The Pahiatua Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1943. DRAW YOUR BLINDS—7.30 p.m. FOREWARNINGS IGNORED.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXII, Issue 15241, 6 January 1943, Page 2

The Pahiatua Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1943. DRAW YOUR BLINDS—7.3O p.m. FOREWARNINGS IGNORED.

With the publication by the. State Department of the United States Government of a White Book entitled i ‘Peace and War—United States i Foreign Policy, 1931 and 1941” come disclosures from important diplojna- • tic documents of tire fateful decade before Pearl Harbour. The warnings of Mr Hull, Secretary of State and Mr Grew. .Ambassador to Japan were uumistakeable and, in the case oi the latter gentleman, they actually told the peoples of the United States of a planned attack on. Pearl Harbour. In the light of subsequent events it is difficult to understand the complacency of the American public in the face of such straightforward evidence of tlie contemplated treachery. However, such complacency is not i>eqpliar to oui Allies as many in authoritative circles, including Mr Winston Churchill, had been, sensing the trend towards war in Europe long before the outbreak in September 1939 Then again before the last war, Lord Roberts implored the British Government and the public to prepar© for the Raiser's'“Eer ‘Tag” but to little purpose. Possibly th© peace-loving nations have nowlearnt the lesson at a terrible cost and as a result, the peace to come will be based on definite assurances that those self-same peace-loving countries will be prepared militarily for any contingency. Public opinions are indeed strange phenomena and it is a truism that the public soon forgets particularly in times of peace. In war-time such public opinion is easily aroused and in this connection Mr A. P. Herbert tells a good story. He says that he might illustrate the tenseness of British wartime, psychology thus: If one says it is a good day, then he's complacent, if he remarks that it s abad day, he’s a defeatist, while doubts expiessed about the weather are voiced only by members of the lit th column. The issue oi the \\ hite Book and earlier British publications illustrating the duplicity of Hitler and his satellites, will it is hoped, keep alive in the minds of man the necessity of a careful watch being

kept on the m veterat© war-monger-mg nations and when peaceful days are here again it is to b© hoped that the many cruel lessons will not have been in vain.