TOPICS OF THE TIMES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4956, 16 February 1937, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Japan and the War Party. “A certain section of Japan believes the present menacing situation can be so greatly improved that threats of impending war will cease to impend. War entails tremendous sacrifice, as all the world knows. Even when victory is won it is achieved only at heavy cost to the victorious nation. None regret such sacrifice, for when a nation is engaged on the battlefield all other considerations sink into insignificance. Under such conditions national psychology is radically altered and it is the heart rather than the brain which functions and which dominates. War entails these tremendous sacrifices, but the question may well be posed whether it is not better, nor wiser, not more beneficial to make certain sacrifices first in order to prevent war. There are sacrifices "that no self-respecting nation can be asked or expected to make, but there are others of less importance which can be comparatively easily made, and which certainly are worth the cost if thereby the menace of war is removed.”—Japan Times and Mail. A Disastrous Decline. “The small family, the unwanted child, the migration from house to flat, the increasing pursuit of enjoyment and leisure activities outside the home—all these comparatively new features of our social life are rapidly settling down as familiar habits and institutions. There is the same ignorance and indifference about the social and economic consequences as there was a century ago about the flight from the country into the towns. Only in foreign countries, where the nature and aims of government make the provision of man-power a starting-point of policy, have the symptoms been attacked or recognised. In England there is no prominent body of opinion that has yet recognised even the existence of a problem. A few investigators have repeated their diagnosis to deaf ears, but most economists have preferred the study of gold to the study of life. Yet the facts are available and vivid for the imagination.”—The Times (London).