“AT LAST”, said The Haddingtonshire Courier of November 15, 1918, as it celebrated the end of the First World War.

The below is an opinion piece which appeared in the Courier 100 years ago celebrating the end of the war and looking ahead to the future:

War, which burst upon us a bolt from the blue, has collapsed almost as suddenly.

The foe of all humanity has been thrown from his pedestal of pride, and driven to humiliate himself before the world.

The terms of the armistice are drastic enough to satisfy Germany’s bitterest foes, but they are not too drastic.

Germany is humbled in the dust, but who shall say that she is not reaping what she has sown?

If we are in no mood for mafficking, it has been because the strain has been too great, and all who value civilisation feel how near they have been to the end of all things.

With profound gratitude in our hearts we turn to the tasks that remain. Let us not undervalue their importance.

The great duty now before our Government – a task second only to the assuring of a right peace – is the diversion of the national industry from war to peace.

The transformation must be wrought with the least possible disturbance of those industries; and at the same time it must be done rapidly.

When one thinks of the vast army of munition makers who are still piling up weapons of war, and of the new factories brought into being for this sole purpose, one is staggered at the magnitude of the problem.

The Ministry of Munitions, one is pleased to see, are already tackling the problem, and have issued instructions for a slowing down of work. It is not intended that this should be done by reduction of staffs so much as by reducing hours of work, and the immediate abolition of overtime. As a natural consequence, payment for piece-work is to be suspended.

The claims of those who, in the past four and a half years have done so much to make our glorious victory possible must not be overlooked. That they should go on making munitions which are not wanted is, of course, inconceivable, but the claim for a period of full pay cannot be resisted.

In this, as in so many other matters, the path of magnanimity may prove to be also the path of wisdom, for there must be no factions at home to hinder the consolidation of all that has been so dearly purchased these past few years.

Germany is already in the grip of Bolshevism. Unity of purpose and endeavour can alone restore this country to its position of responsibility and respect. Anything which would hinder that must go at one.