THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 32, 2 November 1942, Page 4

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections Intercession. Almighty God, Who alone givest wisdom and understanding inspire all to whom Thou hast given the responsibility of government and of leadership in active warfare, that they may not only bring this war to a successful close, but build up a true brotherhood among the nations. Amen. & * * The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to abtain it. — Mill. * ♦ “Nearly 30.000 British workpeople are now on war production in the 300 factories set up in Britain by refugees from Nazi persecution. The refugees are helping to defeat their former oppressors by mailing glycerine for explosives, textile and leather service equipment, optical glass for binoculars and periscopes, diamond cutting tools, electrical equipment, metal alloys, plywood, and many other manufactures directly used in the war effort. Over 100 industries entirely new to Britain have been established there by refugees since Hitler came to power, and valuable processes recorded only in the minds of the inventors are at tlje same time Germany’s loss and the Allies’ gain. Many of the refugees came over with little but their ideas and designs, all fheir equipment and most of their capital having been abandoned. But in these cases the U.K.-Government, true to a tradition which dates back to the Flemish weavers of the 14th. century, have not only given the exiles asylum, but assisted them with capital, equipment and premises.” — “Industrial Publicity,” London.

“The nations are being forced into a world- suicide. Something in the very , nature of things is forcing us to that ;• something greater than ourselves is after us. Turn anywhere one will', one sees this. Take a medical blessing like sulphanilimide, for example. How did we get sulphanilimide and its saving derivatives? Well, the discovery of it started in Germany, then the Pasteur Institute in Paris took it up, then the Queen Charlotte Hospital in London experimented with it, then John Hopkins in Baltimore gained new insight into it, then the. whole matter broke wide open and one nation after another made contribution. Everything that matters most now is an affair of the whole human family. Nontheistic humanism—that is, faith in man as one who all by himself alone will tirelessly and sacrificially seek righteousness, justice, brotherhood, and peace until he finds it—is being washed out by this present catastrophe, and it deserves to be.”— Rev. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, preaching in Riverside Bapis.t Church, New York.

“My ideal democracy has long been an aristocratic one, and this, I hope and expect, to see gradually confing into being when the infamous system of nazism has been crushed and its fanatical dupes restored to sanity. By an aristocratic democracy I' mean one where the best men in the true sense of the word will be sought out and put at the head of our enterprises, where justice will provide a full opportunity for all, an opportunity adapted to special needs and aptitudes, where all social services that are necessary for the preservation of the health, decency, education and security of the people will be guaranteed by community action where democracy will accept discipline, and where none the less the characteristic and unique qualities of each one may find legitimate and ample fields for expression. Discipline is essential. Not the discipline that comes from the drill sergeant, but that inner self-control, that ready subordination of selfish ideals to the general weal, that restraint of disorder, and that willingness to co-operate, without which our democracy becomes a rabble rule. Tills is within the border of the State. —Dr. R. Lawson, Professor of Education at Otago, N.Z. University.

The Volga is not only the biggest river in Europe; it is the Russian main street, the chief thoroughfare and main delivery route of the neutral steppes. One travels on the Volga in steamers like huge ferryboats shuttling from town to town. The steamer is a village in itself. The lower decks are crowded with the types and breeds of all the Russias, “white” people from the north and “dark” people from (be south, the profiles of Tartars and Turkomans, Armenians, Caucasians and Ukrainians sharp among the blunt faces of the Slavs. The landings are crowded, too, as the towns empty their produce on the river bank and load up the boats with timber and corn, flax and hides, in exchange for tractors and plows, chairs, cotton blouses, and oil. Tlie steamers rim by oil and everywhere they stop there is more and more need for oil, for I’iie tones and the farms. Tlie Volga is Russia in slow motion. It rises in tlie cool forests of tlie north, and empties at Astrakhan into the steaming bowl of tlie Caspian. 11’11011 one remembers the blur of life along its shores and the hodgepodge of people mingling in the ports, it is easy to feel tlie river quivering from one end to the oilier as the vanguards of the enemy approach tlie wide bend at Stalingrad. The thrust toward the Volga is a thrust at the heart of Russia ; it must bring the war homo to tlie varied people of that fluid empire more than the threat to Moscow, the fall of Sebastopol, or tlie occupation of tlie Ukraine. From Yaroslavl to the Caspian, it makes clear that (he Germans are bent on cutting Russfn in two, like France, and choking off the supply lines on which its life depends.—Miss Anne O’Hare McCormick, in “New York Times.”

Malta. And slid she stands, delimit mid alone, Strong as the rock to which her feet are bound ; No brighter star in all the sphere lias shone To grace the knightly spirit of her ground. Once was this lost, lint once again is found In richer measure and more deeply sown, It flowers anew, full bloom, on every mound Where high her bmmer streams in proud wind blown. So strikes tlie greatest hour in all her history known. —AV. J. Kennedy, in “The Navy.”