xii, Hoii' io Pay for iJic War 



the fighting man so it is with the man of commerce and 

 the developer of the Empire's resources. If you wish to 

 reach higli positions and to attain great ends you must be 

 capable of enduring much and able to run considerable 

 risks. Faint hearts and slackers have no place in the 

 modern army, military or commercial. It has been their 

 willingness to participate in the great game of Empire- 

 building to the uttermost end of endurance that has 

 enabled our Teutonic enemy to obtain the wealth and the 

 well-organized army with which they have threatened the 

 prosperity and happiness of the civilized world. Will 

 those who, like Mr. Philip Snowden and his colleagues, 

 are so anxious to see the wealth of the Empire utilized 

 for paying the war debt also guarantee that they and 

 the masses in general will be equally generous and 

 thorough in giving the country their brains, their powers 

 of enterprise and endurance, and promise unceasing 

 application to the work set them ? Until such a promise 

 is made and carried out loyally the wealth of this country 

 cannot be increased to the extent necessary to enable the 

 Empire to flourish and so be able to pay for the War 

 within a reasonable time, as it can do and will do if the 

 working classes become as ambitious as the Merchant 

 Princes have been (whose wealth we are now asked to 

 conscript in order that the non-wealthy members of the 

 Empire shall not be made to undergo further deprivation 

 to liquidate our debts) and show themselves equally 

 determined to " make good " both individually and in the 

 aggregate. We all know the cry of the weakling and 

 the slacker from the highest family in the land down 

 to the sloucher in the street whom most people avoid in 

 passing— " If I only had my chance" — "If I was only 

 given a chance" — "If I were Prime Minister I would 

 do this" — "If I were Sir Edward Holden I would do 

 that" — everything, in fact, is promised by these in- 



