THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 84, 3 January 1941, Page 6

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections “Learning without thought is labour lost; and thought without learning is perilous.”—Confucius.

“Trust the dictators to run away with themselves. The Duce, who wanted to play himself up to the role of the Protector of Islam, started off by killing at Haifa Arab women and children in a mosque. The Arabs were infuriated. The result is that they are praying for a British victory, while their leaders are calling for a Holy War. Somehow, somewhere, the dictators will make the mistake which will help Great Britain.”—“Boston Traveller.”

“From our crow’s-nest, the war falls into its true perspective. This is not just a local conflict between an island and a continent. It is a world war —and one in which we can wield the greater power. Hitler has seized the resources of Europe. On our side, willingly given into our hands by a free people, we have resources that tower high above all he has. He is fighting the world, as the Kaiser did; and the end of the fight is as inevitable.”—“Evening News,” London. ,

“The stork, to whom German children for centuries have called ‘Bring uns noch ein Kind heim,' may lose favour with the Nazi generation. The long-legged, long-biUed bird, which is never disturbed as it nests among the German chimney pots, may find itself chased off the roost if it continues to be an agency for spreading antitotalitarian propaganda. Seven thousand miles away, in South Africa, where the birds spend the winter, Boer farmers have taken from the storks’ legs messages written by their bloodcousins in the Netherlands, who thus avert Nazi censorship. These tell of intolerable conditions in the homeland of the Dutch, of starvation, persecution, injustice.”—“Christian Science Monitor.”

“At all costs we must avoid the risk of strengthening our hand in Asia to the point that means weakening it in Europe. The real battle of our times will not be fought in China, IndoChina, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, or even at Singapore. It will be fought—it is now being fought—in Europe, between free Britain and the slavery of Hitler. If Britain wins that fight, the situation in the Far East will take care of itself in time. If Britain loses that fight, there is little that can be saved from the general wreckage that will follow. The chief criterion which ought to be applied to every proposal for American action in the Far East is whether it will strengthen or weaken our ability to aid Britain. The real front is on the English Channel.” —“New" York Times.”

“One loss that can never be made good is the shattering by enemy bombers of the stained glass windows in many British guildhalls and churches. As far back as the twelfth century Canterbury was a renowned centre of glass-painting. Much of the work was done by monks, who used and handed on the secrets which they themselves had learned in the manufactories of Chartres and Limoges. The colours were produced by fusing certain metallic oxides into the surface of the glass at a moderate heat. Each fragment was worked separately and later pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. The eraft is still carried on in the traditional way by masters of such skill. A good deal of the modern work is very beautiful, but we have never yet recaptured the secret of the exquisite colouring of the master glassstainers.” —“Evening News,” London.

“Among the many ingredients e£ the Nazi plan for a new European order one has scarcely received the attention it deserves. Even before the war there was a seasonal influx of Polish agricultural labour into the eastern parts of Germany. During the past 12 months the use in Germany of Polish labour —-whether in the form of socalled ‘prisoners of war,’ or of gangs of workmen recruited since the conquest of Poland by methods which can be left to the imagination—lias been widely extended. The same advantage has been taken of Germany’s more recent territorial aggrandizements. Reports have appeared at various times during the past summer of the recruiting of Czech, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and Belgian workers to make up deficiencies of industrial or agricultural manpower in Germany. Almost all of this is forced, unwilling labour, even where the force used is confined to economic compulsion. These foreign helots in German factories and on German farms have been driven from their homes by the spectre of unemployment and starvation.”—“The Times,” London.

“Unable to export her high-class specialities, such as machine tools, ou the requisite sale, because she needs them herself, Germany has systematically imported on credit from surrounding countries wherever she could till her credit limits were reached. Wherever she could she paid iu toys, musical instruments, glassware, china, earthenware, spectacles, dyes, drugs, and printing—all commodities made of materials obtainable in the Reieh. And she has sold books, patent and dramatic rights, music, films, newspapers and advertising—any kind of commodity or service that involved no import of raw materials. So far as she has been able to spare it she has exported coal, of which there is abundance in the Reich. And she has not hesitated in Balkan countries to insist on the revalorization of old lotins and securities held in Germany and rendered worthless after the World War by the depreciation of the Austrian crown. But as the war spreads, real difficulties will arise, particularly through the exhaustion of stock of such iudispensable raw materials as mineral, oils, lubricants, metals ami rubber.”—A Contributor to “The Times,” London. * * * They Also Servo. God doth not need Either man’s work, or His own gifts; who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed, And' post o’er land and ocean without rest; Thev also serve who only stand and wait. —John Milton. ,