VIEWS OF LEADERS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 14, 17 January 1921, Page 2

VIEWS OF LEADERS

POINTS PROM SPEECHES

EXPORTS TO AMERICA

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 26th November. Lord Riddell, at the American Golfing Society in London : , "One of the best m-eans of keeping peace between two nations is an interchange of imports and exports. Britain has always done well towards America. First of all, we exported the Pilgrim Fathers—(laughter)—and when the Pilgrim Fathers became rather exhausted by undue attention to business, we exported golf to America. I do not know that it was from disinterested motives. (Laughter.) . There is an idea that if we initiate American business people into golf they will cease to be such keen competitors with us. Nothuig 'hns done more to strengthen the life of the American business man than the introduction of golf, but, unfortunately, golf has not had the effect the British people anticipated, bepuse the American appears to be as active as ever it? making money. When I was at the Peace Conference in Paris I derived more credit from the fact that I was a golfer" than from my position as the representative of the British press. (Laughter and cheers.) So far as British and American golf is concerned, I tome-times think wo have too many foursomes in this ■country, and not enough of the oldfashioned singles. I also think that if we want to make the best of golf, both in America and in this country, the young players must have opportunities of playing in important matches away from home, under conditions with which, they are v unacquainted.'' BISHOP'S SEVERE CRITICISM. The Bishop of Soutlr.vark, in condemnation of the sale of a-dvowsons in the open market: . ' "Such practice the Church should not tolerate. The other day a large parish was advertised for sale. It has. a population of 25,000, ami it has been underworked and understaffed for years, and it has been described to be in a condition o£ spiritual destitution. I have therefore written to the patron, and I have informed him that I regard this sale as a scandal to the Church of God. I have also told him I should refuse to institute if the purchaser presents himself or any of his relations, and I should refuse to institute if I am not satisfied that the person presonted is equal to the exceptional, spiritual, and intellectual demands made by this large and difficult parish. lam confident the dioceso will support me." A LEADER ON STRIKE FOLLY. Mr. J. H. Thomas, at Newport: "I have received from Newport a resolution calling upon mo to resign. There are people whose measure of statesmanship is limited to the strike. They have got strike on the brain to such an extent that they cannot see that by those means'they are losing'the force of the strike. lam satisfied that unless therb is some change there will'be very little to strike for. There are 600,000 men and women out of work. (A voice: 'Shame!') Yes, it is a shame, and it will be a sham© if we do not intelligently try to find a remedy; but that remedy won't be found by shonting and passing resolutions. (Cheers.) The remedy will bo found in. facing the hard "facts of the 'situation.'. There are some who believe that a bloody upheaval is necessary because the present social system ought to be wiped out of existence." .". BIG SHIP v.' TORPEDO. Adrr.i'al Sir Pccy Scott, at the- Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers' dinner : ( "One school in the Navy thinks that battleships are a good tiling, and another thinks they are not. Earl} in 1914, be-, fora the wm*, I emphasised that the submarine had dominated the- battleship, but the Admiralty regarded the submarine as a toy, and the press generally condemned me, suggesting that I was suffering from midsummer madness. After we had been at wax a short time, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and the public found that the submarine and the torpedo were not toys, aiid, as a result, it is now being discussed whether wo should have battleships or not. The Japanese are building battleships of 25,000 tons, and. the Americans are doing likewise. The head of the constructors' department at the Admiralty, who is an advocate of the big battleships, tells me that he is building a battleship which cannot bc> sunk by a torpedo. Well, I am afraid I had to be rather rude to him, because there is no limit to the size of a torpedo. You can put into the head of a. torpedo a. charge of half'a ton of T.N.W. A 5001 b charge of T.N.T. is quite big enough to blow a hole as big as this room in a battleship. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are veiry anxious to pursue their old policy of building' so many ships of one typa and so many ships of another type ev-ery year, whether they aJ'o useful or not, and they are very anxious to build battleships now. I told them the other day that I did not think the country would be quite so agreeable to spending £7,000,000 on a battleship that could be sunk by one torpedo, just at present, they are in a very undecided^ state of mind. There is a divided 1 opinion. Some | say fast cruisers, submarines, and torpedoes, and some want battleships. I am quite sure that they will never get the batfksliips in again." NO PANACEA FOR LABOUR TROUBLES. Mr. S. Machin (President of the London Chamber of Commerce), on labour troubles: — " Among the causes of labour unrest is ths general desire—the reasonable desire —of the worker^ 1 to improve their position and secure a larger share in the good things of life. The causes of unrest am hot all on one side. In the< past there have been cases in which sufficient wages were not earned to enable workers to enjoy a reasonable proportion of the pleasures of life. While the exeessivo wages existing in so many industries cannot be permanent, no respcrtisihle employer can wish to return to pre-war conditions. On the other hand, leaders of industry are entitled to a fair return on their invested savings for the risk and anxiety which enterprise invariably brings. Capital consists of brains, industry, character, and selfdenial. Sucb capital is open to all, and the man who possesses those qualities is certain to succeed. Deprive industry of its capitalists and leaders and the whole fabric of trade will collapse like a house buijfc on sand. Disputes, when unavoidable, should 1 be dealt with in a common-sense way, and Government interference should be a last resort. As to Government control of trade, the State should get out of business as soon as possible. (Applause.) .State ownership will not do,away with labour troubles. No system can succeed until the campaign of suspicion so assiduously cultivated by the extremists is counteracted' and exposed. The working classes are at heart sound and honest. ! It is for the employer to show, while labour is necessary to capital, capital is the liteblood of labour." IS NATIONALITY DOOMED? Dean Inge, at King's College, on "Hie Modnrn Apotheosis of Slata and Nation" : — "The god State lias gone wit-b the Kaiior into banishment The question is

! Miether we are to have States at all in the future. The new revolutionary movements are all frankly anti-demo-cratic. Ballot-box democracy has seen • its best days. The question before the world is whether the principle of nationality, lias been so discredited that it is going to be abandoned and a universal civil war of tho classes put in its place. The great issue before the world to-day is not between monarchy and democracy, but between nationalism, and internationalism. While we, following humbly ~in tile wake of America, have been airing our flyblown phylacteries and chatting about making the world safe for democracy, the world has been girding itseli for a -.much grimmer choice.. The League of Nations is based on the I principles of nationality. The nations were to be units, -entering into the League as units, and supporting it as units. For this reason, if the League of Nations ever fcomes. into effective existence, Ihe revolution will do all in its power to undermine it. Wo English, as usual, are so slow to understand what is going on abroid that we do not realise this, and nmddle-headed persons may be (ound supporting the League of Nations and expressing sympathy with . Bolshevism, ft is impossible to define a nation except*a;? a body of men who believe theiiselves to be one. It has nothing to do with language, for the Scotch speak two languages, the Belgians and Swiss three each, and the Americans .at least a dozen. There is nothing especially sacred about the State, which, so far as it ia-identified with the Government, may bo the least respectable of all the social organisms to which we belong. To worship the Sta.te is to worship a. demon who has not even the redeeming quality o! being intelligent." THE STATE AND MORALS. Dean Inge, in the same address: "How far should Catholics or_ Anglicans recognise the marriage- of divorced persons? The State is no creator of moral principle. If we are convinced that the marriage of divorced persons is undesirable, v.'c cannot absolve from guilt those .who break the Divine decree. The infliction of social penalties and the expulsion from their own religious societies of those who take advantage of the laxity of the law is clearly justified. Suppose that the State has exceeded its rights by prohibiting some 'harmless act, such as the consumption of alcohol. Is smuggling in such a case morally justifiable? I should say Yes! The interference of the State in such matters is a mere impertinence." j EXTREME DEMANDS. Lord Askwith, at a National Political League meeting : "During the war Labour to some extent suspended its work, and is now coming forward, without control, with the most extreme demands. This movement requires watching and guarding against. The Syndicalist doctrine is one of violence, " class hatred, and destruction, ■with no thought or^skill for reconstruction. The Syndicalist says that the State and ths country are of no importance : that one class alone is to be considered and that the one object of the worker is his stomach. We are not accustomed lo tyranny of that kind and do not propose to have Lenins and Trotskys here. (Cheers.) Wo cannot afford to sit down and watch the insidious movement that is going on, but must educate the ignorant in common-sense, tho traditions, of tho country, and the importance of unity. I believe that (he league will work with care and watchfulness to prove that the ideas which are preached nt every street corner are not those that have brought the country to its greatness."