‘THEY CAME TO A CITY.'

Evening Star, Issue 25567, 21 August 1945, Page 6

‘THEY CAME TO A CITY.'

- TO .THE EDITOR. _ Sir,—Last week the [Repertory Society presented the above play, very capably produced arid admirably acted. The theme is topical; people to-day are seeking and hoping for something better than.; the uncertain present. We have all dreamed of “ the new City of Friends.” Priestley shows us such ,a city,'ringed round by a wall in which there is a door; a city whose citizens are truly civilised—a city in which hate, want, and fear are not know’ll. We to-day cannot profess to be civilised. We have just emerged from a devastating war, yet most tragically we seem to nave learned nothing from it. The “ statesmen ”, of all nations seem satisfied to go on in, the old way; the same economy, the same wishful thinking, and the same belief in the efficacy of international collaboration. The San Francisco Conference produced much talk, but the allimportant problem, that of rooting out the causes of war, was side-stepped. Is not the idea .of an international police force an example of the limited outlook and reasoning of those who would place an ambulance at the foot of a cliff instead of a fence at the top? Why make plans for a military forye to subdue or obliterate an aggressor when it .would be simpler, safer, and saner to unearth, acknowledge, and extirpate the causes of war? Therewould then be no aggressor and so no need for an international police force. This city of Whitmans and Priestleys is within reach of us now—we have only to open the door and walk through. So long, as we are sliaclded by a defective and archaic financial system, so long must we wait on the outskirts of the. city. So long as the demand for full employment is harkened to, just so long must we sabotage our machines and pigeon-hole the discoveries and inventions of our talented men. So- long as we believe that booms, slumps, poverty amidst plenty, and wars are inevitable, just so long xvill we have to endure them. Priestley, through the lips of his bank clerk, condemns the existing financial system, condemns the private money monopoly, and endeavours to awaken and enlighten (within the limited scope of a play) the mass of the people who are the unwilling dupes and pawns of the intriguing and power-lusting few. The kev to the door of the city is not Socialism, it is not the ownership of banks, it is the technique of Social Credit. Enlightened people read Whitman’s words: “ I dreamed in a dream I saw a citv invincible to the whole of the rest “of the earth; I dreamed that it was the new City of Friends,” and know his dream is realisable today.—l am, etc., Student.

August 20,