TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 3 May 1932, Page 4

TIMELY TOPICS

The blame for the universal collapse of trade ought not (o he lived solely upon the fall in price levels, says Sir Arthur M. Samuel, M.l’., in ail article entitled ‘‘The Curse of Debt,” which Is published in “The Times Trade and engineering Supplement.” Part of the blame must rest upon the light-heartedness wit! i which before and after the War everyone used ‘‘credit.” and borrowed. Nations wore taught to say: “What were formerly luxuries are now necessaries,” whether they could afford them or not. So every one borrowed. All, weak or strong, competent or incompetent, were invited to follow tin. fashionable craze “to use their credit." Thev used it to excess. Then,

when prices fell, the shock could not be resisted by structures enfeebled by debt. The banks would now be doing a public service if they refused to yield to the often unjustifiable clamour for “credit,” quite apart from the fact that the money, or credit, they lend is the property of the depositors ami not of haul; shareholders.

Says Lord Eustace Percy in “The Year Boole of Educatinn, • 1 932 Despite the many difficulties which beset it, the science of Education enjoys one definite advantage not shared by its sister sciences. It is, from its vital connection with national ami individual well-being, exposed to a never-ceasing fire of criticism, too diverse to provoke panic reaction, too steady to be ignored. Thus it has learned, if so mixed a mdtaphor be allowed, to cultivate a skin which is at once thick and sensitive. The current gibe at the teacher's consorvat ism is often well deserved, but as often ill-informed. Like the Law, educational policy must be slow to change, lost it yield injuriously to

conditions which are only temporary. Like the Law it needs to be in constant use. Neither the courts nor the schools can lie closed for repairs. Mercilessly the litigants crowd in, the children enter: and none may be sent away unsatisfied. The first requisite, therefore, both for sensible criticism and wise reform, is a sound knowledge of the conditions which obtain, not only in one sore of school, but

generally.