VOICE OF THE NATIONS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 254, 10 July 1926, Page 15

VOICE OF THE NATIONS

SAYINGS AND WRITINGS :: :: OF THE TIMES K s

The £ s. d. of Class Hatred. “There is no hope of improvement in revolution or in the base and bitter propaganda which preaches class hatted. The state of Russia to-day is, as Sir. Barnes says, ‘a warning of what may follow revolution.’ What has revolution brought the Russian coal miners? According to figures given by Djerzinsky at the Pan-Russian Metallurgical Congress, lie now receives ‘39 per cent, of the wage in the pre-war period? That is to say in plain English, he now gets 45., where before the revolution he got 10s. Such are the practical results of class hatred when translated into economic realities.” — “Daily Mail” (London).

A Vice-Regal Optimist. “Do not allow yourselves to become despondent about India. I say to you in all earnestness that the time will come when there will be a complete and willing union between India and Britain, wnen the relations between tliem will have emerged from those of racial hostility-, whet? the Indian will have banished his suspicion and distrust, and when he will ha'*? come to realise that the plighted word of the British Parliament is as sacred an act as is known to humanity, and when he will understand that it is in tlie community of interest, purpose, and ideals that lies the true future of the union between Britain and India as part of the British Umpire.”—Lc-.l Reading. Law and the Strike Promoter.

“The principle of our law, paradoxical as it may seem, has always been that a man who does wrong shall if he can afford it pay for the consequences of liis wrong, but for the first time, in the Trades Disputes Act, Parliament laid down the doctrine that a man, however well lie can afford to pay for the consequences of his admitted wrong, shall be immune from that obligation. How far we have travelled since that decision was taken is indicated in the fact that some twenty gentlemen meeting in a room in London could issue orders to three and a half millions of the population that were to paralyse the life of forty millions. Such a claim in the whole history of democracy has never been put forward before.”—The Earl of Birkenhead.

Spoiling the Landscape. “Up to this time, it seems, local authorities have been very slow to enforce their own by-laws against unsightly hoardings and similar abominations because they have feared that, although thev had received the official approval of the Home Office, their regulations might be upset on appeal. A group of justices in Somerset, happily, were more venturesome, and when a bill-posting comnanv was haled before them charged with disfiguring a landscape with no fewer than six advertisements they promptly convicted them. Naturally the company lias appealed. The High Court confirmed the. conviction.- By this means adequate protection has at last been secured for the best scenery in our town and country, and we can confidently hope now that local authorities everywhere will fumble about no longer, but will use. with vigour the powers entrusted to them to extinguish all kinds of eyesores.”—“Yorkshire Post.”

Lloyd George, Ishmaelite. “It is the greatest political tragedy of ‘these days that a statesman with the great Parliamentary gifts which Mr Lloyd George undoubtedly possesses, with the sway which he still can exercise over a popular audience, with the instinct, though uncontrolled, for constructive statesmanship, with fervour, driving power, and imaginative sympathy, should have become the Ishmaelite of British politics.”— “The Scotsman.”

Bad Policy.

“This impression of the gradual decline of England is a catastrophe, and that it exists is largely our own fault. The extracts from the British Press which find their way into the American papers, the articles written by some of our fellow countrymen for the American Press, and the pessimistic way in which visitors from England to the United States describe the state of affairs at home, have all conspired to create a totally false impression in the American mind. The American is an optimist and he does not understand our national habit of self-de-preciation, with the result that he takes, all the pessimistic talk he hears as being the literal truth, and probably an under-statement of the gravity of the situation. During our visit we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity, at public meetings and privately, to dispel some of these false impressions, and to assure our American friends that Great Britain, although admittedly facing difficult times, was by no means on the point of throwing up the sponge. Such efforts nt explaining the position are only a drop in the bucket, and we would most earnestly- urge that some concerted steps should be taken to bring the true facts of the case before the American public.”—From a repoit to the Federation of British Industries by Colonel F. V. Willey and Mr. G. Locock on their American impressions The Voice of Australia. “We realise the financial sacrifices which Great Britain is making in order that her word may ever be her bond. We know that every pound we spend on Empire goods means employment for the Empire’s citizens and a surer guarantee that they will remain under our flag and become in turn purchasers of Empire goods. This question of the economic welfare of the Empire is the most important we have to face. Economic laws arc inexorable ; let us who belong to an Empire which controls one-quarter of the earth’s surface do everything in our power to promote the purchase of the Empire’s goods. Let us keep our people in employment under our flag. Great as are the questions of foreign policy, the defence of the Empire, and its government, this is the greatest to which we can apply our energies, for if .we solve it we solve all others. It is the basis on which every race exists; ignoring it, nations dissolve and individuals perish.”—Mr. Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia.

Science and Industry. "If a country can manufacture goods of superior quality, of constant novelty, or of - • exceptionally high performance, at reasonable prices, and keep on doing so, other countries are compelled to buy from it. Science is the modern key to such a situation, and new discoveries in science are essential to maintain the industrial position of this country; in fact, science is the sentinel that must be posted at the door of every business house with the main object of preventing loss from want of knowledge. If we look round, surely nothing can bring greater hope to us than the realisation of the many comforts we enjoy as the result of research—electric light, the telephone, the telegraph, wireless, the internal combustion engine, to mention onlv one or two of the more obvious.”—Dr. A. W. Crossley, retiring president of the Chemical Society, in an address dealing with the relationship of science to industry.

Should the Churches Advertise? “The time has come when the Churches must arrive at an understanding with the newspapers. The relegating of Church announcements to the obscurest corners of advertisement columns must give place to something more calculated to stir the mind. The suggestion that the newspaper is the pulpit of the future leaves out of account the place which the orator holds in all democratic countries. The newspaper is not a voice, though it produces many of the effects of a voice, and, apart from, some niightv sweep of revival, if the churches are to be filled Jt is the newspaper alone which will fill them. Cut St. Paul's. Westminster Abbey, and the Citv Temple out of the public Press and it will not be long before they have lost their hold on the public mind. Publicity is involved in the whole idea of religion. The central word of Christianity is ‘Come unto Me? Sanctity is not necessarily secrec v. M —Rev. W’ H. Saturlev in the “Daily Express. What is Truth?

“Truth in advertising would be a good slogan if we were all agreed about truth. It is perhaps more practical to emphasise responsibility. There is a terrible responsibility about the use of advertising, because it can be so potent, so wasteful, so alluring and misleading. It was undoubtedly the sense of this that made its leading exponents coin a phrase that would honour their trade and put it once and for all on a moral basis. One can truthfully say a material is lovely; but how about the responsibility of omitting to say that it fades and won’t wash? An entirely truthful statement would often be bound to make qualifications. When we announce that ‘Poplin’s printed muslin can’t possibly last because it disintegrates in water and discolours in the sunshine but that nevertheless for a few pence a yard it will make an enchanting little frock for an “occasion” ’ . - . then we have truth, but should we get orders? Dorothy Leigh-Bennett in the “World To-day.” Crime in America. “No one is in favour of making punishment more severe than is necessary to accomplish its end. As, therefore, the human race has gradually emerged from the virtual barbarism of those old days, its progress, and the progress, of civilisation have resulted in a lessening of crime—and naturally punishment also has been relaxed. But when it is so relaxed as to become no punishment at all, and is so frequently escaped as to warrant the assumption it will be escaped altogether, then there can be no wonder that it fails to act as a deterrent. Such is the condition existing in the United States to-day,, and such it is certain to continue uhtil the day arrives when punishment is restored to its true function.” —Judge .C. C. Nott, jun., in “Scribner’s Magazine.” On Church Unity. "Some of these endeavours for church unity appear to non-partisan observes to be well meant rather than well conceived. There is everything to be said for clearing away artificial differences which arise from genuine misunderstanding,, or from verbal niceties, or from polemical exaggerations. But there is nothing substantial or lasting to be. gained by the attainment of a mechanical and ostensible unity; which cloaks fundamental divergences upon vital matters. It is a waste of time and a misuse of energy to set to work to construct f''-mula: of ‘reconciliation,’ which are,, at the best, not more than accommodation gangways over unbridgablc chasms.” — Lord Oxford and Asquith, in the “Sunday Times.” What Makes a Flag? “With all respect to the ensigns which great nations have suddenly created, it may be said that a national flag.needs time to appeal to national sentiment and command national loyalty, and in the passing of time is apt' to evolve into something different from the original design. Some historians would add confidently that if it is to be truly national it must derive from emblems already well known and honoured by the nation. The Union Jack itself is something which was not made, but grew. That the combination of the crosses is the consequence of Acts of Parliament is, of course, true, but is only part of the truth. Not statute law, but the fact of the union of the peoples of . the British Isles to build up the British State is the effective cause pf the Union Tack.”—“Daily Telegraph,” in a leader discussing the proposed new South African flag. Earl Haig on the Crisis. Britain had passed through a severe ordeal, and had emerged with its good mime untarnished, and with nn increased reputation for lovaltv and commonsense, said Earl’ Haig at the British Legion Conference. “Many of their members must have been racked in. their minds as to the right course to pursue in view of their pledge to the ideals. To guide them in any future ordeal he wotfld quote the following lines of a poet in reply to the question: “What constitutes the State?” Not high-raised battlements or laboured mound, No, men, high-minded men, Men who their duties know, And know their rights, and ktKwhiff Dare maintain them.