Widnes Examiner. — 1916-02-26 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

SIR A. H. CROSFIELD AND AFTER THE WAR.  The visit to Warrington this week of Sir Arthur Crosfild to show his keen appreciation of the work that is-being done by the women, not necessarily Liberals only, who assemble at the John Crosfield Memorial Hall to knit and sew comforts for the men who are defending us in the trenches, has enabled him to touch upon the important question of the  after-the-war settlement. Last week we referred to . the ill-advised and headlong rush that is being made by certain Protectionists to advocate their old heresy while passion has pog-kssion of men's souls and, hatred is likely to govern their actions. We counselled caution, and, by inference, Sir Arthur does the same; for, while taking note of the dreadful drama that is being enacted before our eyes, and while acknowledging, as we all acknowledge, that the Germans have done such things as to make them the outcasts of civilisation, he holds that the first object of paramount and supreme importance, and the highest achievement of statesmanship, will be involved in the 'task of settling our relationships—after the war. The ,conditions -. by which we shall be guided are not fully known now, and it would be idle, or, at all events, unwise, to charge our righteously-inflamed minds with the task of determining what we shall do in conditions we cannot see or fully comprehend.  • But we must be prepared for some startling changes when the war is over. That so liberal-minded a man as Sir Arthur Crosfield, along with many of the leaders of his ow. party, is prepareil to consider,: nay, conceives it to be haS duty to !indicate that he'will:(;,onsider, in due season; the departure that ii to be made from time-tried and proved polity, is added proof that Germany and Austria as we know them to-day are doomed.. Only internal revolution, by which the peoples of those deluded nations will separate themselves from '-and repudiate the action of their. war lords, including their ruler, the arch-criminal of the whole herd, can save-.them; and'even revointion, after the manner they 'have disgraced.clemoeracy for flearly two years,- would scarcely give them inimediate..grace. However, as Sir, Arthur says, , there will be, de-,1 velopments 'which will 'have' a vital bearing 1 upon the ultimate settlement, but our feelings! our judgment as human beings, .must,:and_will modify our practice even in matters that are! ! ruled by the laws of economics. We have 1 done all we could to make Germany friendly ! disposed towards us. Sir Arthur himself was at the head of a great international !novement whose object it was to humanise the conditions of labour by international agreement, and so to bring the toilers' milleniura a few stag ,nearer. Can the people. who tore 'up solemn Obligations and dubbed treaties scraps of paper be trusted to run in harness, industrially,. with decent, honest-minded! peoples? The recent action Of a British captain, who left a wrecked Zeppelin crew to their fate in the sea, because he could not accept their word of honour, may be -.taken as a model of the respect the world will have for the German's word in future. In present conditions  in any movement of labour the Central Powers will be treated as outlaws; because they stand self-condemned and unabashed.  But there is 'another reason, perhaps more powerful even than that of national respect, which forbids a proudly-righteous people having anything to do with thieves and murderers. It is, in fact, a mixture of sentiment and economic consideration. The trade that Germany has done with the 'Allies and .the Allies' possessions has made her rich enough to think she could challenge them successfully to mortal Combat. Must we not withdraw that Means for the acquirement of 'wealth that may lead to crime on a larger scale in the future ? A union of the, Allies in trade as against Germany and her. dupes Would be the most 'effectual barricade against the advance in the future i that peculiar Product, enlightened barbarism, which is glossed .over by the. name of Kultur. These ,are ,'suggestions .of a few of the lines' of .future action upon which we .may bo employing our thoughts; they are some of the suggestions which it will be the duty of our stateSmanship to consider and put into working 'and .workable concrete shape.