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Show EDWARD CARSON MAKES A PLEA Says the Irish Nationalists Should Favor Conscription for Ireland. London, Jan. 11, 9:47 p. m. Opposition Op-position to tho government's compulsion compul-sion bill dwindled to a meager handful hand-ful In parliament today and predictions predic-tions In the lobby of the house of commons tonight were that the vote on the second reading would find little more than 20 or 30 in opposition, as contrasted with 105 on the first reading. The Irish Nationalist today announced an-nounced abandonment of their opposition opposi-tion in view of the fact that the bill docs not apply to Ireland. John Redmond, Red-mond, the veteran home rule leader, who made this announcement shared the most prominent position in the day's debate with his own enemy, Sir Ed-ward Carson, who in a fiery speech pleaded that Ireland ought to be included in-cluded in the bill. Sir Edward rose to speak as soon as Mr. Redmond teaaeu. "I welcome the announcement which" has Just been made," he said, referring to Mr. Redmond's .withdrawal .withdraw-al of the Irish Nationalist opposition, "but I regret that the honorable gentleman gen-tleman should not have gone a step farther and led his party into the house in favor of the bill. It would have been even better if the honorable honor-able gentleman had allowed Ireland to be included. He and I are old opponents, oppo-nents, but I can assure him from the bottom of my heart that nothing would be more likely to bring us together to-gether on a common platform than that we should find Ireland, together with England, Scotland and Wales, absolutely unanimous in what we believe be-lieve necessary for winning the war. "1 am profoundly disappointed with the way the coalition government has dealt with the matter of Ireland. Is Ireland less concerned with the result re-sult of the war than Great Britain? You may go on making sacrifices and we will be prepared to rejoice "in and share the result. As an Irishman, I say that Ireland should be ashamed to be open to such reproach. "Has Ireland done better than Great Britain In recruiting? She has not done half as well, and It is a great m'stake to go buttering her up, telling tell-ing her she has done splendidly when she has not "I make one more appeal to Mr. Redmond. It is that he consider whether Ireland cannot even now bo Included in the bill. "In my heart I believe that when tho hour of victory comes, as it certainly cer-tainly will come, we who are Irish men win itjiii uio ueepesi. suaiue iu remember we expected each other to make sacrifices from which we provided pro-vided our own exclusion." Reviewing the history of the war, Sir Edward Carson declared that lack of men had been the chief reason rea-son for the failure in the Dardanelles and the Serbian expedition. I "The fact is," he urged, "we can-'not can-'not win the war without this bill." He declared that the opponents ot compulsion had failed to realize the difficulties with which the allies are faced. Turning toward the labor benches, he said: "Somebody has remarked that this bill is likely to lead to an industrial conscription of wealth. I say if industrial in-dustrial conscription or conscription of wealth is necessary to tho winning of the war, why should we shrink from it? The country surely is willing will-ing to make any sacrifice necessary tp bring the struggle to a successful conclusion. What good is property to me if I have to hang my head in eternal shame because my country hns been beaten?" The chief speaker against the bill today was William Crawford Anderson, Ander-son, labor member of Sheffield. He Is a widely known labor leader, the son of a blacksmith and an organizer of the powerful Shop assistants' union un-ion The effect of his speech, how-e how-e er, was largely discounted by the fact that he was promptly disavowed as the representative of the labor party by Will Thome, founder of the Gas Workers' union. Mr. Anderson said he represented the majority opinion of the labor congress, con-gress, which he believed truly reflected reflect-ed the opinion of the working people of the country. "Moreover," he added, "the prejudice preju-dice of the working people against conscription will harden as time goes bj. I warn you that the government is heading straight toward disaster if it attempts to apply the principles of this bill. "If the bill passes, then God help the working people when they come to fight their own battles. In my opinion, the mere victory of British munitions will be a small gain if England Eng-land mcantimes undergoes spiritual and moral -defeat" |
