THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 229, 24 June 1941, Page 6

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections

•‘Mr. Churchill will stand in history as one of our greatest leaders. He took the chair when the company was almost bankrupt.”—From “A Prophet at Home,” by Douglas Reed.

“We often hear that we are fighting for freedom. So we ’are, but we are fighting for a great many othei thingwhich are necessary elements in our way of living. Perhaps, it is relevant to mention another thing for which we are fighting. We are fighting lor some thing which represents another essential part of our way of life, and that is respect for obligations, written or unwritten. As we fight our way through all these difficulties iet.us no surrender any of those things that we are fighting for. One of these, and one of the greathest services we eiu render to the world, is to keep alive lhe Belief than men should keep the‘r word and do their utmost at whatever cost to meet their obligations ” Sir George Schuster. M.P.. in the CV-mmons

"Moscow’s attitude to Berlin will change only if. firstly, Germany turns eastward in Soviet territory or. sec ondly. Germany cracks internally In the event of a German attack Russia will defend herself desperately The Red Army’s eight to ten mechanized divisions, 15,000 to 20,000 planes, may surprise Hitler, particularly bevaus. the Soviet people would figb' barn against Fascist aggressors they hav< been taughi to abhor. In the case of a German collapse Stalin may well send his armoured legions to rhe Adri atic, perhaps to the Elbe, even to thRhine, because by so doing he probably would not be risking a war he would rather avoid. Till one of these 'wo things happens Russia’s altitude t‘> Germany will remain unchanged”--Mr John Scott, Moscow correspondent ot the “News Chronicle,” writing ear Her in the year.

“No one would suggest 'hat r he British American Comtnonwealu. should dictate to any country what its constitutional machine should be for managing its internal and iomestic affairs Such a claim would be the negation of democracy All It can do is to insist ’hat at the outset the choice should l>e on trusted to national parliaments ele<*i«i on a democratic basis The people- of America and Britain will say to Europe: 'Go ahead Organize vourselves under your own constitutions We will deal with you collectively n<n one by one. We want to help yon a" we can. so long as you quit figuring and settle your quarrels peacefully If yon play the game, we want to treai you othe good neighbour principle If you don’t, then you are for it.’ ’’ —Lord Davies, in his book, “Foundations of Victory.”

‘•The problem is now more than ever one of matching dollars by sterling For this purpose the sterling urea is a unit. Purchases made by New Zealand from the United States whiet- use up the available store of dollars outside the United States matter to m- alinos' as much as our own purchases from the United States. It is as uniwrtanto our war effort that the Dominions should limit consumption to essentials aS that they should maximize war pro duction It Is of little use to -ut down lhe use of material and labour •’or' particular commodities here if we em ploy that same material, labour, and capital to produce similar commodities for an export drive to a Dominion <-r colony If they are trying '<■ impose import restrictions to reduce <onslimp tiou we may be driving against them and defeating their object. Nor e ;l n we tell accurately which exports w>> should damp down’ without a close knowledge of the convenience of the importing country and its require rnents.” —The late Txtrd Stamp

“it is not the spirit of revolt, but a dull indifference that reigns in Italy today. In the front line this spirit is expressed by mass surrenders i> is simply not worth while fighting A. home it takes the form of apathy From neither attitude is revolution :> r ed Yel if further military collapse and more severe bombing were to break fins apathy, what then? There would stilt be no collapse Mussolini has already called in the Germans The I aliaii air force Is already under Germat. -ontrol Revolt would be crushed by an open Nazi occupation We must have no il- - about this We could not occupy a collapsing Italy as q l, ckly -is the Germans, specially since 'tie I biet and hie gang would be waiting io we! come the invading Hun. Afrei Italy’s intervention as before, her in, portanee lies in the extern t< which she helps or hinders us to defeat Ger many. Victory over the Nazis remainour primary task.”— Miss Barbara Ward. Who knows Italy well writing in the London "Star.”

“The New Order must Inspire ••m. tidenee in the minds of the peoples of Europe. By its sheer honesty of pur pose, its disinterestedness ana tinsel fishness, its disregard for financial and material gain, it must so impress Hu rations who are directly involved in II that it will call forth their wi ling cooperation and help In other words, they should Ire led. not driven. Despite all the failings and shortcomings of human munre. 1 do not believe inal this is impossible The history of 'he British and American peoples proves that on critical occasions they are capable of rising to great heights, and in the past they have been willing to make sacrifices for their ideals. Lastly, the .plan must be just. Justice is Hie only basis of any durable peace. Therefore, above everything else, let the peoples of Britain and America insist that every act performed on their behalf every proposal, every agreement every clause and every line, is rooted and founded in .justice Never le- tn- ho '■nine the judges of our own -ause ot 'he punishers of our own wrongs.”Lord Davies, in his- work ’Font dn'ions of Victory ’’

Hope. ' We live by hope And by desire; we see by the glad light. And breathe the sweet air of futurity; And so wo live, or else we have no Jife. —Wordsworth.