TOPICS OF THE TIMES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4605, 4 October 1934, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Churches and War. "Cannot we sink our tiny differences, because they are small differences compared wth the greatness of peril that besets us?" said the Bishop of Guildford in a recent discourse. "Cannot the Church in all parts of the world, our brethren of the Nonconformist Churches, of the Greek Church, and the Roman Catholic Church come together and manifest the fact that they are the sons and daughters of God? Do you think that after two years, or even twelve months, if a great union of Christian people said 'That is the line we are going to take,' that things would not be much better than they are now? What is the good of being Christians in name when in deed and in truth our outlook on life recognises no power of God at work, and no relations betw'een us and Him? You can no more settle the terrible problems which divide nation from nation by the cleverness of statesmen than you can stamp out a great disease by neglect of science and hoping that if you sit still long enough it will disappear."

"Something Has Snapped." "Something has snapped in Germany," writes Dr. G. P. Gooch in the "Contemporary Review." " Since the massacre of June 30,' writes an experienced German friend to me, 'I consider Hitler to be finished. He is doomed. He possessed a source of strength which seemed to him indispensable—the people's belief in him. It has gone.' No one can forecast the events of the coming months. What should our attitude be to the Nazi dictatorship as revealed by recent events The answer has already been given by the British Press. With such men of blood we can have no dealings, public or private, save 'correct governmental relations.' Any attempt to intervene in the affairs of Germany, such as an economic boycott or a preventive war, would be not only indefensible in itself but would bring back Hitler's popularity in a flood. If the Terror is to be overthrown it must be cast off by the disillusioned people which, in a mood of mingled exaltation and despair, allowed it to be imposed."

Britain's Depresion "An Incident."

"It is a virtue of a Parliament such as ours/ says the "Aberdeen Press," "that it contains in both Houses men with specialised knowledge of many topics intimately connected with the life of the nation, who can, in the course of debate, contribute useful material and suggestions to the common stock and thus make legislation and administration more practical and effective. There can be no doubt that this quality in Parliament has a good deal to do with the steadiness of British political evolution and with the amazing resilience that characterises Britain in an emergency. The last year or two is a case in point. In most countries the economic collapse and financial crisis of 1931 would have eventuated in a long period of tribulation, perhaps in revolution. In Britain, it may be said, the incident is now closed, and only three years have elapsed."

N.R.A. or Parliament? "That manufacturers and merchants and workmen should be brought, as such, into closer and more direct contact with Governments is no doubt desirable. That is one of the chief purposes of the National Recovery Administration established by President Roosevelt. Some of us in Great Britain are advocating with a similar object the creation of a Ministry of Industry, including" an advisory council fully representative of those classes. But to suppose that a council on those lines could perform all the functions of a legislature, could discuss profitably the scores of varied questions of home and foreign policy, is to ignore the first elements of any sound political philosophy. The nation would be weak indeed which would accept an advisory economic council as a substitute for a Parliament, and very gullible if it believed that, because it was named by its authors the 'Corporate State, it had anything in common with the free State system whose destruction it was intended to palliate and conceal."—Sir Herbert Samuel.