"GREAT BRITAIN"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24406, 18 September 1940, Page 8

"GREAT BRITAIN"

DOROTHY THOMPSON'S TRIBUTE MANKIND MARCHES ON AMERICA KNOWS HER ENEMY A few days ago Miss Dorothy Thompson, the well-known and influential United States columnist, spoke to the people of Britain, a message of encouragement. Twice she had' set a day for this talk of hers .and-twice, overwhelmed by the pressure 'of-events in Britain, she had" postponed it. "I could not speak," she said.. " What can we say over here: to men and women whose courage is such as yours." Crisply, pungently, with no compromise she spoke. Words, she said, might-not seem to mean as much as they.once had. "Hitler and Goebbels have debased them. Words for them have no meaning. But there is a meaning in events, a lesson—those who take the word will perish by the word. "All the poets of the world are today lined up against Hitler . . . and by" poets I do not mean simply the makers of verses. I mean those who see further and deeper than others. There is not a great moment in history, a great step in the march ot civilisation which some poet did not foresee; ,-, ■. ;-<• Mr Churchill's Words "When Churchill speaks, as only he to-day can speak, we know that the word has not lost its potency. He is in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln who spoke from a full heart at the dictate of a great mind. His words live to-day because the crisis for which they were written will never be past—so long as men seek to oppress others. " In this war nations remain neutral but the people of those nations do not. Every man and woman who loves the word and uses it nobly is on your side. Fidelity, loyalty, courage, humour—these are your qualities in this tragic hour. In the word of Churchill they live. . . . "The democratic world is paying for its complacency in the past, complacency about poverty, lack ot work, of education, lack of progress. But through it all mankind still marched on. "What Hitler has done to debase the word he has also done to debase the great movements of mankind. The workers' desire for work, for education, for happiness he has used for war, exploitation and domination. But the workers want more than bread. They want human dignity. This he has denied them. "All over the world men and women are dreaming as never before about the world that is to come, about the great peace that is to come for them, for their children, and for their children's children. Mankind Cannot Lose "You will win this war because mankind has never yet lost a war. " This country is arming. I would have said in May that it was impossible for my country to introduce conscription. We have done it. We are not going to live on Hitlers terms. We know our enemy. . " There are blots on the history of every nation. There are blots on the history of the United States. There are blots on the history of Great Britain. But seldom is it given to any one nation—as it has been given to you—to erase with one magnificent gesture all the blots on its history. "Never before has Britain been so loved by all the good and by all the true. " Never before has she been so truly— GREAT Britain."