RECONSTRUCTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 25 October 1941, Page 6

RECONSTRUCTION

DEFINITELY ON THE MAP rRA< ri( M PI INNING IMPORTANT DECLARATIONS RECALLED <Rcc 1.25 p.m.) Rugby, Oct. 24. Mr Oliver Greenwood, Minister Without Portfolio, in a speech at Oxford, said: ••Reconstruction is definitely «n the map It has passed out of the realm of pious hope into the sphere of practical planning. By their famous Atlantic Charter President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill have provided an eightpoint compass to guide our constructive ideas. “It is true that the principles of the declaration arc still to be interpreted and amplified and applied. It is true that they at this stage are r.o more than the necessary framework which has yet to be tilled in. It is true also that until victory is won our aims cannot be realised. But those prineiplcs do at least give us a broad outline of the sort of free new world that ran be ours when Hitler is destroyed. I “The Atlantic Charter docs not stand iby itself. Other important and comi pigmentary declarations should be kept i clearly in mind. President Roosevelt ; proclaimed four great fundamental | fteedoms for mankind; Mr Eden, in a I speech three months ago. made it clear | that social security would be the first I object of British policy, both at home j and abroad. ‘Declarations such as these are more than words, they are acts of leadership, i They recognise the most vital rights of [ peoples. Our supreme duty in victory lis to give them reality. We must be as energetic, resolute and united in our efforts to reconstruct as we are in our efforts to win the war. Every human and material resource at the nation’s ccmmand is being strained to the utmost to ward off the greatest of human catastrophes—the destruction of freedom. Nothing less than a similar generous outpouring of effort and co-oper-ative service will suffice after the war to make our freedom a reality on which greater freedoms can be built. STUPENDOUS BATTLES “We must face the task with far greater boldness and realism than we did the menace of Hitlerism before the war. No one can yet appreciate with a full degree of accuracy the full measure of the evil consequences, either inter-

national or national, of the greatest of all wars. There is nothing in history to compare with the stupendous battles raging on the eastern front, either for the number of men engaged, weight of metal and material employed, casualties inflicted or economic damage being done. Then again we have only a faint idea of the destructive effects on c» nquered territories of Nazi occupation. Though we have some knowledge cf t!ia plundering of supplies, seizure of industrial equipment, compulsory migration of populations and enslavement, of peoples, we cannot foretell the full | degradation of the condition of Europe : by the time the war ends. “What we can say without hesitation i j is that Europe will be an impoverished.! : pillaged, disorganised and famine- ; j stricken area and if the Continent is j not to be submerged in complete dis- \ order and anarchy organised assistance i on a great scale must be available at i PRIMARY PRODUCING COUNTRIES. “There is another aspect of the • widespread economic dislocation caused by the war which calls for practical! measures. War conditions in three! continents, the enforcement of the j blockade against both enemy andj enemy-occupied countries, and the I almost insatiable demands of war; needs upon shipping, have seriously j curtailed the export trade of primary i producing countries. This enforced | closing of normal markets has resulted] in large and growing surpluses being! lef ; on their hands. Unless steps are j taken to assist these countries the j consequences to their economic life! will be serious, if not disastrous. Our present problem is to relate these' growing export surpluses to the urgent! post-war needs of an impoverished, distressed Europe.”—B.O.W.