The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1941. “WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY”

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 109, 1 February 1941, Page 10

The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1941. “WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY”

The picture presented of a frenzied Fuehrer, screaming, coughing, and spluttering over the vituperative outbursts that.point Me 5 latest speech, irresistibly recalls the ancient saying. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” Only fractions of the speecr have been reported, but on the testimony of authorities m London as cabled,' there was neither coherence nor new substance in what c had to say He now blames France for beginning the wai. Hitherto he has blamed Britain. Some day when the German have been restored to liberty of reading, thought and. speech he? find in the vast accumulation of evidence on the point., that it wasHtie himself who plunged his country and the world into the honois o aS 'T’l M°S“taged y that an individual who would ordinarily have been diagnosed bv medical examiners as an unbalanced neurotic should have had placed in his hands that most dangerous of instruments of destruction, power, absolute and supreme, over millions o people- In his manner 1 of using it he has proved how dangerous and deadly it can be. Whole nations are now in the toils of the diabolical system of tyranny he has evolved from his fevered impulses As we value our freedom, our protective machinery of justice, our n„ht to govern ourselves, our homes and our happiness, we must play our part to the uttermost limit in helping to destroy this evil system. Deep down in our hearts we feel that the forces of right must in the end prevail. But faith is not enough. “Faith and works is tne Divine injunction. It has not yet been borne m upon the .c° nsc ’ ness of all of us that no salvation worth while can be obtained will out effort and sacrifice, and as often in history, and now, without blood a,ld Olathe other side of the world Mr. Wendell Willkie, in. his non-official tour of observation in Britain as a witness for the American people, has found material in the spirit of valour and resistance of British citizens to stir his admiration. He has visited and spoken wit people of all classes. He has seen the business, of the country being carried on with quiet concentration on the things that have to be done in calm defiance of the menace overhead. He has come away from the British Trade Union Congress impressed beyond words by the spirit of unity and determination that has animated the workers, and called forth from them the utmost efforts to maintain the nation s war production at the maximum. Here in this country we have pub ic speakers deploring the apparent lack of . that whole-hearted aidoui that should be conspicuously in evidence in a nation at war. Only this week the Hon. W. Perry was urging people to rouse themselves from their lassitude, and the Bishop of Wellington,.me Rt Rev H St. Barbe Holland, in a not very favourable comparison of'Britain’s war spirit with ours, regretting the view held by some people that normal peace conditions, peace, standards of living and “the domination of one class or section over the rest ot the community,” could be maintained in wartime.. It. is this complex that has largely hindered the full flowering of the fighting spirit within the country, and failed to eradicate the weeds of sectionalism and political party jealousies from our war effort. Many are doing splendid work, but many, too many, are hanging back. The best answer to the challenge of the insensate destroyer of liberties, this powerintoxicated madman now running amok in Europe, is the devoted and strenuous service of united free peoples in the cause of his oveithrow.