NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22098, 2 May 1935, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

PATRIOTISM " Only a true patriot can be a true citizen of the world," said Dr. Matthews, Dean of St. Paul's, at tha annual banquet of the City of London branch of tbo Royal Society of St. George. The Royal Society of St. George, he said, existed to encourage patriotism, a virtue which, was everywhere attacked. Mr. H. G. Wells and many other writers traced the ills under which we suffered to patriotism and would have that sentiment expunged from the hearts of human beings. True patriotism is like the family spirit. The best citizens were the father and mother of the family with family spirit. He believed that that spirit could be extended to a whole community and to all the nations of the world. PEACE AND WAR Mr. Baldwin spoke of the outlook in international politics at the annual assembly of the National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches. "At the end of the war," ho said, "many in this country and in others embraced the doctrines of nationality, self-deter-mination and democracy as the keys of a new Heaven upon earth. It has been found that the keys do not fit, that Heaven is as far away as ever. They do not fit some of the great, to say nothing of the lesser, Powers, whatever may bo the case with our own country. We fought the war to make the world safe for democracy, and the world is not safe for democracy and all that that word means to-day." Mr. Baldwin said he always believed one of the greatest dangers in time of revolution, a danger far from this country, but one they had seen in Europe more than once, was the honest-minded intellectual doctrinaire. He was dangerous, not so much because of what he believed, but because his god was his intellect, and he would sacrifice every man, woman and child in the country rather than acknowledge that his theories wex - e wrong. That was a form of terrorism that could not exist in a free country. RELEASING GERMANY " Since the armistice Britain, in particular, has given a thousand unreciprocated proofs of goodwill," writes Mr. J. ,L. Garvin, in the London Observer, "We have worked for the complete moral liquidation of the war. There has been a generous revulsion against the Treaty of Versailles. Nothing could be more untrue than to say that the ex-Allies on their side have done nothing to mitigato the provisions of that instrument. Its worst features were the financial clauses. They were wiped out largely owing to the heroic exertions of the Prime Minister, whoso name is never mentioned with gratitude by the beneficiaries. The evacuation of the Rhineland was carried out five years in advance of the treatylimit; the retrocession of the Saar was facilitated in the most frank and cordial spirit; not to speak of the continual reduction of the former relative power of Britain. It is difficult to see what more could have been done amidst the complicated conditions of post-war Europe. But there have been no thanks for any of it. On the contrary, it is part of the Nazi system that they shall take all the merit to themselves. There is nothing that the British people more heartily desire than to welcome the Reich into a solid and reciprocal system of goodwill as well as security. But while we and others ardently desire to live in friendship with the New Germany, we shall never lie at its mercy." CHRISTIANITY IN INDUSTRY For Industrial Sunday, April 28, the Industrial Christian Fellowship of England issued, as usual, two appeals, one signed by employers and the other by Labour leaders in politics and trade unions. The appeal of the employers said; —"The world is still in a chaotic state and the different nations continue to pursue policies of restriction and regulation of trade in an endeavour to maintain employment within their own borders iri'espective of what happens in other countries, with the result that the total valuo of world trade has shrunk to a very low level and all continue to suffer from the results. Signs are not wanting, however, that thinking men in many countries are awake to the danger of the situation and are working to alter them, but the return to normal conditions will be a slow and painful process. Meanwhile in our own country we have been working hard to improve conditions and give the world a load, and we are thankful for the amount of success which has attended our efforts. This does not blind us, however, to the vastness of the problem which still confronts us as an industrial nation. r J here are still over millions of our fellows without employment. What can be done to accelerate their return into industry? We suggest that the occasion of Industrial Sunday serves to emphasise the necessity for the co-operation of all engaged in industry to bring nearer what we may call, without reserve, the Kingdom of "God on earth. Unselfishness rather than self-interest, and the better service of mankind as the goal of industry, are surely spiritual aims in which ali men of good will can unite. It is the emphasis upon the Christian basis of business ana industry that concerns us, and it is our conviction that that is the only basis which can endure." LABOUR'S QUERIES The appeal signed by the Labour leaders refers to the social and industrial betterment achieved during recent decades, and says that nevertheless there remain grave problems arising from a lack of understanding of the true purpose of industry and a failure to apply the right principles in everyday life and conduct. It refers also to "a form of maladjustment so disastrous in its final consequences as to suggest that the human race is determined to obtain the least rather than the greatest advantage from the unlimited resources for human betterment." The appeal proceeds: "Will the Churches interpret for us, in the life and world of to-day, the simple principles of Christianity as taught by its Founder, who made the supreme sacrifice for mankind? For the systems of to-day, the rise of dictatorships, the brutality of tho struggle for existence, the fear of being tho undev-dog, discourage and thwart the potential human instinct toward real co-opera-tion with and service to one's fellows from finding its fullest expression and application, and no movement, no political policy, no industrial or social system which does not have as its fundamental basis the ideal of service and universal justice will succeed in creating the new world toward which all that is best in humanity at present strives with bewilderment and uncertainty."