OVERSEAS OPINIONS .

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 169, 13 April 1935, Page 20

OVERSEAS OPINIONS .

Exploiters of Vulgarity. “I imagine most people are in favour of some sort of censorship,” writes Mr. Robert Lynd in the “News-Chron-icle.” “The exploiters of vulgarity have invaded the world of the cinema in large numbers, and in blue-pencilling an ordinary film the censor is in little danger of tampering with a work of art. In all the arts, however—even in the art of the cinema— public opinion ultimatelv performs its own censorship. First comes the revolt against repression; then, when the end of repression lets loose on the world not only some admirable artists but some far from admirable exploiters, comes the revolt against the excess of the new freedom. The censor is useful, indeed, only as the representative of the public opinion of his time and, even ag such, it is well that he should confine himself to the job of putting a check on people who exploit the baser forms of vulgarity for commercial ends.” Man and the Ape.

“The problem which the evolutionist has to face is to explain how it comes to pass that, if men and the anthropoid apes have a common ancestor, all the astonishing powers and faculties should be present in ever-advancing degree in man and totally absent in the collateral animal, the ape. We have not merely to account for the bodily form; we have to explain the appearance of these immensely progressive psvchieal and spiritual powers as well. Modern anthropology furnishes no sufficient answer to this question. We can quite appropriately assert that tiie origin of man is to be looked for in the creative power of a self-conscious Creator, and Supreme Intelligence and Will. We cannot, however, assume that a mere abstract term such as evolution, which merely connotes gradual change, is a vera causa in a scientific sense. Accordingly, it is no explanation at all to assert that man has been evolved from an animal form.” —Sir Ambrose Fleming The Englishman's Home.

“It will be realised that to forbid overcrowding is a! very drastic rewriting of the saying that an Englishman’s home is his castle,” comments “The Times." “It means that a man living in his own house, if it is already full according to the standards laid down by the Bill, cannot increase the numbers of his household. If he wishes that, say, some, relations should take up residence with himself or his family, he will have to move to a larger house. It will mean that landlords who are now drawing rents from two or three families occupying the same house will be able to draw rents only from one or from two. These changes are inseparable from a reform which the public conscience declares to be long overdue. They may detract from the popularity, but not from the wisdom of the Bill. It cannot seriously be contended that overcrowding is not an evil or that the definition of overcrowding is too progressive.”

This “Inevitability” of War. “War is a world-wide, very ancient, very persistent scourge; so ancient, so persistent, that its roots are likely to be very deep. For man to shake off that scourge will be difficult in any case. But it will be quite impossible if he does not know even whether he wants to shake it off or not, is in two minds about it, at one moment declaring it to be the greatest of all crimes, and the next that we cannot de without it. aflil that it is time we had a dose. And it will be equally impossible if he has decided that ‘war is inevitable? What precisely does the common militarist assertion that ‘War is inevitable’ mean? Does it mean that any war proposed at any time by any interested party—silly and irresponsible newspapers. demagogic politicians, armament' firms—is inevitable? Of course

not. Then which war is inevitable and which avoidable? Not a few historians and statesmen have declared that the existence of a League of Nations in 1914 would have prevented the Great War. If we cannot be sure of that, neither can we be sure of the contrary.”—Sir Norman Angell.

Mr. Lloyd George and the Banks.

“Mr. Lloyd George strongly disavows the idea of nationalising the bank — which is the darling scheme of the Socialists. All he demands, if with unnecessary vehemence and brandishing of the tomahawk, is that there should be a change in the method of choosing the directors, so that they may be m closer touch with British industrial interests than with the city financial houses whose principal interest is the provision of capital to foreign countries. That point is one of real substance; nor was it overlooked in the Macmillan Report. But it is a subject for sober argument, and hardly fitted to the public platform. We also unreservedly welcome Mr. Lloyd George’s disclaimer of any desire to nationalise the joint stock banks. Instead, be paid them a very high compliment. A first impression of Mr. Lloyd George’s plan, therefore, is that it cuts across the Socialist schemes quite as much as across those of the National Government. That will make his campaign the more lively; but will not help him to a compact following.”—The “Daily Telegraph” (London).

Public Opinion and Public Works. “The great increase in our public expenditure during recent years has been due largely to a change in public opinion regarding the functions of the State, which was already becoming noticeable before 1914, and which the war and its aftermath have done so much to intensify,” writes Lieut.Colonel Cuthbert Headlam, D. 5.0., M.P., in the “Quarterly Review.” “It is futile to declaim against interference by the Government in matters affecting the welfare of the community when there is a general consensus of opinion in favour of such interference. And although expediture on social services is admittedly a heavy burden on industry) its beneficial effects in improving the health and increasing the spending power of the people must not be lost sight of. Just as the demand for Government interference to-day in the actual organisation of industry is the result of new conditions and of the prevailing industrial congestion and confusion, so the direct intervention of the State in the social life of the people is the result of the inattention to their needs and of the neglect of their interests .which marked the Victorian era.”

The New Peace Spirit. “There can be no doubt that, in the interests of peace, Germany has shown an exceedingly conciliatory spirit in concluding the Saar agreement in Rome. The reason is that the Reich is firmly decided to do everything possible to avoid difficulties that might disturb the course of the plebiscite and the return of the Saar to Germany. But Germany has gone further and has shown clear signs of her readiness to come to an understanding with France, it is now for the other side to. show proper appreciation of this readiness, and to draw the only possible conclusions from it.”—“Kolnische Zeitung” (Cologne).

After Fifty Tears. “What remains eternally the same is human nature and the human heart. That stupendous basic truth has been recognised by all the immortals, and because they presented life whole, and not in segregated chapters, they achieved their immortality. Love, work, courage, endurance, endeavour. and achievement —those are the keys to the great human drama, the essence of its loveliest and most satisfying dream. Those who seek to ignore or belittle them find, after a time, that they are worshipping false gods, which have no power to satisfy the needs of soul or heart.”—Annie S. Swan, at a meeting to celebrate her literary jubilee.

Good Films and Bad. “The institute is concerned to promote a constructive and not restrictive influence in the cinema. It believes that censorship at its best is a negative force. It believes that the real problem is constituted by the steady stream of third-rate films passed for universal exhibition which present inadequate if not false standards of value applied to unreal people. It is, therefore, concerned to promote constructive national efforts directed toward the production of good films and the creation of public support for these films. The realisation of what is good in films is a necessary preliminary to the improvement of what is bad.” —The British Film Institute. The Church and Social Prestige. “Some deplore that church-going is not so popular as it used to be,” said the Rev. Howard Partington in an Address, reported in the “Liverpool Post.” “It is certainly not the conventional thing it used to be. Parents no longer bring, by force, their boys and girls to the house ef God. Personally I am glad that the chain of social convention around church-going has been snapped. We used to hear a lot about what hypocrites many church-goers were. There is now no gain or social prestige in being seen at church. The reason people go to church is the real reason; nothing takes a man there save his hunger for the unseen, his longing for a lift on the road of life. They come hungry for the bread of life, not the biscuit of novelty and entertainment. There is more honesty in worship, more reality in prayer, more straightness in speaking, more desire for better living, every day.”

1935 Will Decide. "General Smuts has told us that he cannot visualise the League as a military machine,” said Mr. Anthony Eden, M.P., Lord Privy Seal. “I agree with him, and I believe that it; would be a mistake to attempt to create such a machine. The day of some such organisation as an international air force to police the world may come. I believe it will —but not yet. It cannot come in an armed w’orld. Only when the world is disarmed can such a force prove effective, and we are far from that stage as yet. Nations will not disarm while they are afraid. Fear is a potent breeder of armaments. Unless confidence is restored armaments will not be reduced, and confidence can only be restored if our nation will play its part to bring this about. To do so successfully requires patience and imagination. Nineteen thirty-five may well decide. Its passage will show whether in truth we can make tbe League the collective system effective, or whether nations are determined to pursue selfish courses, ignoring their inevitable consequence upon the apprehensions of others.” The Dependent Aged.

“The demand in this country for social provision for the dependent aged has at last reached the stage of agitation and public ferment witnessed in Great Britain more than twenty-six years ago. But there is a distinction. The masses in Great Britain, aware of their strength, followed a leadership that was both socially minded and realistic. In the United States utter desperation has driven the masses of the aged to grasp at phantom utopias dangled by a leadership composed largely of racketeers and demagogues, who, in exploiting tbe misery of these aged, are piling up fortunes for themselves. While Ilerbert Asquith. British Prime Minister at the time, had a clear conception of the practical issues involved, and while no one had his ears attuned to the popular will and understood better what was politically wise than Lloyd George, his Chancellor of the Exchequer, the leadership of even our well intentioued politicians and statesmen has been characterised by confusion as well as by an inability to appreciate the greatly increased demand for immediate social protection in old age.”—Abraham Epstein in the “New Republic” (New York) Religion in Business.

“Sir John Reith, of wireless fame, speaking to young men of what success in life truly is, made a fine illustration of the ether, whose waves are so wonderfully used in broadcasting. ‘lf we are to preserve our mental equilibrium.’ he said, ‘we must be brought sooner or later to the contemplation of Him who. like the ether, upholds all things by the word of His power: of Whom, as of the ether, al! things consist and in Whom, as in the ether, we live and move and have our being; of Him who somehow, somewhere, exercise- that vast range of control which extends from the sweep of the stars, through the infinitudes of space, down to the feeblest flutter of an insect’s wing: of Whom the,human soul is an efflux, and to Whom the human intelligence is responsible.’ ’To feel like that is to get into an atmosphere in which ( lie vulgarity of mere success cannot live It is to baptise the soul witli that humility which is the richest bloom of character; it is to open it to these humanities and charities which are the true viory of life. Perhaps the highest way in which religion can influence business is by means of making it a means of serving and helping our fellow-men.” —Rev. Dr. W. Mackintosh Mackay, in his book "Problems in Living.”