VOICE OF THE NATIONS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 171, 7 April 1923, Page 13

VOICE OF THE NATIONS

SAYINGS AND WRITINGS :: :: OF THE TIMES :: st

Lausanne—and After. “It is impossible that a grave conflict such as that now-.in sight should bo caused by such small differences of point of view. The failure of the Lausanne negotiations signifies the return of a real state of war between the Greeks and Turks and a nominal state of war between the Allies and Turks. After the clear-cut statement of the will of peace made by M. Poincare recently it will surprise us if he does not go to the very limit of conciliation to keep Franco from being dragged into a deplorable adventure.”—“Le Matin,” Paris. History Repeated. “The French occupation is, of course, a very serious blow to any League of Nations. That has always been the character of the French, however, and we should have expected what has happened. If you read Thackeray or ‘Punch’ of the last generation you will see that France occupies there the position which Germany occupied just before tho war. They are the military nation which cannot live without military glory. This has been their whole tradition. It pleased us to belie all these facts because we wanted to pretend that France was now the suffering angel and Germany the demon.” — Mr. Israel Zangurill. Salute to Rontgen. “Few names occupying the highest honour in the world of science can be better known among the common mass of humanity which picks up its science, or such of it as it possesses, at secondhand, than that of the German physicist, Wilhelm Von Rontgen, whose death at the age of seventy-eight, we announce. Many physicists have made contributions to exact knowledge equal to or even greater than those of Rontgen; but it was Rontgen’s fortune that his discovery of ‘X’-rays became a new and potent weapon in the healing art, and the foundation of a new era in physical 'science.” —London “Times.” Precept and Practice. “To follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth” means a good deal more than to admire them. . . . Certainly In my experience the number of those who are able actually to live by the Christian spirit without any Christian (theological) belief is small, though they undoubtedly exist. . . . My pub-lic-spirited agnostic friends, of whom I have a large number, are not active, for example, in ‘rescue work’; they are eager—rightly—to reform the organisationx of life;, they scarcely~attempt to rebuild character. . . . . I think the habits of worship are too stereotyped, the needs of tho people find too little place in our prayers; there is too much respect for the conservative feelings of those who are within, too little for the new aspirations of those who are without. But when all is said and done I am convinced that the main reason why ‘the Church repels’ is that it steadily refuses to offer short cuts to the Kingdom of Heaven.”—The Bishop of Manchester. On® Way of Looking At It.

“It may seem somewhat of a paradox, but the probability is that in perhaps ten years after the complete funding of international debts the countries who are creditors to the detriment of their trade, and will find it to their advantage to meet again and consider whether or nob these international d<Jbts and credits should be liquidated and discharged. It has not been to the advantage of this country and tho Allies to receive reparations from Germany. It stimulates German trade and we suffer from unemployment. The Americans may find that it is not to their advantage to receive money from us even on the funded debt. They may find it more to their advantage to be free to expand their trade. It is therefore worth while to consider whether it would not be to the advantage of all the nations, with the view to the final disposing of these debits and credits, that they should immediately take the first step to funding the whole of the international debts.” —Sir Allan Smith, Chairman of tha Management Committee, Engineering Employers’ Federation. “Tho Last Great Sacrifice.” “I do not hesitate to call things b.v their names. We had civil war in Germany. That there was not a more violent outbreak was due to the weakness of our nerves, not to our self-con-trol. Hatred and slander, had flourished through the land, the' town agamst tho country, the peasant against the land-owner. The urban population was fiercer in its internal hatred than against tho enemy outside. The youth of Germany had. become infected with the belief that there was no public condemnation of assassins in Germany. The public conscience was dead, and tho French had watched this moral decline. We are ready, for the sake of peace, to make the last great sacrifice, and to declare that, if France will evacuate the Ruhr valley, we will again resume our reparation payments so far as lies within our power. But 1’ ranee must not be tho judge of our capacities. Let America propose an impartial arbitrator.”—Prince Max, who was German Chancellor when tho revolution broke out in 1918. Equal Pay for the Sexes.

“It was disquieting to read some time ago a speech made at a conference bv an angry schoolmaster attacking this idea of equal payment. He said that even now women were paid too highly. He said that it was specially embittering for schoolmasters to have to spend their holidays at Eastbourne with their wives and families while the female colleagues went off to Switzerland. Ono wonders that any human being can be so completely destitute of any sense of real values as to put the privilege of enjoying a week at lovely Lucerne above the possession of a home and children. But what is more shocking is that he evidently wants his female colleagues to have neither homes, families, nor a week at lovely Lucerne; to have, in fact, as nearly as possible nothing. And that, indeed, is the secret hope of the opponents of this reform.” —Rebecca West, in “Time and Tide.”

Back to the Spirit. “I think religion is a larger thing than Christianity and will go on, a growing power in the hearts of men. though they cease altogether to call themselves Christians. I would suggest that ‘Christianity’ sell all that d} hath and follow after Jesus of Nana® reth, that it scrap its theologies and organisations ana, taking neither scrip nor purse, set out to find the lqs| Kingdom of God. Until the Archbis* hop of York and the Church Congress embark visibly and unmistakably upon that long overdue pilgrimage, I doubt) if sincerely religious spirits are goinjj to bother very muon about them. More and more people find it possible to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth without any of the terms and trappings of Christianity at' all —with* out, indeed, even calling themselve® Christians.” —Mr. H. G. Wells. The Extremists' Failures.

“It is a tribute to the soundness of opinion in the Dominions, that wherever their extremist Labour leader® have flirted with Bolshevism there has been an immediate revulsion of feeling against the i party. It is suspect in South Africd to-day, as it -was in Cana* da after the Winnipeg riots of 1919, and in Australia after the ‘I.W.W.’ agi» tation during the war. It is not sun* prising, therefore, that the South Afrfe can people look with little favour on the unscrupulous alliance between th® “back-velder,” with his selfish and somewhat limited outlook, and tha Labour man, with his advanced intel* national ideals”. —London “Times.” The Mark of the Centenarian.

“If an enduring physique is our first and most precious requisite for a heal-* thy and happy life, it is probable that) formerly plain provisions—‘hamel// fare’ and ‘hodden grey’—never re. tarded the development, curtailed th® years, nor burked the song of any Scotchman. Nor did hard work as a general rule. To other concomitant causes premature decreptitude and discontent may be traced.* Th® writer once visited centenarian wh® had laboured all his days upon th® soil ; his aged son sat at the porch enk joying the sun; his more feeble aged grandson crept beside the fire; the certt tenarian was busy digging the garden. The patriarch outdid the moderns.”— j Dr. Heirsin, in the “Glasgow Herald.** The international Outlook.

“It would be difficult to point to d single foreign development since Mij, ifonar Law took office (saving our agreement to pay the United States, in principle a Lloyd Georgian poacy), . which brings nearer the peace and rte 'cbvery of Europe. There is no peac® yet with Turkey, none yet with Russia j and we have ceased to have on th® Continent a single dependable Ally. The Entente no longer functions to safeguard any British interest; it ha® become the merest, make-believe, be« hind which the French Foreign Offio® pursues its own policies to our deterU ment, trying now to oust us politically and commercially, as on the Ruhr, noW| to betray us diplomatically, as at Lau» sanne.” —London “Daily Chronicle.” An Unbroken Empire.

“Germany is still an unbroken Enw pire, with a far greater population ana iar greater industrial powers thad France. Her aggressive economic po lioy still threatens British interests, and wo believe that she has not abandoned her dreams of Imperial conquest. Moreover, Russia has changed from an alliance with France to a vassalage to Germany. Berlin, we believe, is still the centre of the power which works against us in' every question, and if» all parts of the world. Nor can wd hope to reconcile this power, whicH reckons on nothing less than the de»i struction of the British Empire. Thes# tilings being so, a firm friendship with France is no less a necessity now than before the War. It is the true foundation, not merely of the security of ths United Kingdom and the British Em* pire, but of the peace of Europe.”—* London “Morning Rost.” Here To-day, Gone To-morrow.

“The old activities of Downing street seem half a century away from Mr. Lloyd George. crowding deputations, the smiling Conferences that used to face the camera (on garden seats) and astonish the world with re* iterations of that perfect, too perfect, Allied unanimity, belong to the his» tory books. The central figure, which was onoe so near and cast so broad a shadow, seems to have receded intq the long perspective of history. Yet it is all bareiy four months awayi Last autumn he was in office; aqd. a year before that he was enthroned ail Gairloch, a Dictator who (unlike cinnatus) obstinately declined to leave the plough and insisted upon the bust# ness of the State being transacted al his ploughtail in the distant field. • It is a singular transformation. But one can hardly fail to realise it. It ali most seems as though there had bceil a sudden change in the public taste, one of those abrupt twists of fashion which leave modistes bankrupt or turd stage favourites into curiosities.” — Mr* Phillip Guedella. ,i “Stand on Your Own Foot J” 1

“I ask you to assist the Government in discountenancing the appeals which ate to-day made for Government assist* ance by almost every industry which finds itself faced with a period of difficulty owing to the operation of ordinary economic laws. The Government believes in tho principle and is determined to adhere to it —that artificial assistance by the Government should be given only where such action is fated in the interests of the nation as. a whole. I appeal for your assistance and support in creating a healthy pub* lie opinion in regard to tins very im*’ portant matter. Initiative, enterprise, self-reliance, and faith are what are needed in Australia to-day. It is noil that we do not possess these qualities. The history of our country and ouS efforts in the war show that wc t>ossess them in a remarkable degree. The a-t* mosphere of the past few years hasj however, sapped them to some extent. It is for us to destroy that utmost phere, and to ensure that our people! remain strong, and self-reliant, and virile, with that inherent lovo of freedom which has been our bulwark in the past, and which has made the Empire great.”—Mr. Bruce, Prime Minis* ter of Australia, in a recent speedh,