Page:The humanizing of commerce and industry, the Joseph Fisher lecture in commerce, delivered in Adelaide, 9th May, 1919.pdf/16

 training camps from bush and city, farm and office rich and poor, all creeds, all conditions offering, not their money, but their lives to save us. Our patriotism became articulate and real. Australian manhood was united in a splendid mateship of self-sacrifice. On the battlefields of Gallipoli, Palestine, and France that mateship was made eternal. More than fifty thousand precious lives have been given for this Australian homeland of ours. Two hundred thousand have been maimed or injured, and thousands of others have toiled unceasingly so that our vast sunlit continent may be preserved to us and our children.

By the blood of our heroes the oneness of the Australian people has been cemented. That oneness, with the return of peace, now requires concrete expression. The old callous indifference to suffering and misery must go. A new understanding of life is breaking in upon us. The grandeur of humanity has been revealed to us by the sacrifice of our own flesh and blood. The old pre-war conditions have become intolerable. Upon us who have stayed at home in ease and comfort devolves the duty to probe deeply into the causes of unhappiness and discontent in our midst, and fearlessly to advocate remedies, so that the way may be prepared for a greater and fuller national life. Change is in the air. A new era is dawning. We have accepted the sacrifice of thousands of lives for our preservation. We cannot make payment for this across the money-changers' tables.

Great Britain has been setting us a worthy example by making great preparations for a new order. Time has been snatched from war duties to prepare a revolutionized system of education for the people. The housing problem has been faced and orders given to build at once 100,000 homes, to be followed by 300,000 more. It is reported that the British Government intends in future to provide, through the municipalities, all the houses required by the citizens. As a health provision the milk supply throughout Great Britain is to be nationalized. This is only the beginning. Investigation by the best brains available is proceeding into every possible post-war problem, and the way is being paved for fundamental changes. What is the key to all these changes?

It is the Gospel of Happiness. It means the recognition of the right of every citizen to live a life of happiness. It means the true realization of the equality of men. The rights of Magna Charta; the