A War Memorial for Belfast. 17 



portions of a broad scheme that, taken separately, could not be, 

 directly, a paying proposition in the strictly financial sense. No 

 amount of financial genius will extract a profit-rent out of a 

 child's allotment garden ! But surely, this War has taught us 

 that "money" and "wealth" are not identical terms'? Shall 

 citizens of Belfast not learn to take more of their municipal 

 dividend in terms of health and happiness for our youngsters, in 

 opportunities for activity in mind and body for people who have 

 nothing to-day outside the narrow grind of their working lives ? 

 God knows, the world has paid enough since August, 1914, for 

 pure destruction, in order that life and freedom may be preserved : 

 may we not, as part of our War Memorial, spend a small 'fraction 

 more upon construction, so that, in our own times, we may see 

 the growth and liberty again at work 1 



CONCLUSION. 



Our War Memorial shall thus be no mere carven stone upon 

 a pedestal : it shall be at once a tribute and an inspiration : a 

 tribute to those who have fought for our freedom, and an 

 inspiration to us to use our freedom to nobler ends. It may be 

 that, in days far ahead, men shall learn here of the Great War, 

 not as we have learned of past wars in our school-books, but by 

 themselves living in the realization of our War Memorial ideas. 



Is this too much to hope for 1 Kather may we not say that 

 we shall not have justified all the heroism of our men these four 

 years past, if we do not see to it that these dreams shall begin to 

 come true, in our own day, and by our own effort 1 The gallantry 

 of Thiepval has already gi^;en to July 1st a new significance, a 

 new historic orientation. Shall we not also give a new meaning 

 to our old city motto — Pro Tanto Quid Retrihuamus 1 " For 

 so much, what shall we give in return 1 " What shall we give 1 

 I say we shall give to them and to their children a new city, a 

 new hope for the days to come. 



