Timely Topics

Northern Advocate, 18 July 1939, Page 4

Timely Topics

I The hampering effect of economic nationalism on the Indian market for British exports is described in “The ! Times’’ by Sir ; ECONOMIC NATION- Thomas A'insALISM IN INDIA. cough, who has been Senior Trade Commissioner in India, "Burma, and Ceylon since 1918. In the last ten years he has seen -old-established industries making "great strides, and the starting of | scores of new industrial enterprises —some of them quite unsuited to the economic conditions of the country. "Supplies from the United Kingdom of i such staple goods as cotton textiles, | iron and steel, railway equipment, ? and chemicals have continued to f shrink. On the other hand the growth |of demand for electrical appliances |of all kinds, cinematograph films, | wireless and broadcasting equipment, land so on has gone Some way to re- | dress the balance, and has shown | the ready response of a large section I of the Indian people to the comfort * and convenience of modern inven- | tions. I No exception can be taken to the | general cult of swadeshi (own counItry goods) which has been current in ♦ India for a generation and has been | encouraged by British administrai tors. Now, however, under the | stimulus of a jealous nationalism proimoted by Congress Ministries, and the | influence of the big industrialists, the I movement is being pushed to exItremes which may do much to frustrate the ostensible purpose of Indian f economic advancement. f g » S*.

Of all the countries in the world with which we would wish our relations to be unclouded the United States of AmerRELATIONS WITH ica would, by UNITED STATES, the verdict of most Britons, be placed first, says the “Spectator.” We desire to understand America as it is, and to be understood by America as we are. Neither aspiration is being completely justified, and if the general trend of American comment is accepted, the chief misunderstandings are on the British side, and the chief source of them the misrepresentation of the United Stales in the British press. Coming, as the charge does, at a moment when both the general international situation and the visit of the King and Queen to the United States make the accurate interpretation of each country to the other peculiarly important, it is desirable to face it squarely, and to decide what mistakes are being made, how far they are unavoidable, and how far they could and should be remedied.