one who has never taken a stand on any moral
question; who has never loved anything well enough to fight for it;
who is broad-minded and tolerant--because he does not care....
Amiability fattens, but love kills!

Amiable patriots at the present time talk quite cheerfully of the
conscription of life, but say little of the conscription of wealth,
declaring quite truthfully that wealth will never win the war! Neither
will men! It will take both, and all we have, too, I am afraid. Surely
if the government feels that it can ask one man for his life, it need
not be so diffident about asking another man for his wealth. The
conscription of wealth might well begin with placing all articles of
food and clothing on the free list and levying a direct tax on all
land values. Then, if all profits from war-supplies were turned over
to the government, there would be money enough to pay a fair allowance
to our soldiers and their dependents. It does not seem fair that the
soldier should bear all the sacrifices of hardship and danger, and
then have the additional one of poverty for his family and the
prospect of it for himself, when he comes back unfit for his former
occupation. Hardship and danger for the soldier are inevitable, but
poverty is not. The honest conscription of wealth would make it
possible for all who serve the Empire to have an assurance of a decent
living as long as they live.

If equal pay were given to every man, whether he is a private or a
major, equal pensions to every soldier's widow, and if all political
preference were eliminated, as it would have to be under this system;
when all service is put on the same basis and one man's life counts as
much as another's, there would be no need of compulsion to fill the
ranks of the Canadian army. We know that there never can be equality
of service--the soldier will always bear the heavy burden, and no
money can ever pay him for what he does; but we must not take refuge
behind that statement to let him bear the burdens which belong to the
people who stay at home.

Heroism is contagious. It becomes easier when every one is practicing
it. What we need now, more than anything, are big, strong, heroic
leaders, men of moral passion, who will show us the hard path of
sacrifice, not asking us to do what they are not willing to do
themselves; not pointing the way, but traveling in it; men of heroic
mould who will say, "If my right eye offend me, I will pluck it out";
men who ar