AELSON EVENING MAIL SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1934 WOULD-BE SUPERMEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 7 April 1934, Page 6

AELSON EVENIN G MAIL SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1934 WOULD-BE SUPERMEN

HISTORY reveals the fact that periodically and at various lengths of time apart, there have arisen what in these modern days people are fond of calling supermen. Such was Julius Caesai, Alexander the Great, and Kublai Ivlian who unified China, and others. But, whereas there have been comparatively few of these outstanding figures, there have been many would-be supermen, who, in their ambition to become great have been willing, if need be, to turn the world upside down. Such was Napoleon, who in recent times has had a would-be imitator in Wilhelm Hohenzollern, sometime Emperor of Germany. It may be asked bow the true superman may be distinguished from the imitation, and the answer is that whereas the former creates and builds, the latter destroys. Though Napoleon conquered the greater part of Europe, in the end lie brought France to rack and ruin. He used up her men in his wars to such an extent that nearly all of them who were tall and physically fine were killed out, and in consequence to-day the average Frenchman is comparatively undersized. In an economic sense he threw France back several decades; and what lie did for France lie did for other European countries as well. In' the guise of a conqueror and hero, he actually was a curse to civilisation. And so it was with Wilhelm II of Germany. That egrcgionsly vain potentate, having learned nothing from the fate of Napoleon, determined to enlarge his Empire liy means of the sword at the expense of France, whose territory the Germans had over-run forty-four years before. On that occasion the conquerors had retained only the semi-German provinces of Alsace and Lorraine: this time they would make all the northern half of France German, and would include Belgium and Luxemburg, so that Germany would stretch from the confines of Russia (o tiie Atlantic Ocean. Other schemes of expansion Wilhelm doubtless had, hut the beginning was to be the conquest of France and the absorption of a large part of her territory. Everyone knows how the plans of the ambitious potentate went awry, but his

colossal failure is recalled here because of the stupendous amount of bloodshed and suffering which he caused Europe • lid much of the world besides. It has been estimated that in the wars of 1914lb fully six million men, the pick of their nations, were killed, and that more than twice as many were wounded. So much for the work of one would-be superman. Following close on his heels there was another. This was Nicolai Lenin, who out of the wreckage of tiie Russian Empire constructed the system of Soviet Republics. Republics they are not, since the autocracy of Lenin was practically complete, as is that of Stalin (to-day. True, there is in Russia a Communist Party, which is supposed to frame the policy of the executive, but when within that party members do not ratify the policies of their leaders, it seems that they are expelled from the party, as was the case recently when the party of approximately two million members was purged by the expulsion of 270,000 of them. This leaves the leader and his supporters in control of the executive of government, over which the vast bulk of the Russian people have no control. In an economic sense Russia under her Dictators has fared rather worse than under the Czars. The country's history during the last sixteen years reveals conditions of living which were far from happy. Shortage of food, famine, pestilence, a. general decrease in the standard of living which already was pitifully low; such seem to be some of the features of the Bolshevists regime. Of course there are those who will declare that Stalin is not a Dictator, just as there are those who will declare that Hitler and Mussolini govern with the consent of the people. But a careful reading of Russia’s recent history seems to disclose the fact that to-day she enjoys less political and economic advantages than were hers in the last years of Czarism.

Another autocrat whose will is law—with his ninety million subjects—is the Emperor of Japan, who stands in a class by himself, not merely as a ruler but as a human being. The first Emperor of Japan was the grandson of the Sun Goddess, so the Japanese believe. “All the Emperors,” says Professor O’Conroy, in his enlightening book on Japan, “are her direct descendants, and the whole Japanese race share the same divine origin with their Imperial family. On this basis they call themselves ‘the Children of the Gods’ . . . The knowledge that they are the children of the Gods, that Japan is a country of Gods, ruled by a divine Emperor, enables the people to accept their appalling hardships philosophically. From birth it is instilled into them that their patriotism is the first duty to the divine Emperor, that Japan is all-powerful and will one day rale the world.” Being a potentate whose rule is absolute, the Japanese Emperor can initiate any policy with the knowledge that in carrying it out he will be supported by the entire njtion. Of course that is not how this autocracy works normally. Naturally, great national movements in Japan often originate with prominent subjects of the Emperor, Cabinet Ministers for instance, and naval and military chiefs, but the approval and consent of the Emperor must be obtained before any great political movement can be made inside or outside of the country. It is just, therefore, to conclude that Japan’s policy of territorial expansion in Manchuria, Northern China, and on the mainland of Asia generally, is endorsed by the Emperor, if it did not actually originate with him. That policy seems destined to bring Japan into conflict with Russia. If so, the issue will be between the Dictator Stalin and the Japanese Emperor—the two greatest autocrats in the world. The prize will be the important piece of territpry ’ which lies between Manchuria and the Japan Sea containing the Russian port of Vladivostok, and the civilised nations will be interested to see if the Japanese Emperor will be able to add it to his great and growing Empire.