ARMY WOULD BE USELESS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 131, 9 January 1939, Page 2

ARMY WOULD BE USELESS

GERMAN CRITICISMS AUSTRALIA’S ‘SPACES IJEKLIN, Dec. 7.—“ Australia’s seven millions of people are incapable of producing, an army with any ability to cope with a great Power,’’ declares the Frankfurter Zeitung, in a leading' article headed “The Wrong Hoad.” on the Commonwealth’s defence programme. “The provoking disparity between the empty steppes of Australia and the over-filled areas of other countries has been recognised even in Australia.” the article states, “but the demand of far-sighted men for increased immigration has been constantly opposed by the Australian workman, who is afraid of losing his high rates of pay.

“Without the support of a wide agricultural and working population, an army is without strength. It- remains one of history’s most powerful lessons that large areas, empty of human beings, act on neighbours like a suction pump. No amount of moral declamation can alter the fact. This sight has an enormous power attraction for over-populated countries.” The fateful question for the Australian people, the article concluded, was whether they would continue to be blinded by their own egotism.