The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1947 THE NEW YEAR

Wanganui Chronicle, 29 December 1947, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1947 THE NEW YEAR

r J"HE New Year opens up with promise of better things to eonre. The past year has been full of disappointments because of the high hopes that were entertained of it. Much more could have been accomplished, but the will to accomplish was not present with sufficient unanimity. Who is to blame? It. is difficult to say, because in times like the present we see as through a glass darkly. The greater portion of the world suffered from severe poverty and frustrated hopes before the second world war. Some peoples looked upon the war as a gambler’s chance to better their own condition. It was the application of the principle of pres-sure-group politics to the international plane. It is by no means easy to condone the latter while condemning the former. Yet that is what an apologist of the present-day world would be compelled to do. Today poverty rides the greater portion of the world to a degree not known for a long time, as a result of th» second world war being a bad debt for most people. The thesis that the “Havenots” can take from the “Haves” has been exploded. All that occurs is a general destruction of the machinery of production. There are no winners in modern warfare. Now there is a general fear of the future. The chief exponent of the Fear Complex today is Russia. She fears for the stability of her own economy. She fears for the safety of her own borders. She fears that her position in the world will be subjected to misrepresentation. But Russia is not alone in entertaining these fears. They take other forms under varying conditions. The manufacturer fears for the importing licensing system which now provides him with a large-scale measure of protection. The importer fears that same importing licensing system because it may result in the market becoming overstocked in lines that will, before they can be sold, cease to find a market. The employee seeing the reduction in the backlog of orders, fears for his job. The industrial advocate fears that unless he exploits the present favourable situation his chances of securing satisfactory working conditions for the trade unionists whom he represents will have gone past recall and his clients will not receive their just reward. All o." these fears make the social complex of our time. These fears must be allayed if the New Year is to prove to be as good as it now promises. On what does the promise of the New Year rest? It rests on the knowledge that the methods pursued after the first world war pioved to be unsound. Great Britain’s lead on that occasion was not followed. Today Britain is still leading in the same direction, and the United States, eschewing Isolationism, is moving fast to succour a sick world. That is good omen number one. Its importance cannot be exaggerated, although of course that good work can still be frustrated. Further, the full weight of the United States is being employed to reduce tariff barriers. This is unfortunately being presented as an endeavour to serve a mean end, but the end is dear. The path to safety lies along the road to high production, and higher production can only be enjoyed by the peoples of the earth provided they are enabled to live in a cooperative world. Unless this co-operative world is established there can be no hope for the greater portion of the human family rising above the subsistence level. Many will be doomed to remain below even that. The League of Nations may have failed in its main task, but it is desirable to appreciate that today the informed opinion of those who do the thinking for the world is due in very large measure to the work that was accomplished by the Economic and Financial Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations. The League may have been metamorphosed into the United Nations Organisation, but the latter is the heir of all the success attending the efforts of the former. With this illuminating knowledge now well penetrated into the minds of the men who matter, it is not to be wonde-ed at that a considerable measure of success was achieved at the Geneva Trade Conference. It is not too much to hope that further progress will be made at Havana. Should this occur, then the world outside the Russian influence is gbing to tike a big leap forward in human co-operation. In such a world it will perhaps be more difficult for the experiment now being carried out in the Russian economic life to be held up as an improvement upon western civilisation. It is not possible now for Russia to permit her people to see the scene clearly, and it may be that this fact explains Mr. Molotov’s disappointing conduct at the successive conferences of Foreign Ministers that he has attended. Notwithstanding the difficulties of co-operating with Russia she has found it desirable to negotiate a trade treaty with the United Kingdom. The merits and demerits of that treaty have yet to be discussed, but the fact that Russia is willing to enter into a trade agreement with a capitalistic country is of itself some evidence of Russia’s willingness to co-operate. If the treaty is anything like a worth-while bargain it will benefit the United Kingdom as well as Russia, and such an arrangement will in the ulti mate bring more food and clothing to the peoples of these two countries. Russia cannot be imagined turning its back upon further opportunities for self advantage. How the various political moves will shape cannot be said, but the general trend at the moment is towards international eo-opera-tioji. There are currents running in the opposite direction, but it is the task of this generation to see that these adverse movements do not become too strong to upset the main trend. That is the work of the world for this B rave New Year.