VOICES of the NATION

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 45, 16 November 1929, Page 21

VOICES of the NATION

SAYINGS AND WRITINGS OF THE TIMES :: ::

Money and Service. “The universal demand for money, especially by that important class, to whom the very word was taboo v‘in pre-war days, now impels such men to view with suspicion or contempt anyone deliberately seeking to devote him-, self .to loving public service,” writes Mr, A. Corbett Smith, in the “Daily, Chronicle.” “ ‘What does he get out of it?’ is the first question. And when it is shown that the desired reward is no more than the knowledge of good work well done for the community he is dismissed for a crazy idealist, and help is rarely forthcoming. Qn all sides the men who made our notable public and municipal services are now deliberately retiring before the influx of the new class of workers. They will not face the altered conditions. The new members have yet to learn the great traditions of that voluntary work, and, in any event, they can rarely afford to give the valuable time needed; Only ■ently. for example, the Manchester City Council was seriously discussing the question of payment and train fares for members. From this and from the growing need for close specialisation in public affairs, we trace the natural enlargement of bureaucracy with all its inhibitions and suppressions.” A Doubtful Ideal.

• “We are hearing a great deal at present of the desirability of brightening ‘rural areas’ (by -which phrase newspapers now refer to the country), the brightening up to be done, of course, by townsmen by means of wireless sets, libraries, picture-houses, and all the things from which the townsman wishes to escape when he goes to the country. If there is one thing which the country has and. which the town has not. it is peace, even if only in the form of silence, and if there is one thing which the town < is which the country has not. it is commotion, even if only in the form of noise. No doubt the countryman sometimes wishes that the peace of the countryside was not so peaceful, and the townsman on occasions thinks that he would find life more agreeable if there was not such a ceaseless coming and going in the streets; but when the countryman feels that he really must have a little more excitement he can to the town, and when the towns- “ * ■ ■-'■®maji;begins '-‘•“““‘“surcease from strife he.can pay a visit to the country. B ; to introduce an. artificial commotion into the country' and an artificial calm into the town would make it impossible for the countryman to escape from the country and for the townsman to get away for a while from . the, town.”—Mr. Hubert O’Toole, in the “Cornhill Magazine.” ( Gandhi at Sixty. -

“Here, as the Mahatma passes the landmark of his sixtieth year, is the situation: the Non-Co-operation crusade is to be resumed, if, by the last day of this year, Dominion status is not granted to India, and, presumably the influence of the Mahatma is to be tested by an effort to proclaim ‘mass civil disobedience’ in conformity with the rule of non-violence,” writes Mr. S. R. Ratcliffe in the “Observer.” “Upon this two-fold aspect of the Gandhist position it would seem stiffly cient to point out, first, that at the height of his influence in 1921 the Mahatma failed, and. secondly, that in India to-day the political dissensions, without reference to other factors, make a return of Gandhi as political leader unimaginable. In words and in life he repudiates the modern and denies the West; and, no less implacably, does he deny the fecund East. For him the ultimate truth, the only truth, is sacrifice. The divine voice utters one command over all others—Renounce! Wealth and power, the imagination and the senses, are nothing—are death. Gandhi is not only an Orienizal: he is altogether Indian. India alone could have produced him. And yet in India not one man or woman accepts his full gospel.” “Do Something Significant.”

“There is a widely prevalent, notion that university extension is a kind of watered-down version of the education, that is given in the university itself,” said Principal L. P. Jacks in a recent speech, “and I am afraid it is true that a good deal of it has hitherto been precisely that. But of late years our eyes have been gradually opened to the fact that a course of university and water appeals only to a very limited section of the adult population. i There are other ways of educating adults which do appeal to men and which yield far better results. It has been

found both here and in America that ' multitudes of adults to whom the offer of book learning through classes and lectures makes no appeal, are quickly attracted by the offer of any kind of practical skill, and that those who begin in this way by learning to do-some-thing significant for themselves ore easily lead on to an interest in the literature which tells of the great doings of others and to an interest in the things of the spirit in general.” A Doctrine Challenged.

“When a great Church proclaims ex cathedra that is is necessary to salvation to hold certain beliefs, we may speak of authority if we will; but the authority is not what it pretends to be. It is a proclamation of martial law. The Church gives warning that it punishes dissent and forbids criticism. Absolute obedience is demanded, as from soldiers on a campaign. In word, no doubt, the authority of conscience is said to be supreme; an immoral order need not be obeyed. But it is not for a layman to pronounce immoral any order received from a priest. If the order is really immoral, the rule of obedience excuses him who executes it; in all other cases disobedience to the authority of the Church is a deadly sin. This doctrine of obedience has caused many of the most horrible Crimes in history. A Church organised as an army, and strong enough to persecute. is one of the most terrible scourges of the human race”—Dean Inge.

The Man Who is HI. “The invalid who is seriously ill is at least a figure of importance ; his bed is a throne before which the rest of his knowledgeable world must bow. His lightest wishes, if they are reasonable, are deferred to as though he were an emperor; when he is convalescent he is almost a hero.’—“W.H.U.” writing in the “Birmingham Post.” “Beyond the Ranges.”

“The unconquerable mind of man is constantly finding new weapons for the conquest of Its universe,” says the “Morning Post.” A year and a half ago an Oslo engineer announced that, while listening to short-wave wireless signals emitted by the Dutch station PCJJ (Eindhoven), he heard two • echoes of each signal. . One was, of course, the well-known repetition of a ■signal after circling the earth (in oneseventh of a'second at a speed of 186,000 miles a second), but the. origin of the other .echo, which occurred three second later, was unknown. A series of experiments and observations suggested by this. discovery shows that the Eindhoven signals are echoed as though reflected by some obstacle 800,000 miles away, which is more than three times the distance of the Moon. Here, then, is a scientific equivalent of the ‘something beyond the ranges m Kipling’s pioneer ,and physicists of world-wide distinction are discussing its nature.” Secret Banlung.

“The recent increase in the bank rate to 6i per cent., with all its detrimental effects upon British industry, and the consequent Increase of unemployment, brings once again into prominence the necessity of an immediate inquiry into the whole fiscal structure of this country. Such an nqulry has often been asked for, and never with more force than in the two reports already issued by the MelchettTurner Conference. The very first resolution published by the conference dealt with the gold reserve and its relations with industry. It . urged •that under the special conditions in which the gold standard operates at the present time’ it was . not ‘practicable or desirable that the credit policy of this country should be d.etermined more or less automatically by gold movements as in pre-war days. The whole life of the community depends - upon a proper solution''of-' this question. All this mystery business clothed,ill. financial phrases must be abandoned. Such changes of financial policy are a direct, if not one .of the most' direct, causes ’of industrial .unrest as they are of industrial depression. The world has revolted against secret ' diplomacy—why not against secret causes for raising the bank rate? The inquiry must be held” Lord Melchett, in the “Sunday Express.” ' v Running a Family.

Either to let the children grow as they will and do anything they please, or else to establish a benevolent but firm autocracy, Is’a simple way to run a family. Both these .types of household. however, for purposes of training children, are as cheap as they are easy. The youths who are best fitted to be good citizens in the new generation come out of democratic homes. A child from the beginning ought to be called into the family’s counsels and consulted on the family’s affairs. A little child, if well handled, Is the most loyal of creatures and would far rather than not be devoted to his group and cooperative in its interests.” —Dr. Fosdick in “World To-day.” Modernist Christianity.

“Modernist Christianity is not to be classed among religions of authority: it is a religion of the Spirit. It is an attitude of mind, a confident expectation, an aspiration that finds itself satisfied rather than a ma'tter of system and formula. Modernism takes the right of private judgment which men won at the Reformation: it joins that right to the illumination of the Inner Light and to the new’ aspects of truth of the discovery of which we in the tw'entieth century are justly proud. From freedom and inward religion and revolutionary science we create the new religious outlook. Modernism starts with a trust in God which can now’ be based upon the knowledge that modern science does not exhibit the universe as a mere mechanism. The-Christian is thus assured that continuously active within the world there is Creative Spirit. And onceisuch trust in God is regained, all superstitious practices and beliefs fade away.” — Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham.

The New View of Emigration. “'We transport criminals no longer; we emigrate tlie poor instead. Carelessness in choosing emigrants and in fostering their welfare when once they have left our shores has created in the public mind the firm conviction that what was once a punishment for crime has become a punishment for poverty. The spread of education no less than the increase in security at home, represented by the development of schemes of social insurance, has made men more and more reluctant to emigrate. Despite the unparalleled unemployment experienced since the war, the passing of the Empire Settlement Act of 1922. and the activities of the Overseas Settlement Committee, the number of emigrants has declined steadily since 1913. In the years 1911-13, 240,000 workers on the average sought fame and fortune in the self-governing Dominions. In the years 1925-27 the average fell to 107.000. ‘Training and After-Care’ must become the motto of the emigration authorities. They must offer emigrants the opportunity to equip themselves for the tasks of pioneering. They must offer emigrants sound prospects of winning a decent livelihood and of building up a decent home-life: and one way to do that is io induce the Empire Governments to protect their people by legislation in the same way as citizens are protected in the Home Country." — “Co-operative News."