AT THE TEA TABLE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 12010, 12 March 1920, Page 5

AT THE TEA TABLE.

SOME TOPICAL TALKS. j “Australia is still loan drunk, ’’ remarked the Critic, “and instead of sotting to work to place her house in order by effecting economies. and : properly adjusting taxation, she is again hurrying to the pawnbroker to pledge the national assets and make life more costly to the living while placing a handicap on »posterity. ” “What do the politicians care for the coming generations?” asked the Scribe. “They live only in the present, and all their aim is to get command of cash wherewith to buy party support. They are like the fellow who said ‘Hang posterity! What’s posterity done for usl” “We cannot well reproach the Australians,” said the Sage. “This also is a Great Loan Land, in which the Treasurers every year dangle a paper surplus before tt(Q eyes of a deluded people, and then ask fjr power to borrow a few more millions.” '

“The whole world seems inclined to go a-borrowing, ” said the Cynic, “forgetting the old and wise proverb that he whp does it also goes a-sor-rowingL Only the other day a British Peer suggested a huge borrowing policy to enable the wealthy to escape a levy on capital, though most of the huge debt was caused by the war, and most of the huge fortunes were accumulated out of war profits. ’ ’ “Germany,” said the Critic, “declares that if she cannot borrow, she will haye to file a declaration in bankruptcy in the atAumn. ” “Let her do so,” said the Cynic, “and then put in a receiver to impose the necessary taxation and collect the revenues till her debt to the nations is liquidated. Why should she be freed of liability merely because she whines?”

“She has not yet had sufficient punishment for her sins, ” said the Sage. “The temper of her people, or at least of those who were the ruling class, is shown, by the arrogance pf those drunken aristocrats whose disorderly actions have just been reported. The German in his cups reveals the true bent of his mind.”

“It is rather interesting to observe the American anxiety about the defences of her Pacific coast,” said the Critic, “and some of the statements made indicate tha'j the little brown men are regarded as people who may become open enemies very soon. ’ ’

“I have been suspicions of the Japanese intentions and doings for sometime past,” said the Sago, ‘The big navy they are building is not meant to become a mere toy. There has also been an ominous silence in the Land of the Morning Sun—the sphinx-like silence of the Oriental, which bodes no good to the other nations.”

“Though she has been silgnt,” said the Cynic, “her silence has been truly golden, for the statistics of her trade show that she has more than doubled it during the war. Moreover, she is the only nation whose imports have become greater than her exports, which of course means that she is getting from others more than she is paying out, and therefore, piling up wealth for use when she is ready to make war. I tbink the Yankees are only exercising proper foresight by strengthening their defences, and we should follJW their example All history shows that the Oriental is never to be trusted, and never less worthy of trust than when he is wearing the friendly smile that Bret Harte characterised as ‘childlike and bland.’ ”

“Yet it is only about half a century since Japan's ports were opened to the rest of the world,’’ said the Sage, “and'ndw she ranks among the first class Powers.” ‘ ‘There have been many lightning changes,” said the Critic, “and events have conspired to aid the brown men. Fate has been working in the opposite direction among tha western nations. In less time than the Japs took to spring into prominence, the Russian Empire created by Peter the Great centuries ago, and the Gorman Empire created at abeut the same time that Japan awakened, have been swept into the limbo of the past. ” “Speaking of America,” said the Critic, “reminds me that according to present indications she has probably more to gain by the establishment of a League of Nations than any other country has, yet sne is not only the last to come into the League, hut may possibly not be included in it.” “You need not fear,” said the Sage. “She will assuredly join .in the end, but in the meantime the League is being made the plaything of partisans. I shall be surprised if she takes any definite action till the elections are over, because the League question is useful to the political schemers on both sides, but after the elections you will see that the strong commonsense of her people will impel the politicians to crowd each other in the rush to assist in the establishment of a preserver of permanent peace.” _ A JAYE PENNE.