STUDENTS AND WAR

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21450, 16 April 1935, Page 17

STUDENTS AND WAR

* ADDRESS BY MR li. W. RHODES t "The world is a whirlpool, politice ally and economically," said Mr H. W. e Rhodes during his address on "Stud- - ents and War," at Canterbury College I. last evening. "We should devote serig ous thought to the causes and objects j . of war and, in the event of war, decide what attitude we intend to take. < e If we do not we will, I fear, become s mere pawns in a vast international ' game of chess. We must face facts. "Everywhere in the world to-day, < signs of preparation for war are apparent in spite of the lesson we should have learned from the last great bloodbath of 1914," continued Mr Rhodes. ; "We must not be moral cowards. Some of the people who stayed away from , the last war might have been cow* ' ards, but many who did go were cowards—moral cowards. National traditions are wonderful things, but it is doubtful whether ■ attacking another " country and saying 'my country, right a or wrong,' is justified." n 1 Mr Rhodes said that there were n several classifications into which men might be divided according to their , opinions on war. In the first place * there was the open imperialist who it considered the atrocities of other counn tries rather than economic conditions, y. to be the cause of war. Such a person : held "my country, right or wrong," as his slogan and his was the patriotn ism of the slaughterhouse. He fought for the supremacy of his own country )E and the social order existing in his own country.

I There was another class which I adopted the slogan, "war for peace." and fought partially on the economic grounds and partially on the grounds of national jealousy. They should be clear on their definition of the terra "aggression" and the realisation that the country which fire<| the first shot need not necessarily be the aggressor. Finally there was the complete pacifist, whose motto was "peace at any price." The one great difficulty was th<s justification of a war of liberation, as a nation could not sit back and watch another struggling against oppression. A short discussion followed the aiddress and a vote of thanks was accorded the speaker.