OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 34, 3 November 1934, Page 20

OVERSEAS OPINIONS

A Play’s First Night. “The day after a play’s first night is either a depressing consciousness of its failure or an almost fearful hope of something incredibly auspicious. A success means so much, when a hundred rivalries and as many difficulties face both the dramatist and the arena he exploits. In the old days the theatre appealed to a lower standard of educa-tion-and less variable tastes. At the present time it is almost impossible to appeal to one or the other. A success suddenly bursts on the horizon . . . fol-lowed-by a crowd who can give no betr ter reason than that they’ve heard it’s , ’good and have come to see for themselves; Whether they would have come without hearing is doubtful.” —“Rita, in her new novel, 'The Marriage Comedy.” Force. “The character of force is determined by the purpose for which it is employed,” he says. “Divorced frommorality and justice and applied blindly and indiscriminately without restraint by nations and individuals,' it becomes an instrument of tyranny and the scourge of human society. On the other hand, when force is the handmaid of justice, it becomes the executor of right and the custodian of peace.

As such, it imposes impartially the will of the whole community, as expressed in its laws, upon all its members. In every civilised country morality and reason, upon which the laws are founded, have transformed force into a' coercive agency to deter the aggressor • and to hold the criminal in awe. Like all other elements in human affairs, it is liable to abuse; but held in the leash of the law, curbed by public opinion and circumscribed by legislative enactments, it provides the security indispensable to the progress of mankind.” —Lord Davies. • America’s New Era.

“The inauguration of a new era largely awaits the appearance of enough new people with new social outlooks and attitudes. Codes alone cannot give us a better society. There must be consecrations, too. The Church also is on trial. How can it urge co-operation in economic life, and at the same time be unwilling to move forward in effective co-operation among denominations? Can .it call forth devotion to the public welfare and create social leadership of extraordinary courage, unless its ministers show equal devotion and courage in social interpretation and action? Can the Church foster social idealism and inspire resolute action to break the power of entrenched selfishness, if large sections of it deny or are indifferent to the social implications of the Gospel? A truly Christian concern for people calls for the careful scrutiny of reform measures. We want no slight healing of the hurt of our people, no crying, ‘Peace, peace, when there is no peace.’ ” —From a'manifesto issued by the Federal Council of Churches in U.S.A.

A Parallel for the Times. “The supremely difficult technique of physical production, we are often told, has been mastered; and only the ' simple problem of distribution remains,” says the “Economist. , ’ “Is it really a simple problem, however, so to organise and distribute all the land, labour, capital and raw materials of a nation or the whole world that the products of each and all together are available, in exactly the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantities to satisfy the infinite and ever-changing tastes and fancies of millions of persons who enjoy the inestimable benefit of free consumers’ choice? The building of a locomotive may be a far easier problem than the organisation of a timetable which will enable every line and every train to be fully used and every demand to be met. And the organisation of the whole world’s economic system is a myriad times more complicated than the organisation of a single timetable. Is there really any wonder that the price mechanism has not yet solved the problem to perfection? Is it not really more wonderful that it has ever come near to solving it at all?” A Free Press. “Education comes by reading and i the power of the printed word remains unchallenged and indisputable. It is for us to maintain this supremacy by the thoroughness and reliability of our work,” said Mr. H. J. Whittick, in his presidential address at the annual conference of the British Institute of Journalists. "The Press of the world must be entlreyr free.. Official versions handed •out to a muzzled Press become a dope, evil in • its effects, leaving the victims a pitiable spectacle, because those in whom'freedom of conscience has been Implanted are deft in a condition worse than that of the slave enchained. We are suspicious of any system which admits of the persecution of opinion, the suppression of free discussion of affairs, or the dissemination of current news. It is more than ever essential that news should be thoughtfully and clearly presented day by day, and that It should be helpfully interpreted. This calls for the highest type of journalism, for able pens, sound judgment, and conditions which will encourage all writers to give of their best.” Labour View on State Banking.

“A State banking system successfully financing and taking risks for competitive private enterprise without lucurrlng charges of discrimination and favour every time an overdraft is granted or refused would be difficult,” says the Right Hon. Thomas Johnston, who was Lord Privy Seal in the last Labour Government, in "The Financiers and the Nation.” “We should have hundreds of thousands of petty tradesmen and depositors mobilised against us. excited and enraged by canards about the wicked Socialists intent upon the stealing of their money; and the net result might be that we should fail to get the political backing necessary for a socialisation of bona fide and useful services. Again, even if a political majority were secured with this additional handicap against us, we should be faced at once with the difficulty of dealing with the branches of foreign and Dominion banks doing business here . . . They could continue to undertake the very sort Of business that the British-owned joint-stock banks had been doing; nevertheless, if we compulsorily acquired them we should certainly have serious international complications/

An Immediate Danger. “War between Russia and Japan is the one great immediate political danger in the world to-day. It can be averted. If it is averted through the power, directly or indirectly exercised, of the League of Nations, an ultimate consequence may be the return of both Germany and Japan to Geneva together. with a steady rise in the prestige of the League system and all it stands for.”—"News Chronicle” (London). Rationalisation for Churches. "Is there not reason and sense and the leading of the spirit in the desire to see' redundant Churches amalgamated, useless Churches discontinued, our ministry stationed to the best advantage, wasteful expenditure turned into wise channels? Our Churches cannot be saved by organisation, but our work can be more easily and better done, its results provide more encouragement, and its permanence niore truly guaranteed, when we bring to our. task a broad vision, a conviction of our collective responsibility, a far seeing policy, a courageous spirit of adjustment, and a comprehensive discernment that takes in the whole field with which we are concerned. Our Churches cannot be saved by organisation, but unless we say something more than that they will never be saved at all,”—The Rev. T. T. James. M.A., Chairman of the British Congregational Union,

British liberals’ New Slogan. “Four hundred Liberal martyrs,” states the “Scotsman,” “are to go to the constituencies to bear witness to the faith that is in them. They are no longer to carry a banner with the device, ‘Free Trade at Any Price,’ for experience has taught even Sir Herbert Samuel that that is not practical politics. The new slogan is to be ‘Low Tariffs Leading to Free Trade.’ Free Trade has become a counsel of perfection, and as such there is no objection to it. There is no reason to doubt that the present Government would welcome some general reduction of tariffs in the world, but this cannot be achieved by unilateral action, and if the Liberals were in power the country would probably find that their low tariff policy meant a low tariff in Britain only. The Liberal Light Bridage will go into battle. There may be successes, but there is !no hope of victory." General Eva Booth. “Countless thousands not directly associated with the Salvation Army will wish General Evangeline Booth well as sincerely and as earnestly as all the ‘troops’ who greet the announcement of her new rank with ‘Hallelujah.’ The work of the Salvation Army to-day is recognised as a splendidly beneficent social service as well as an agency ministering in its simple way to spiritual needs. It is an international force —William Booth made it that before ne, passed to his rest The new General has the reputation of being strongwilled and almost domineering in pursuit of the Army’s purpose; she would scarcely be her father’s daughter if she were otherwise. She has taken on a great responsibility, and she may be assured that the Army, and its supporters, will extend to her the fullest possible measure of warm and, let us hope, helpful sympathy.”—The “Birmingham Post.” The Forgotten Man.

"For two years he toiled from dawn to midnight, hardly ever missing the essential, often tripping but never falling, always keeping his feet, always keeping his head; and, with his face always to the foe,” writes Mr. Winston Churchill In h review of Mr. Lloyd George’s "War Memoirs” “He enjoyed the blessing of the American intervention; he bore the disaster of the Russian collapse. His personal exertions compelled the Admiralty to adopt the convoy system which broke the submarine campaign. He animated an Administration at home so earnest, so strenuous and so resourceful, that the war-worn troops in the trenches knew —and thanked God for it—that there was no slacking behind the front. Our descendants will inquire with curiosity why this doer-of-things and getter-of-things-done should, during the lasttwelve years, -when there were so many problems, have been denied all opportunity to serve the State.” The Odds of War’.

“A good cause counts in any struggle but it is by no means decisive in a particular conflict between right and wrong. Victory may not always go to the big battalions, neither does it invariably incline to the righteous, for it is a historical truism that a just cause often contends in vain against the superior might or efficiency of its opponents or the weakness or greater stupidity of its adherents. Those who entrust the destiny of their country to war therefore incur unforeseeable risks which may be fatal to them and the land they love. No other arbitrament is so costly in its procedure as well as so uncertain in its event. Let those who doubt this read carefully what happened in the Great War and see how reckless and unintelligent handling brought us almost to the rim of catastrophe, and how we were saved largely by the incredible folly of our foes. But you cannot always rely on your opponents making greater mistakes than your own.’.’ —Mr Lloyd George.

The Surest Defence. “There is no sure defence, even for Britain and the British Empire, save in the collective system. In short, collective defence is the only sure way to make British territory and British trade routes safe against attack. Our vital interest demands it. Collective defence would, moreover, enable national armaments to be reduced by international agreement, since it would give France and other countries the security without which they dare not further disarm. It would also give Germany equality of-’status in armaments without any large measure of rearmament. The promises made to Germany before she, signed the Treaty of Versailles can only be fulfilled by a policy of collective defence. Our national honour is pledged to it. Finally, collective defence —all for each and each for all—is the only Christian policy. Samaritans, foreigners, are our neighbours with whom we must seek before all else to build on earth God’s Commonwealth in which all nations are provinces.”— Dr. Maxwell Garnett, secretary of the League of Nations. Union, in the “Contemporary Review.”