OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 112, 4 February 1933, Page 16

OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Anns Equality for Germany. ! “The problem of equality of rights has now been settled in such, a way that both France and Germany have everything to gain by pushing the Disarmament Conference to successful results, Germany because she obtains equality of rights only within the framework of n disarmament convention, and France because, having conceded Germany’s right to equality. she must look to a disarmament convention to replace the security which has hitherto rested on a basis of military superiority. The agreement lias been made possible by the realistic policy of Al. Herrlot. If Germany were bent on rearming nobody could stop her, and France could not compete indefinitely with a country whose resources in man and industrial power are so much greater than her own.” —The “Glasgow’ Herald.”

State Control of Armaments. "I have a very strong feeling that undoubtedly some of these armament Interests do take very active steps to prevent any-measure being carried into effect which will reduce the number of customers that they have. I believe everybody admits that that evil exists. Everybody must admit that it would be desirable to reduce or abolish it. My own inclination certainly is that we have, arrived at a condition of affairs when commodities and articles of this kind are so dangerous to human prosperity and human civilisation that they ought not to be left any longer in the hands of private individuals, but should only be in the hands of responsible Governments. That is the conclusion at which I .have arrived. It is a conclusion not very unlike that which many .people have, arrived at with regard .to various types of dangerous drugs..”—Lord Hugh Cecil.

Leisure. “No day, save in emergency, should pass without: some time when the more insistent claims of life relax. That life indeed is sadly impoverished which has not ample leisure, or, having it, knows not how to let it yield its own enjoyment, and at the same time to store up riches for hours that are yet to come. AVe would recognise as among the resources of life the resource of quiet and solitary thought, wherein lie unexpected healing and strength unforeseen. AVe recommend that the heart be never shut to beauty, whether of sight or of sound, whether of nature or. of man’s own creation.”—Mr. Ernest H. Wilkins, in the “Christian Century.”

A Frenclunan Looks at England. “When' the country finds , danger ahead, the English unite. This is true too of France. One saw it in 1914 and again in 1926, when the franc was saved. But one may say, perhaps, that these recoveries come about more easily in England, because the party divisions are so much less .serious. Good observers, like, Andre. Siegfried, have judged the English economic crisis too •pessimistically: they have thought the /state of the country much worse than •it is because;they have forgotten her ■faculty of collective recovery. It was this same mistake that Germany made with, regard to France between 1900 and 1910. The last English election made a deep impression on France: it restored England’s prestige in the eyes of the average Frenchman.”—M. Andre Maurois: in “The Spectator.”'

Misguided Idealists. “The misguided idealists who have so openly taken'sides with the Chinese war-lords and Communists mean to make strenuous efforts to force Great Britain into some wild scheme of economic and financial boycott of Jap,un, which they hope would drive Japan from Manchuria. Such a programme would mean war for this country, against every British interest and ideal. It is therefore of supreme importance that the bellicose pacifists at Geneva should be made to understand that in no circumstances, are the British people to be dragged into a conflict with Japan.”—-The “Daily Mail” (London). War Debts and Disarmament. “To most Americans of a liberal mind, -debts and disarment are closely linked,” writes Professor Harold Laski. “Mr. Roosevelt, however willing, will find it extraordinarily difficult to convince his • supporters of the need for European relief unless the Disarmament Conference is a real and demonstrable success. He may, of course, have to face a position in which some measure of repudiation has already occurred. I venture the prediction that America . would tolerate repudiation with disarmament after a period of initial indignation; but I venture also to preedict with some confidence that repudiation without disarmament will result in a wave of anti-European sentiment in the United States which will make it impossible for Mr. Roosevelt to adopt a progressive attitude in foreign affairs.”

Where the Money Went. • “Many of the visitors to Ottawa this year,” says "Canada,” “have spoken of the magnificence of the Parliament Buildings. But such proofs of national and civic pride are not confined to the Federal capital. Every provincial capital has great public' buildings and fine hotels. In fact, Canadians feel that they may have been a little bit extravagant in this regard. Even during a period of hard times Jthere is no cheese-paring on Government furnishings. This is evident in the list given by the ‘Ottawa Journal’ of furniture purchased for the AuditorGeneral’s office. Taking the English equivalent at a little more than the current rate of exchange, his desk cost 248 dollars (£62), and its glass top 27 dollars (£6/15/-), his wastepaper I basket 18 dollars (£4/10/-), bookcase 273 dollars (£6B/5/-), curtains for the bookcase doors 190 dollars (£47/10/-), and rug 355 dollars (£96/5/-). Canada has a proper pride.” Christian Reunion. "It is Quite useless io conceal the fact that the obstacles in the way of general Christian reunion are still very serious if not quite insurmountable,” writes Dr. IV. B. Selbie, ex-principal of Mansfield College, in the "Contemporary Review.” "Reunion in the long run is and must be a matter of spirit, intention, and desire, rather than of machinery. It is surely a mistake to imagine that once the organisation is provided the spirit of union will appear to work it. The whole history of the Church indicates the opposite. Given the spirit, the goodwill and the desire, and they will find for themselves fit forms of expression. One of the sharpest lessons taught by Church history is as to the danger and futility of enforced uniformity in the things of the spirit. Freedom is the very breath of the life of religion and will always be endangered in any scheme of reunion which puts organisation first, or seeks to rest upon it.” I

Jazz Everywhere. “The world . to-day,” declared Lady Sempill, in a speech reported in the “Aberdeen Journal,” “needs softness of beauty more than ever before. It is jazz everywhere. Not only in music but in dress. Look at men’s stockings, pullovers, and so forth! Also the women's clothes offered for sale in windows! It will take you all your time to find a plain bedspread, a plain cushion, or a plain carpet. It is jazz, jazz, all the time. Look at the stage —people cannot sing a song without jazzing about. The world is full of mechanism, and mechanism tends to coarsen the mind.”

The Reviewers’ Lot. "We reviewers are, as a class, too easy-going and too generous with our commendations,” writes Mr. D. C. Somervell in the “News-Chronicle.” "If a book is sound but dull we expatiate upon its soundness ; if it is unsound but clever and amusing we give thanks forbeing amused and leave the rest unsaid, or at least unemphasised. This is, of course, very creditable to us as men and brothers, for we are a modest lot and do not like to set ourselves up as rulers and judges over authors—especially if we are sometimes authors ourselves. But it means that, when we have to review a book that is really good all round, we are rather at a loss as to bow to mark the difference.” “Grey World of Vice.”

“National character is reflected in the nation’s imaginative literature. It is so in this country, and we owe much to writers of the past. To-day it seems to me that nearly all the writers who are most popular give us a grey world of sordid vice and misconduct, described without explanations as if.human nature were just like that. It is much to be wished that some great writer may arise who has seen life in the light of God in all its glory and all its tragedy. The effect of much modern writing must be an ill one upon young readers, and renders the worst service we can do to one another. Human nature is able to rise to great heights and sink to terrible depths, but it is not all of a uniform grey colour.”— Dean Inge.

The Specialists. “Have we any right to claim for the man of science (apart from his practical activities) a special place in the general work of government, in the multifarious tasks of adjusting the conflicting claims, prejudices and aspirations of men, not only among their own Iteople but as between the different races of mankind? One may indeed expect to find agreement among men of science regarding the laws of science, but there is no reason to expect any unanimity among them in the domain of civil legislation. The task of government is much too varied and complicated to be undertaken- by any one class of men, and the problems are too great to be solved merely by recognising and emphasising one of the factors in human nature.”—Professor Alexander Findlay, Professor of Chemistry at Aberdeen.

Jolin and Mary. “If John Jones becomes a partner In .some prominent firm, is elected to some important office or chosen by the President to serve on some outstanding commission, no one notices his elevation save the few who happen to be specially interested in the firm, the office, the commission or John Jones But let precisely the same thing happen to Mary Jones, and the floodgates of publicity swing open forthwith,” writes Louise Maunsell Field, tlie notelist, in the “North American Review.” “Mary is interviewed and paragraphed; sob-sisters traij her footsteps; her picture appears in newspapers and magazines; speeches are made about her, and articles written ; she is invited to talk over the radio, and to give her opinion on all the subjects about which she doesn’t know anything whatsoever. The reason is perfectly simple, John Jones ha* plenty of counterparts. He is one of many. Mary, if not unique, is at any rate one of a very small number.” Dead Gold.

Great Britain has not the export balance, which alone would permit her to continue payment without dissipating her investments abroad and so losing the means of feeding her population and supplying her industries with materials. Indeed, she may not be able to pay fdr the necessary imports in any case. France, as is frequently pointed out. has a lot of gold, and might, by sufficiently reducing her gold reserve, meet her payments to us with that. This would help, provided the possession of the gold enabled us as a nation to acquire the real goods and services which the gold nominally could buy. But our bank reserves are already bulging with gold which is of no use to us, because the credit which it would make possible is not being employed in producing goods and services. —The “New Republic” (New York). Tlie French Refusal to Pay.

French policy has always insisted that receipt of reparations must be a condition of the payment of war debts. The Lausanne agreement eliminated reparations; therefore, the pre-mora-torium payments of America must be postponed pending new arrangements. France has stuck by Lausanne and told the Americans that they must come into iine with the new conditions. This contrast between British and French action is not explained by any theory of differing ethical or moral standards. The House of Commons, no less than the Chamber, was guided by its conception of national interest and duty. Action differs because circumstances differ.”—“Sunday Times” (London). Democracy Must be Taught.

"However great are the advantages of democracy, it does not faclliate rapid action in an emergency. 'Teaching economies to the mhss of the people is. as a rule, a difficult and thankless undertaking, and that may be the reason why the -elected representatives have so far shown little disposition to teach the economics of the debt to the American electorate. But unless a democracy can find teachers who have the courage to preach things both hard and disagreeable, and unless the components of that democracy will open their eyes and ears and take a little trouble to understand what is taught to them, of a certainty their ill-fortune in the '•'■~ ! ce of their leaders or their own nnintelligence and obstinacy will some day be bitterly regretted. For where the leaders refuse to teach or tlie led to learn, experience sooner or later drives home a terrible lesson."—"Yorkshire Post.”