Interviews With MODERN YOUTH
"Johnnie Brown" was born in 1914,
a few weeks before his father died of, wounds in France.
Its stricken
mother sacrificed herself in countless ways in order to give him a good education. He is now working as an assistant in a large London ware- house. Let us see how he faces life.
EN and women of my generation
M would have to buy is unborn
I speak for that great multitude of yoling men and women whose whale outlook on life has been warped and marred by the crimes of their parents. You may consider the strie- ture too sweeping, but I see no reason for mincing words.
Why should 17 War is not an ac cidental circumstance, nor an act of God, but a condition brought about by the follies and the avarice of men and women. They were our parents, and they stand indicted before the bar of youthful opinion.
When I hear people talking about "the next war" in the same tone of voice that they use when referring to the next meal, holiday, or train, feel that all life and all human efforis are utterly useless.
War came and cursed my genera- tion in its cradle. I have been cheated of my rights, like millions of others thrown into a world that has talic purpose. People usetul
Ho
pityingly of the old men in the in- dustrial scrap-heap; but they forget that the men of my age have not even had a chance to make good In the work. We were born on n scrap-heap. What hope have we of getting off it?
Still Speaking of War.
Youth is not usually credited with Keneration hos patience, but my needed all the patience it could com- mand to listen without protest to the criticisms so glibly levelled at young people by their elders. We have stood too long in the dock, and it is time that we were called to the witness-stand to state our case.
"War bables" we have been called; and, now some of us have attained our majority, war is still the princip- al subject of newspaper headlines.
Most young fellows of my age have scarcely any recollection of the Great War, but we have had sufficient cause to loathe it for its aftermath alone. left fatherless. Many of us were crippled, destitute; and, inter. found ouracives to be jobless, economically crippled-and, accord- ng to many of our elders; morally destitute.
we
the
These things are true, and they must be laid at the door of generation which created them, the. generation which, if it did not actual- ly start the Great War, did not do sufficient to avert it.
Whoever may have been originally responsible for the events of 1914 to 1018. millions of young men of various nationalities died heroically and without question for enuses which they did not understand. They were crucified for the blunders of politiclans, and cut off from life in their prime because they listened to the exhortations of men who were too old to fight. Worst of all, they were ted to believe that their sacrifices would end war for ever.
With Open Eyes
Now, it seems, our turn has cothe. My generation has reached fighting age, and overhead hang war clouds a black as those that broke over
Europe in 1914. Shall we also be
cannon fodder for
a greybeards' quarrel? It looks like it.
There is, however, this great dif- -ference between the lot of those who went to fight in 1014 and that of young men to-day. In 1913, I under- stand, the country was prosperous, the people were happy, and it is not dimcult to understand how patriolle fervour could be awakened, in men who saw in the European conflict a menace to all that they enjoyed and held dear. There had never been war like it, and they could not im-1 aging how prolonged it would be nor. how disastrous would be. Its after-. math.
We are
living in very different conditions to-day. Vast numbers of. men,have no work; soms have never been employed at all. The conditions" which exist to-day, 'espečtally In The depressed areas, bear no resemblance to those of 1913; and we have the advantage, as loast of seeing what war does to a nation.
Suppose the famous Kitchener poater was to be reproduced on our hoardings in a few weeks
Ume "Your King and Country Want You." Should we respond with, flagwaving and patriotle songs? Or should we reply, "Oh, Yeah"
THE 'HONGKONG
TELEGRAPH. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1937.
NOTHING NEW about the New Cabinet. Apart from the change in the Premiership it's just
The Old Pack
RESHUFFLED
W
E have just seen quite a quick change in the Government bt the country. Mr. Baldwin quits the Parliamentary arena and, Mr. Neville Chamberlain succeeds, Seventy retires and is replaced by, sixty-eight. Youth must be served.
Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Runci- man follow their leader into private life. For the rest there is a reshuffle.
The only change of real import- ance is that of Prime Minister. Members of Parliament alone can appreciate the magnitude of this change.
Ma
R. BALDWIN was first and foremost a House of Commons man. He was assiduous in his attend- ance. He had acquired an unrivalled knowledge of the moods of the House and an ex- ceptional skill in dealing with his own following.
Again and again when things looked difficult, he was able by an adrolt and often quite irrelevant speech to relleve tension and re- store harmony.
Mr. Chamberlain, despite his skill in debate, is aloof. He has hitherto been a competent depart- mental administrator who' ad- dressed the House when neces- sary, but never seemed to share in its corporate life.
Whether he is temperamentally fitted to lead that dimcult assem- bly is open to question.
From the point of view of leadership in the country Mr. Baldwin, to an extent quite un- anticipated when he became Prime Minister. has proved most valuable asset to the Con- servative Party. Stated commer- elaily, his personality has proved an eminently saleable proposition,
T is yet to be seen whether the art of the publicity man will be able to do much with the rather Intractable material of his suc- cessor.
There are not many new..pieces nor is there much new wood in Mr. Chamberlain's Cabinet, but
see
-To-day's Thought-
To be acquainted with the
merits of a ministry, we need only observe the condi tion of the people.
JUNIUS (Leiters).
friend.
-Says the Rt. Hon.
C. R. ATTLEE, M.P.
Leader of the Opposition
old square pegs have been fitted into new round holes.
The demands of the Quota syatem Introduced when the National Government Was formed still remain in force to preserve the illusion of National unity, and together with the re- quirements of individual prestige, ensure that too much attention shall not be paid to individual qualifications in the allocation of posts.
Sir John Simon leaves the one office in which he was likely to po
a success, while Bir Bamuel Hoare goes to the Home Omco In order, presumably, that, as heir pre- sumptive to the Prime Minister, he may for the first time gala some experience of home affairs.
Mr. Oliver Stanley continues his pilgrimage from one office another, while Mr. Duff 'Cooper la to bring to the Admiralty qualities which have not been appreciated in the Junior Bervice.
to
Mr. Hore-Bellsha goes up an- other rung in the ladder.
L
ORD DE LA WARR enters the Cabinet, but
'the supply of possible Under Secretaries from the
meagre following of Mr. Mac- Donald secins to have run out,
There is a general post among the junior Ministers. As a variant to the crossword puzzle, it would be good exercise to try to work out who has been promoted and who down-graded.
The generai complexion of the unaltered. Government remains The more it changes the more it is the same. General amiablilty rather than outstanding ability is its
Disraeli principal feature.
once described a Ministry- as a
range of exhausted- volcanoes. The present Government is rather A range of low, green hills. There are no great elevations and no rugged features. Mr. Churchill remains outside in armed and possibly dangerous isolation.
There is, then, only a change of leadership. Is there likely to be any change of policy?
Mr. Chamberlain is more de-
SUCH IGNORANCE!
cisive and direct than Mr. Bald- win. Where the latter was philo- sophic, the former is business-like.
In what direction will the new Prime Ministor lend?
Here we are in a difficulty. The foreign situation continues to be disturbed and threatening, but the views of the Prime Minister in this field are quite unknown. He has rarely intervened in debate on subjects unconnected with his own' departments, and when he has done so has given the impression of sticking closely to his brief.
What his personai vlows on in- ternational subjects may be re- mains hidden. There is, however, little reason to expect any marked change in policy. The Govern- ment is to all intents and purposes Conservative.
The Liberal and National Labour elements have accepted the gen- eral principles of their ally ever more completely than did the Liberal Unionists in a previous generation.
Conservatism regards the League
of Nations not as the be- ginning of a new world order, but as a plece of machinery to be kept in being so long as it is of use in preserving the Britisti Empiro.
The whole record of the " Na- - tional" Government, in which the Conservative clement has haa Always been dominant, shown an entire lack of any desire to get away from old traditions. In foreign policy. Their support of disarma- ment and collective security was half-hearted, to say the least.
...Conservatives, are now back in. a. world which they under- stand. It is a world in which powerfully armed States play the game of power politics. Some are out to increase their possessions, others merely to retain what they hold. Sooner or later the inevitable result is war. 49 i
.
Mr. Duff Cooper's defence, last week of bribery by manufacturera armament lifted the curtain and
revealed the true mind of the Coriserva- five which rejects altó-- gether the possibility of a moral order in the world.
The pursuit of such a forélgn, policy hà, ts repercussions at home. The heavy pxo- gramme
of rearma- ment will have a steady effect in depressing the standard of life of the people. The successful opposition of the City Interests to the Na- tional Defence Contri- bution shows that the workers will be ex- pected to foot the bill.
Prices have risca and will continue to rise. National Defence will be the excuse for re- fusing to dạ, anything for the masses, while, as the new Agricultural fay- proposals, show, oured interests will get generous doles.
The Means Test will continue and the de- pressed areas remain neglected, while the cries of the victims arc drowned by the sten- The torian tones of Mr. Brown.
and duty of all. Labour. men
women
clear. We must arouse the people of the country to the danger of the position. The tem- porary and illusory prosperity In- duced in some areas by armaments must not be allowed to blind them to the realities of the situation..
The truth is that the world is drifting to another catastrophe.
A
LABOUR Government In this country pre- pared to apply Socialist principles In home and foreign
affairs can change the course of events.
I hope that the people wil disregard all attempts to divert them from the realities of the post- tion and will concentrate In making known to all the electors the immediate programma, of the Labour Party, which shows clearly the first steps to be taken to save this country and the world.
So This Is Dictation! By a Typist
HE cleared his throat.
"Dear Sirs," he said." He took a deep breath. "Dear Sirs," he cried.
weariness
in yet another business girl's mind.
tired
He was quite a good employer. I do not wish to complain, but I think he is duplicated at least once in every There was a long pause. He then office, and his dictation, judging by engaged,
"TH
THACKERY?" questioned a very Apsley House he said to the second learned Oxford don. "Let me Duke of Wellington, "I have heard that your father was a military man "Don't you remember," said his is that correct?" was later denied "Author of Vanity Fair by the Duke, who said there was not
3 word of truth in the story. But it informed me at two hundred words a his expression when so want to Bunyan-clever but is a fact that a certain "Miss J" who minute that he was in receipt of their hurts him so much that I
"belonged to the smaller English letter of so-and-so date, Inspiration help.. of gentry," "was brought up at one of failed
was May I offer a suggestion? the best schools in England," and
study the art of dictation 118 lls hope who wrote many letters to the Great sense. Agony was written on, Would it not be wiser for him to
lyplat studies the art
taking Duke, confessedly in the
He Umped along for a bit, dictation? It should not be difficult getting him to marry her, and re-
another, to ceived replies from him, had never substituting one word for
taking pieces out, going back to the to learn to write the average busi- ness letter without pausing......unduly heard of the Battle of Waterlool
Not so long ago the headmaster of sentence before the sentence before when the sentence is difficult and
ก
again. The
his face:
of
streat
of
has
spent
"Oh-ah-yes, not orthodox."
This story comes by way America. But may be true.
"Who is this Dean Swift they are talking about?" a society lady asked Lady Bulwer. "I should like to ask him to one of my receptions."
"Alas," replied Lady Bulwer, "The Dean did something that has shut
a public school in Philadelphia ad- and putting a piece in. After an- running away with oneself when it is him out of society."
lelter to Nathaniel other pause I was informed that he "You don't say so. Do tell me dressed
publishers, assured them of his best attention at easy. Often this dot-and-carry-one method of dictation is unfair to the "Well-about a hundred years ago Hawthorne, care of his
asking for his autograph to sell, in all times at a speed which was be- typist, as the time she he died."
school yond me, and the letter drew to a staring at the calendar on the wall The story that when the famous order to raise money for American, General Grant, dined at library. Evidently the library was weary conclusion with the words, opposite her chair means so much
badly needed.
Yours faithfully" pronounced less time spent making a neat job of: Sometimes ignorance is assumed slowly and.carefully as though I had her letters. for a good purpose. Arthemus Ward, never heard them before. purpose do inventions serve if men on a long distance train journey, waE
to benefit by are too uncivilised
terribly bored by a talkative gentle- them?
min, who began by telling him the How can I pln any tatth to stato-latest anecdote about Horace Gree craft, to the League of Nations, to ley. the promises of politicians at election "Greely-Horace Greeley? Who is time, to the treaties, covenants, or he7" obligations of any kind designed to The stranger was silent for five ensure peace and progress? History minutes, pendering such ignorance in on the one land, and current events an
American. After several other
on the other demonstrate that they tales of famous men, and finding that mean nothing.
Artemus Ward, who looked like an Young men and women of my age educated gentleman, had never heard are often told that they are half-of any of them, he was allent for hearted in their work, that they have some fifteen minutes of blessed peace. no enthusiasm for anything, and that Then he naked what he, thought of they are the forerunners of a drift General Grant's chance for the Pre- age. There is, freely admit much bidency.
Naturally enough, my attitude to- wards every aspect of. life is In- fluenced by the grim spectre of war: How can I, for instange, respect the Church, when a feaders failed to put a stop to the mad
have that went on for four years?, -nay, they even egged on the com- batants, promoted recruitment and became, in fact, a milliant church In Founder never a sense which its intended.
What faith 'cant'I'putin seléneo, having learned to what fieridlsh' uses It has been put in warfare? What
truth in these accusations; but we "Grani? Grant? Hang it, man, you
no good foundation
for seem to know more strangers than Ambition, if there is nothing in the any man I ever saw,"
The moon was furious. He walked world as we find it which commands. enthusiasm. If, in addition we find off up the car, but came back to say. the burden of our fathers' sina ro "You confounded ignoramus-did heavy that the task of remodelling you ever hear of Adam?"?
the world is beyond us-then Woj Artemus looked up, What was eannot well be blamed if we adopt, his other name?"
as I have done, the motto. "Every- After that he was left in penec. one for himself."
M. D.
was once employed by
man It is useless to add that his words whose dictation was a revelation. It had not only to penetrate his lips, but flowed. I thought this was the real also his cigarette. He was only an- thing at last. I was enchanted, un- other tired business mon dictating a til I discovered he was reading from
seeds of n scrap of paper. letter, and sowing the
WHEN AT HOME
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