RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 3, 28 September 1939, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current

Events

(By Kickshaws.)

New Zealand soccer players, it is announced, are prepared to do their part. We only wish that Hitler had played the game. * * *

Germany and Russia, it is declared, are about ito liquidate Poland. It seems more like a fishing expedition in very muddy waters.

The woman leader of the Reich states that German women must adjust themselves to the demands of the new age. Something pretty supple in make-up is indicated. « » B

Kickshaws wishes to thank all those who have written giving details of the former John Street, near Molesworth Street There is not space to print all the letters which have been received. The following is typical:—“Some 70 years ago a John Street was situated between Fraser’s Lane and Wingfield Street. It was so named because a Mr. Johns, a builder, lived in that street.”

The recent revisions that are being made as regards the Neutrality Act are probably all that the Allies can expect from Uncle Sam, anyway this year and possibly until the presidential election toward the end of 1940. Unexpected occurrences, or tactical diplomatic errors, which form so gratifying a proportion of German methods, may cause drastic action beforehand. In the meantime, Uncle Sam has reached a curious stage in the growth of his civilization closely akin to that adolescent indetermination which besets a youth when he reaches manhood. There are so many conflicting possibilities, it becomes bewildering to make a decision. As in adolescent youth, so in nations, decisions have to be made, or the force of events will make them. These problems, in the case of the United States of America, are complicated by the fact that the United States are not united. They consist of every race In Europe, cemented by a foundation of British stock. Nothing has yet occurred to guide these variant outlooks into a common defensive channel.

Older folk can generally see the pitfalls into which the youngsters are moving, but it is almost impossible to expect that warning will have any effect until the first pitfalls are encountered. The fact that Uncle Sam has appreciated the pitfalls of his Neutrality Act has at least indicated that the area of pitfalls has been reached and appreciated. At the moment, the United States of America cannot be said to have any defined policy except to keep out of trouble. This policy of masterful inactivity is all the more tempting in a country which, until recently, has been isolated from the rest of the nations of the world. The citizens of the United States of America found themselves heirs to a vast country comparable iu size to Europe. It contained everything required for their immediate needs. They were self-supporting as regards food and clothes, fuel and steel. There were, indeed, only a few items not locally available essential for peace, and especially -war purposes, such as rubber and certain key alloys required in small amounts in the preparation of steel. Isolation was not, therefore, so much an artificial political imposition as a dyed-in-the-wool characteristic.

it is a fact that a community, as a community, is a low form of organism It is far lower than the intelligence of the individuals who compose it. For that reason individual intelligence in a community moves faster than the whole. A community has very little that can be called consciousness. The task that concerns the more thoughtful individuals in the United States of America is not to prevent isolationist policies being introduced into that country, but to change this deep-rooted policy of the community to meet new conditions. In the war of 1914-18 the American community was shocked into a policy which it did not quite understand as a community. Sv.bsequen|t events after peace was declared became more bewildering than ever. It is virtually impossible to make such a community, as a community, appreciate the dangers of the future until those dangers grow into large black clouds on the horizon. The best that can be said at the moment is that the horizon is broader thau ever before.

Possibly, the United States of America is suffering at the moment a form of national indigestion as a result of former administrators having asked the community to progress top fast. It has always been the policy, both of France and Britain, to commit Uncle Sam to realistic co-operation in matters which affected these three democracies. The people of the United States of America had gone so far as to assume the role of guardians of the Western Hemisphere. They were the upholders of democratic principles everywhere. The reaction was inevitable. A campaign to make the United States of America more than neutral in the event of war inevitably swung the pendulum the other way. Indeed, the recent decision which forbids American vessels to trade in war-time, virtually and temporarily abandons the traditional American recognition of the freedom of the seas. In 1936 the American role of guardian of the Western Hemisphere was largely jettisoned. The South American Latin countries found themselves without support and a prey to the dictators propaganda. China found herself without the enthusiastic support of the United States when the Japanese armies invaded her. The time is not far ahead when the pendulum is due to swing back. The wider horizons of American interests already arc Hocked with some very ominous clouds. ♦ ♦ *

The ominous clouds which have appeared on the American horizons have not. yet been seen and appreciated by the community of that country as a whole. President Roosevelt saw them first. The dictators in Europe entered upon policies of aggression some two years ago which forced an increasingly large section of the more thoughtful people in the American public to realize that, world anarchy was at hand. These few realized that, unless steps were takgn to prevent it, world anarchy would not stop short at Europe. We folk in New Zealand know how easy it is to lull ourselves into an apathetic outlook on dangers not yet immediately confronting us. President Roosevelt has a very patient policy to bring home to every person in America that events taking place in Europe can now directly affect the future safety of the United States of America. He found that the public opinion in America was that the nation should keep out of world trouble. Others could attend to them, leaving Uncle Sain an opportunity to enjoy nil the benefits bestowed by Providence. These policies are inherently dangerous. The American public inevitably will wake up with a scare. Meanwhile, the more thoughtful individuals who surround Roosevelt are making sure that, when the American public awakes from its feeling of false security, everytlyng will be prepared for immediate and effective action,,