THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 303, 19 September 1941, Page 6

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments —Reflections

“Recreate in us the soul of service, the spirit of peace; renew in us the sense of joy.”—From “Brayer,” by It. L. Stevenson. v '

“The United States War Department is inviting American, girls with blonde hair and a sense of patriotism to step forward in the interests of national defence. The army is eager to pay promptly and well —but will not quote prices—for blonde, female hair which must Ibe of soft texture and the highest quality. It is a strategic material used in meteorological work, and must be at least 12in, long. Blonde hair, scientists discovered, expanded and contracted according to various conditions of heat and cold better than any substitute which researchers have been able to devise. The army, navy and weather bureau use the silky strands in planes which are sent aloft early in the morning. Till two months ago the hair used in the delicate recording instruments was imported from Europe. It seemed that much particularly good blonde hair came from the Balkans.” —Washington correspondent of the United Press.

“It is commonly supposed that one of Hitler’s motives in attacking Russia was the hope that, if he appeared to be conducting a crusade against Bolshevism, he could play upon the hatred of Communism in such a way as to divide and confuse public sentiment in the democracies and weaken their opposition to Germany. If that were indeed among his purposes, all evidence to date indicates that he has not been successful in the United .States, Au American Institute survey just completed finds, for example, that 72 per cent, want Russia to win, while only 4 per cent, want Germany to win, and that sympathy for Russia is virtually uniform, throughout all income groups. The upper-income voters, for instance, who presuiqably regard Communism as a threat to their position in the capitalist system, are just about as anxious to have Russia win as the lower-income groups. Nor is there any noteworthy split by religious groups. Catholics and Protestants are almost equally in favour of a Russian victory.”—Dr. George Gallup, director of the institute.

“We cannot understand the history of our time if we think of today's agony as just another stage in ‘the same old war.’ A world revolution is taking place. Nobody can-stay out of a world revolution. The revolution can be resisted.or accepted; it cannot be ignored. War today is a sign that the more dangerous revolutionary weapons have failed to do their full work. These weapons include threats and bribes and 'blackmail, as in the Low Countries and the Balkans; they include economic pressure and treason, as in South America; they include soft promises of friendship for whatever nations the revolution is not yet prepared to murder; above all, they include an appeal to the dissatisfactions, the confusions and the guilt which infest our world because we have too long been untrue to ourselves. The revolution against civilization could not have started but for the sins of civilization.” —From an “Atlantic Monthly” article by Mr. Herbert Agar.

“I do not believe in the superiority of the German race, although I do believe that the Germna nation as a whole possesses certain technical and organizational abilities superior, let us say, to those of France. But that is not enough for Germany’s hideously arrogant claim. I do not believe that the law of the survival of the fittest is the law of organized society, but will if it triumphs mean the extinction of organized society. I believe that the Christian law of love, and the Christian ethic that he who loveth his life shall lose it, and the Christian First Commandment, to love the Lord thy God and thy neighbour as thyself, and the Christian thesis that we are all members one of another, are vastly more efficient social principles than the law of the juugle, that Might makes Right. And I believe that these principles are the basis of democracy. This is my Faith, and for this Faith I gladly live and gladly die, in resistance to that other Faith, which for me robs life of any sense it may have. And as a thinking social individual I strive to communicate this faith to others.”— Miss Dorothy Thompson in the June “Fortnightly.”

“Authoritative sources in Washington do not believe Japan dares provoke war in the Far East, or that, if Japan does dare war, she can possibly win. Toward Russia these facts are given to show the Japanese hazards: The Japanese Army is composed of 57 divisions, and cannot expand to more than 66 divisions, lacking either the economic or the industrial equipment building facilities to exceed that number. Her total manpower cannot go beyond 1,800,000 for army, navy and air force fighting. Japan's dispersion of her forces is extremely thin. She has 37 divisions actively committed in China. One division is on Sakhalin Island to the north, four are ou the home islands, one is at Canton and ou Hainan Island, one is on Formosa and four divisions in Manchukuo. The Russians in the Far East have 26 divisions, 10 cavalry and tfour tank divisions. These Russian troops have beaten the Japanese man for man in previous border clashes. To attack in tls-e north Japan needs no fewer than 25 divisions, and she cannot get more than six above her present nine in that area without weakening her China, home or Indo-China forces to such an exteut as to be vulnerable to counter-attack.” —Mr. Kent Hunter, in the New York “Jounial-American.” « * * Harebell. Harebell! Harebell! If I shall send The wind to swing Your delicate stem — When the war end Will you ring? Will you ring? Listen! Listen! My bells all peal Even now. I know No joy 'but the sun And the wind that I feel As it blows to and fro. —.l. Buxton (London “Observer”). Germany, July, 1940. Oflag VII. C/H.