of feeling—of anger and of deter- mination to punish the enemy. These emotions and resolves mingle and struggle for utterance at each other's expense, and it must be confessed that the resultant expression of the public will is something highly incoherent. While passion is an excellent sign in itself, in that it proves Englishmen to be thoroughly roused, there is a grave danger that it may lead to a permanent disper- sion instead of to a concentration of energy. To read some of the newspapers, and to listen to the conver- sation of indignant people in chance assemblies, one might conclude that the most notable result of the sinking of the ' Lusitania ' had been to cause an outburst against all people of German birth in Britain. If a common interpretation of national concentration is to lend a hand in the unproductive labour of hunting down aliens, instead of putting one's whole heart and soul into the positive productive labour of creating the means to defeat the enemy, we are in a poor way indeed. We hear of mobs "making hay" of shops because the owners of them bore German names, of people of German birth being prevented from following the normal occupations by which they earn their living even though they were well known to be naturalized British subjects, of men of German birth being refused meat and broad, and so forth. All these things are signs of a willing- ness—unconscious of its own character, no doubt—to disperse energy instead of concentrating it. The kind of people who think it more important to prevent a man of German birth from buying a chop at the butcher's than to make sure that our splendid soldiers at the front shall have all the shells and bullets they require are probably not numerous, but they are clamorous enough to make themselves heard, they are egged on by a popular Press, and their example may be very infectious.
It need not be supposed that we are blind to the dangers which arise from a large number of aliens in our midst. We have several times written of these dangers. But latterly, whenever the subject was debated in Parliament, the answer was that the War Office were responsible for the control of aliens who could do harm, and that the War Office were doing what they thought necessary. We may, if we like, suspect that the War Office were not doing enough, but they, at all events, were in possession of the facts and we were not. In a general way in such circum- stances we must trust the War Office, especially as it is obvious that, even on the assumption that the hunting down of aliens is an important piece of national work, there are many other and much more important duties to be performed. If Lord Kitchener had wanted the process of hunting down to go on, and esteemed it above the operations of producing munitions of war, and of enlisting in the Army, and of obtaining recruits for the Army, he would have said so. He would have sanctioned the plastering of our walls with advertisements to that effect. Instead of " 1Vhy have you not enlisted to-day ? Think it over," we should read : " Why have you not hunted down an enemy alien or a naturalized German to-day ? Be sure you do it to-morrow." We certainly always understood that a man of foreign birth who became a naturalized British subject had the rights of a British subject for ever ; that he could say "Chris Britannicus sum " with as much pride and security as any other British subject. To act as though British citizenship conferred no particular rights after all is to lower the prestige of that famous title as well as to injure the particular persons attacked. We can well believe that British citizenship has often been conferred on too easy terms and without sufficient circum- spection. But if mistakes were committed, then it is not for violent mobs to remedy the mistakes, which involve the gravest legal questions. Deprivation of rights for mis- conduct or suspicious acts should come only from the Government, not from private bodies or persons. The evils of Lynch law are always vastly worse than the wrongs which that law—or rather that condition of no-law—is supposed to remove. The new outburst against aliens has been for the most part a form of reprisal of which any nation intent on concentration should be ashamed. No one says that people of German birth resident in Britain sank the • Lusitania,' or signalled to the German sub- marine in order to enable her to fire the torpedo at the right moment. What is said or implied is that people of German birth in Britain are of the same nation as the men who sank the ' Lusitania,' and that therefore they ought to have the sins of their brothers visited on them. There is much to be said against such logic and nothing for it. To penalize one person for the crime of another, even though only by minor annoyances such as are possible here, is to do on a small scale what the Germans are doing on a large and diabolical scale. Let um agree that we will have nothing whatever to do with each a principle—a principle which is, so to speak, more alien than the aliens. We are fighting in this war for the right, and we shall regret it bitterly if-our children, and the historians who will weigh our acts in coming generations, are able to say that we let wrongful methods help us to sustain the right. " A decent but dauntless people" was the description of the British people during this war attributed to a famous neutral. Let us not forget the first epithet, which we value quite as much as the second. Every act which is committed in this war refines or debases the currency of civilization. The Germans, Heaven knows, have done enough to lower the standard without our doing a single thing, however small in itself, that can even be represented as a contribution to the process of demoralization. As the end of the war finds the obligations of civilization so are they likely to rest for many years to come. Never was it so imperatively required of us to follow a straight path to a noble end.
But it may be asked whether we would counsel people to look on and listen quietly while aliens, or hyphenated Britons (as Americans would say), praised the sinking of the • Lusitania ' and the foul murder of innocent women and children. Certainly not. If aliens and naturalized Germans are wicked and foolish enough to flaunt their approval of German crime, they are asking for trouble. Let them be proceeded against as severely as the law knows how for inciting to breaches of the peace. What fills us with misgiving is that any Englishmen should fume and fuss against aliens for the offence of their nationality instead of saving their breath for more urgent work. If they cannot serve in the Army, let them serve as special con- stables, or as Volunteers, or in the Industrial Reserve, till all their spare moments are occupied. It is not their business to settle the alien question ; it is the bus-- aces of the Government. If the Government think that the numerous enemy aliens admittedly at large are a danger owing to the action they might take in conjunction with Zeppelin raids and so forth, they are perfectly right in their decision to intern them all, as they are interned in Prance and Russia. We have not a word to say against the decision. Since things had gone so far it was probably in the aliens' own interest that they should be kept out of harm's way. But hitherto the War Office had come to the conclusion that there was more to be lost than gained by wholesale internment. Tho tax upon the resources of the country, it was felt, would be considerable, as the camps could not be created and maintained and guarded without a considerable dissipation of labour and energy. If the danger from aliens was nevertheless so great that these objections were not valid, then the War Office ought to have interned the aliens long ago. What we object to is the idea of the Government being called upon to submit to popular clamour and a newspaper campaign. It must never be forgotten that yielding to mob clamour is a most dangerous precedent. The mob semi that it can get its way by violence. Once convinced of that, it has in effect the encouragement and sanction of the Government to employ the same method again and again. In a confused way it may think that it is now helping to " down " Germany. Of course it is doing nothing of the sort. What could be more deplorable than the spectacle of troops, police, and special constables all called away from their normal duties to prevent pillage and rowdyism in the streets ? What a parody of concentration ! When we reflect on the refusal of one part of the community to make ono sacrifice, and the refusal of another part to make another sacrifice, and of a third part to make yet another sacrifice, we confess to feeling real alarm lest Englishmen when they do wake up, as they are waking up now under the pressure of new and violent emotions, should make a mistake as to the real work to which they should put their hands, and should expend in angry talk and futile acts the reserves of strength which are required for other uses. Drink could not go for one reason ; racing could not go for another; football for another.
Such a driving force of strong feeling as we have not observed since the war began is now at the disposal of the Allies' cause. Can it not be wisely applied ? We are glad to see that the Jockey Club have offered to cancel all race meetings during the war in the North-Eastern District, where a largo proportion of the armament factories are situated. That is well. But far more examples are needed of the right spirit of concentration. We are convinced that the Government could at this moment bend the whole country to oue mighty purpose if they would make up their mind to plunge. Never was a better oppor- tunity. The present ferment of feeling is good or bad according to the use made of it. We earnestly hope that the Government will at last lay the human resources of the country more scientifically under contribution ; that they will talk a war census of the human effort of which they can avail themselves; that they will prevent the appalling running to waste which is now daily in process. They would first exempt from military service all those of military age whose services are indispensable at home, either because they are producing munitions of war, or are in some way carrying on the essential government, or the transport services, of the country. They would then register all the remaining men of military age, and they could call up exactly as many as they wanted, partly by ballot for military service and partly by accept- ing, in lieu of the contingent obligation to military service, willingness to work in munition factories. This, of course, would be compulsion. We are not afraid of the word. We are proud of it. The country is ripe to be compelled. Compulsion only means showing men what they must do for salvation, and preventing them from uselessly frittering away their own strength and the strength of the country when every ounce of power is needed.
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