THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH.
..
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1936.
10
ON THE BRINK
of the
PRECIPICE!
Twenty
- five
years
ago
Europe was under the shadow of the Agadir crisis, arising from an in- cident in Morocco which set European interests in conflict. Twenty years ago Britain entered into the war that was to and war and make the world safe for democracy.
O
to-day.
two
N August the fourth, 1014, people were return- Ing from a happy Bank Holiday Just as they are
Many of them were talking of the imminent danger of war, but few realised how clonely they themselves were to be in- volved,
Such wars as they had had any experience of had been small colonial affairs, fought by regu- lar troops In distant lands.
The South African War had been on a larger scale, but even that had not called forth all the energies of the nation.
-If anyone had told them that in the course of a year or two Great Britain would have been fighting on the Continent with armies the size of Franco's armiles they would have been incredulous.
If they had been told that the war would last four years, that almost all the nations would be in- volved, that the man-power of Great Britain would be conscrip- led, and that this country would be brought near to defeat by the pressure of enemy submarines, they would have thought auch auggestions the dreams of a mad-
man.
* No One Knew ★
Very low of those holiday- makers had any idea as to the course of events that led up to the catastrophe. They know naturally of the arms rivalry among the Great Powers.
They had heard of incidents from time to time which had created great tension, but some- how or other peace had been main- tafried.
'They did not seo why the murder of an Austrian Archduke should be the spark to start a world confla- gration.
They had but little appreciation of the underlying economic causes of war, of the imperialist rivalries and the struggle for markets.
It is a remarkable fact that in the three years prior to the War there were only two big debates on Foreign Policy in the House of Commons.
Political attention was concen-
SOUTHEND SCLACTON
ONLY
by the Right Hon.
C.
R. ATTLEE
Leader of His Majesty's Opposition
in the House of Commons
The trated on domestic Issues ordinary citizen little know what entanglements had been created by the aloof aristocrats who pre- sided in succession at the Foreign Omce.
Why is it necessary to recall these things to-day? Because events are shaping themselves in a way that is terribly similar to that of 1914.
Once again the nations are arm- Ing. Governments are telling their peoples that big armaments are needed for defence.
Once again people are talking of the inevitability of war. Instead of asking, "Will there be war?" they ask, "When will there be war? The gunpowder is being freely strewn about Europe.
Wasted Lives
A spark-may easily set-it-allght:- There is already generation grown to manhood and woman- hood that knows of the last wor only as a vague memory or an old man's tale. Let me recall again what happened in the last war.
The war that broke over the world in 1014 came near towards . destroying European civilisation,
Recent calculations put the total number of people who lost their lives through that war, directly and indirectly, 'as forty millions.
The British Empire alone lost
over a million dead, and over two mlilion wounded,
Among those wounded were two thousand totally blinded, six thou- sand who lost their reason and four thousand who became epileptic.
The cost in money was terrific.
* Wasted Money,
The war left Britain with a debt of over seven thousand militon pounds, and as Lord Snowden pointed out when he was Chancel- lor of the Exchequer, “It takes the whole-time labour of two million workers, year in, year out, to pro- duce the means to pay the annual cost of our debt service." And that is only for Great Britain.
The
"Manchester Quardian" made a calculation in February. 1931, that it would have been pos- sible, with the war costs, to have presented every family in Great Britain, the United States, Canado, Australla, Belgium, Germany and Russia with a £500 house stand- ing in a five-acre plot, and contain- ing £250 worth of furniture, and to provide for each group of 20,000 families a hospital, schools and the salaries for teachers, nurses, doctors and professors.
I have said that the ordinary man in the street did not realiza what the last war would be like,
The experts were equally at fault.
The generals did not realise
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The boys who welcomed war on August 4, 1914, may be among the holidaymakers of August, 1936 (see picture on left), Have they learned the lesson of 1914-36 ?
tant there would be years of trench warfare, that gas and tanks would be new weapons, and that a further element, the air, would grow ever more and more important, until by 1018 the fact that the civilian population were now in the danger Hone was fully established,
The Next War? *
What of the next war? Every- one should realise that if wat breaks out again the result will be a destruction infinitely more wide- spread and devastating than that of the last. The weapons of de- struction that exist to-day are a hundred times more terrible.
The bombing plane, which was really only in its infancy in the last war, will dominate the situation. In place of a contest between soi- dlers on a battlefield with still some faint echo of romance, there will be the wholesale slaughter of men, women, children and animals by poison gas.
Instead of fortifications and trench lines being levelled by high explosive, the greatest,cities in the world
will be destroyed by fire. Civilisation, as we know it, will be wiped out,
I do not believe that there is any safety in building great navies. raising huge armies, or training pilots and producing thousands of aeroplanes.
The bomber will always get through.
Yet, in face of these dangers, we see the statesmen of the world still playing their games of power pull- ties, as they did in the years before the great war.
Those who controlled the destin les of nations in the pre-wur period were not men who desired war.
They did not intend deliberately to lead their peoples to the slaughter, but they were ready to pursue policies and to take risks which were certain sooner or later to bring them to the position where they had to choose between 'wa:
and the abandonment of their designs.
When you come to weigh up the Rims of these statesmen and com-. pare them with the terrible losses sustained in their pursult, you see at once how small they are in com- parison..
They were te men walking on the edge of a precipice ready to run the risk of death or maiming to secure a little flower growing near the edge.
The same mentality is to be seen to-day. Our Conservatives would face a world war rather than fuce any diminution of national sove- reignty.
The Labour Party is trying to rouse the common people to n sense of their danger, for they will be the victims.
It is the ordinary, quict people, who ask nothing more lai the right to ve in happiness with their families, who will be destroyed If war breaks out.
What is required is a new mon- tality. A fresh start must be made.
*
Stop It!
*
I want to see a Conference held at which every representative of every hation shall have present be- fore him what war really means.
I am not sure that it would not be a good thing for them to sit for a time in gas masks amid a roar of exploding bombs and the con- tinuous noise of aeroplanes over- head.
Let then go
and visit the homes of humble people and come together to discuss how to dent with the causes of war.
Bet- ter still, instead of thinking of the causes of war, let thèm take coun- sel how to lay the foundations of peace on a sure basts of social jus- tick.
There is line yet to save the world If only ordinary men and women will rouse themselves to Action.
ROUNDABOUT
by The Showman
growth of intelligence," he says " ceases at the age of 14."
My own private opinion is that this pronouncement comes as close to pure
WELL, I hope you enjoyed your Holiday. And I hope you are back again in your usual places-my old friend "Hausfrau" at her wish lub, Doris at her typewriter, Munsere as anything outside the *foreign policy of the "National" Bert Buttonsliek umong his crates
Gavernutent. But I must not be loo of fruit-all panting and eager for
captions. WDIK.
You remember, un the millionaire said to the navy, hard work never did anyone any harm.
with the
Instead I will tell you a story which seems to show that the man, of 40 has considerably less intelligence than baby of nine months. This man was cal-burglar and, in entering a nur-
and let the frame down on his neck. He called out, in agony, to the occu pant of a dimly, acen col.
Put it the other way, navvy advising the millionaire, and itery window; a sash-cord had broken sounds just as convincing. More, it sounds really rather quaint and jolly. Battles Long Ago
[ENTION of Bert Buttonstick re- Mminds me
of the article above. Twenty-two years ngo when it all began...
Do you remember those songs, Bert? "Marching, morclung, marching, akcays usterisk starching...."
"We are Fred Karno's army...." "Hold yer àñušout, naughty boy!
Last night,
In the pale moonlight, I SAW yer...
And, Bert, do you remember Kelly's Eye, and Legs Eleven, and Olickelty- Click? These kids missed something. didn't they?
No wonder the Spaniards are trying to catch us up and prove themselves worthy of a' place in Western Civilisa Lion.
Wonderful!
The film star and the Maharajah htli seemed slightly embarrassed on being introduced, but shook hands
·with a smile,"
Just like you and mo! Just like you and me!
Fourteen and Forty'. THE man of 40, whose plight you and I noticed sympathetically some days ago, 15 in trouble again. This time a schoolmaster has been saying that the man of 40 has no more intelli- gence than the girl or boy of 14. "The
-To-day's Thought THE lieing are more im-
portant than the dead.
-HERBERT BURGESS,
"You silly ass!" came the reply. "1 can't walk yet!"
Doris Speaks Her Mind
A girl has to have a bit of glamour about her clothes, nowadays, that's what I say. Qlamour seems to be what they want; and so I got a holiday frock with two of the latest, futed patent-leather pockets sewn on the skirt; and, of course, bis sister, the crilicising one, had to be there when wore it,
"Oh," she said, "so I see we've cut our shopping-bag in two and tacked them on," she said very sarcastic. "What next," I. wonder!"
"Why," I said, "you be doing the sate, deart" ·
How's that for à gentle answer? RASPBERRIES AND SCREAM
A
ND an invitation to raspberries and cream and sherry at six o'clock has been known to lead to "quite an amusing party."
Lady Angola Publicity gave one like ihat on Sunday. It led to all sorts of too provoking complications. One of the gossip-writers present mistook - another for a gentleman, and was quite polite to him until he caught him crum- ming his pockela-full of raspberrica.
They then started screaming and slapping each other's wrista; and were separated only when Lady · Angels poured a bottle of sherry over them,
Wags Corner
Farmer A "Which is right-a hen is sitting, or a hon is setting'?"
Farmer B: "I don't know, nn'. I don't care. All I bother about is-when atto cackles, is she laying or is she lying?"
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