National Emergency

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 11, 8 September 1939, Page 12

National Emergency

T can hardly be necessary to remind i readers that an emergency for the Nation is an emergency for every publication issued to the Nation. We have delayed the writing of this article, not merely to the eleventh hour but to the twelfth, in the hope that we might then have knowledge instead of conjecture on which to base our comments. The hour has struck and we are at war. There is, however, one feature of the situation that makes it different from any other in human history. It has happened before that nations have resorted to arms to save the face or satisfy the ambition of individuals. It has happened in our own lives that reason has failed over half the world to restrain passion and violence. It has never happened before that the whole world has heard all the charges and counter-charges, protests and appeals, day by day and quite recently hour by hour. Time will show whether this has been a blessing or a curse. At present we do not know. We do know that it is something new in human experience. It would appear, too, that men of our own race and language will continue to have that experience. It has not been suggested by any British government that we must close either our eyes or our ears. Whatever lies ahead of us, we shall retain the liberty of free men to know where we are going. May those who have told us so far retain their present honesty and restraint.