MODERN PAGAN MAXIMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 November 1939, Page 5

MODERN PAGAN MAXIMS

ISOLATION AND NEUTRALITY “Pagan maxims, so commonly taken for granted in connection with all life problems, do exceedingly trouble us and our world. Let us glance at some of them,’’ writes Dr. Frank M. Shel- l don in ‘Advance.’ “ ’lsolation’ is one of the pagan brood. It asserts our right to be at once, happy and prosperous, while our I brothers are in despair and all kinds; of earthly hells. It seeks privileges for, ourselves, which we are not equally j concerned shall come to all. Economi-1 cally, it is an illusion; politically, aj dream. !

“ ’Neutrality’ is another of our pag-1 anisms. It stems from a pagan world philosophy and the godless notion of. the absolute sovereignty of nations, and from the impossible isolationist dream. Neutrality is usually an official fiction, seldom an actual fact. Often it. is but a mask to cover our greed for profit, even in munitions. It I is increasingly impossible in our inter-| dependent world, and when the world 1 is full of aggressive dictatorships, probably a stunid policy. Neutrality! means that we do not care, since the wrong does not seem to affect us immediately. Neutrality develops such utterly vicious ideas of international relations that the refusal to co-oper-ate with a nation in its outrageous aggression, by withholding munitions | and war materials, is stupidly called I war. , I "Let ns stand openly lor rignt everywhere, accepting any consequences without, retaliation. Let us use force always and only under civil control and then only as police are used, to check and restore to just ways those who trespass upon the right, of others."