THROUGHTS FOR THE DAY
Comments —Reflections The less people think the more they talk.—Proverb. *. ♦ *
“ ‘Sacrifice’ is not the -proper word with which to describe this programme of self-denial. When- at the end of this great struggle we shall have saved our free way of life wd shall have made no sacrifice.’’—President Roosevelt.
“It is difficult,’’ comments the “Star” of London, “to accept as entirely honest the Hindu Congress ultimatum —for such it is. Britain has given the firmest undertakings to establish selfgovernment in India. It cannot be done while the Japanese stand on the Assam doorstep. Even in Congress itself there are some who see that. Then what is’ the purpose of this attempt to renew the old bitter struggle at a moment when those upon whom India depends for deliverance from the menace of the dictators are in grave difficulties? Does this help Russia, hard pressed in the South East, or China, now cut off from India? Surely it was not to hold out the prospect of renewed political war on Britain that Pandit Nehru talked to Chiang Kai-shek and went to Moscow? The British people are as anxious as Indians to see this issue settled once and for all. They have given specific pledges, but at this time there is no more that they can do. To quit now on the demand of Congress would be the negation of our first war aim—the freedom of all peoples threatened by the Axis.
“The 8.8. C.,” says “The Times,” of London, “candidly admits what, alas! many had long suspected, that.it has been sponsoring ‘ancemic’ and ‘debilitated’ singing by men and ‘insincere or over-sentimental performances by women. Realizing that the consciousness of sin is the first step towards atonement, the public will receive this confession with sympathy. But though there will be no desire to ‘rub it in' it will be difficult to restrain a whoop of joy that the 8.8. C. has come to appreciate the ‘present desire for more virile and robust music.’ Therein lies the crux of the business. The nation Is in the Dorian mood: it has a mind to hear something strong, full-throated and vital—something, as Plato said, that ‘will fittingly represent the tones and accents of a brave man in warlike action or in any hard and dangerous task.’ If there is ever a time for the languishing, or Lydian mood, it is certainly not the present. Many have felt that the- nation’s judgment has been persistently underrated, and that a people who could appreciate the vitality of the songs in ‘The Beggar’s Opera,’ could not be truly happy —least of all in war-time —with the moanings of the crooner. It seems that they were right.
“In rhe midsc of great battles Hie Chinese people have quietly started to reorganize -the political life of the nation on a truly democratic basis,” writes Dr. Henry Guppy, in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. “The story of the new country system (hsien) is neither dramatic nor sensational. It is a. story that has to be told, for in the long run the new county system may prove to be the most significant political development in wartime China, a development which may determine the nature of the Chinese body politic in many centuries to come. In September, 1939, the National Government promulgated an Outline governing the Organization of Various Local Units of the County Government. This is the basic law of the new county system, a home-rule system, which constitutes the very foundation of a modern democratic China. The county Is the administrative unit of the Chinese political system. Sun Yat-sen, Father of the Chinese Republic, insists that the county government is the basis and the central government the superstructure of the nation. Not until all counties become self-governing cells will the nation have a second democratic body politic.”
“The Germans have no hope now of an outright victory,” observes “The Economist,” London. “What they are still working for, with all their military strength and guile of propaganda, ia a stalemate victory. Their hope is that the democratic peoples of Britain and the United States will not be willing to see the struggle through to the final act. The longer -the day of reckoning be put off, the Germans argue, the less likely it is to come. Peace without defeat is their opportunity. They are in possession of great spoils t.o bargain with. This, above all, is the reason why British and American hopes should not be fastened upon a quick end to the fighting. Total victory must lie the Allies’ goal. The end may be quicker than has seemed likely at any time since the war broke out. But the speed of its coming will be in direct ratio to the extent to which the United Nations work and net niftl think as if every ounce of effort and sacrifice were required for an indefinite time to come. No war is won until the last bugles have sounded. The Germans and Japanese can still strike massive blows. The only course is to assume that they will go down fighting in the greatest holocaust in history. There will be heavy losses and grievous casualties—the price of victory. The bond of the world alliance is shipping: and shipping is still an Achilles heel. Allied ships and Allied cargoes are lining sunk in great numbers on all the oceans. The need for ships to strike the final blows against the enemy will be enormous.” .* f ♦ The Song of the Steadfast. Mr. Winston Churchill concluded his speech in Edinburgh on Monday by quoting the first two lines of the chorus of Sir Harry Lauder's wellknown song. “The End of the Road.” The appreciation of the Scottish audience was instant; so much so that after the first two or three words of the quotation the Prime Minister’s voice was submerged in a great wave of applause. The words of the song’s chorus are as follows: —
Keep right on to the end of the road, Keep right on to the end; Tlio’ the way be long let your heart be strong Keep right on round the bend ; Tito’ you're tired and weary still journey on Till you come to your happy abode. Where all you love you’ve been dreaming of Wilt be there nt the end of the road.
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Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 16, 14 October 1942, Page 4
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1,057THROUGHTS FOR THE DAY Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 16, 14 October 1942, Page 4
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