Friday,
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
November 24, 1939.
British Empire Wines
SEPPELT'S
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Ruby Wine of Port Character Rich, Fruity, Mellow and Mature
AUSTRAL TAWNY PORT Exquisite Bouquet and Flavour
OLD RESERVE SOLERO SHERRY
AND
EXTRA DRY SOLERO SHERRY
of Supreme Quality and Palate
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A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD.
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OPENS TO-MORROW
KING'S
For the Finest Performance
of the Year.
Bette Davis
For the Finest Picture
You've Ever Seen.......
"Dark Victory
GEORGE BRENT HUMPHREY BOGART GERALDINE FITZGERALD · RONALD REAGAN. HENRY TRAVERS CORA WITHERSPOON Directed by EDMUND GOULDING • Proasted by WARNER BROS.
Guessing Competition Prizes Presented by the Theatre, and Suiter Photographic Service.
The
Hongkong Telegraph.
Friday, November 24, 1939 Wyndham St., Hongkong Telephone: 26615
THE prefix "Special to the Telegraph" Is used by the "Hongkong Telegraph" to Indicate nowe which în „strielly copyright under the provisions of tho Telecommuni- cations Ordinance, 1936. Such news an hears the indicatión "UP" ) received in Hongkang on the date of publication by We Velfed Pren Andelstions, win res serve nit rights and forbid republication, either wholly or in part without previous arrangement,
Economic Strategy
this
Though many of the conditions and weapons of war have been trans- formed since Britain and Germany lost came to the grapple, there is one fundamental factor at least which has not changed; and that is the economic factor, It Is that which determines in the long run the cap- neity of a nation to maintain and exert effectively its armed strength. It Is fo Ibe national potential
fuel is 419
the engine; to
and realising
Germans fact, the ninde it
of their one
first cares to strike at our economic structure, They resumed at once their sub- marine campaign against British shipping the campaign which was frustrated only just in lume at the end of the last war. When that falled-as-failed--t--un- doubtedly has-they resorted to the barbarism of sowing the seas with uncharted mines. Their calculation is that if the supplies from overseas, which are Britain's fe-blood, can be Interrupted successfully enough Br tain shall be forced to submission by sheer inanition. Britain shall, as it: were, have sustained a decisive body- blow. The national machine will be brought to 值 standstill, and the people who man it will be faced with privations approneking even to im- minent sinrvation. That is the de- sign which it is the exneling task of the Royal Navy to defeat, at the same time that it delivers a counter-
blow at the economic foundations of Germany by cutting off her external supplies, That is not the lenst vital, if the less spectacular, element in this struggle, It is comparable to lie contest in the Roman arena of the gladiator with the sword and the gladiator with the net and trident,
What the
nation wants
to know
HERE has now de- veloped in the public mind-and it is essen- tini in the national interest that it should be frankly stated a growing be- wilderment as to the course of the war.
There is bewilderment and there is considerable uneasiness---an un- casiness of which it is essential the Government should be made aware.
That uneasiness does not mean any alackening in the resolution of the Hrish people. On the contrary, R prises out of an anxiety no to whether the Goverment is doing all that is possible effectively to implement that resolution.
What is the basis of this pubile un- casiness and how far has it jus:lica- tion?
It is based on three things:
First, an what appears to the ordinary person to be the ** slow start" of the war and especially the comparative alightness of our effort on the Western front so far.
Secondly, on our faflure to give ade quale aid to Poland and nɛ a conze- quener the virtual collapse of the war on the two fronts, with all its strato- gleal advantages.
And thirdly, on the, accumulating evidence of lack of co-ordinated plan. ning at home in dealing with the problems of supplies, and with the no lens vital problem of the organized transition of industry from peace to
War.
The public uneasiness in these matters cannot be concealed, and it would be no service to the nation to try and conceal it.
strengths of democracy is that it On the contrary, ona of the great enables frank discussion of such matters, and thus provides a constant spur to the executive authority and a constant safeguard against weakness of purpose or ineficiency in tant authority.
This is particularly necessary is war-time.
How far is this public concern about the speed and nature of our war effort justified?
Probably, so far as the first basis for uneasiness, hardly at all.
* *
It is, nevertheless, natural that there should be such a feeling among people united-as this nation" is united-in the ballef that an intolerable domina-. tion of the life of Europe by recurring
salon, can be ended only by the
The task of the Navy in this matter is not only exacting as a naval operation; li also needs, in order to be effective, to conform to a strategy elaborated not by the Admiralty but by a chosen body of experts in the economic, financial and industrial spheres. This body must know the vulnerable places in the enemy's economy and how best to reach them, and must also know where to go worlly and where to lean with all the weight available. That is the responsibilty of the Ministry of
defeat of Hitlerism; a nation, more-` Economie Warfare, Its staff has been
over, which above all desired peace and drawn in part from the Civil Service which went into war as a last resort and Jn part from the leaders of only because it wna made clear that commerce and industry most familiar the integrity of no country was safe, with the main channels of Interna- and go relance upon negotinted settle- tlonal trade,
ment of international problems `poa. It is true that for a long time sible so long as tieriam sprawled Germany has been laying In large stocks of foodstuffs and raw materials; but a protracted war would exhaust thèse, and deprived of the means to renew them, and the ability to enforce a quick decision, the German war- potential would decline in an increus❤ Ingly sharp curve. There the effect of sea-power, sure as it may be slow, will assert itself, as it did in the Napoleonic Wars. That is how the gladiator with the net and trident slowly. provalls over the gladiator with the sword;; and it is good to know that a front is, by the nature of the oppos the shapers of British strategy have so promptly and so thoroughly pro- pared the most potent weapon in the national armoury for its purpose. As long as the espacity to hold on ro mains, the end is not in doubt,
across Europe.
We were, on that Sunday morning on witch war was declared, keyed up to a great and immediate effort.
Inevitably the slow process of mod. ern war between great Powers pro- vided an anti-climax to that moment,
Modern war between powerful hially nations facing each other as on the organised and highly Industrialised Western Front, behind immensely strong.fortifications, is bound to mave
No early and decisive action on such
ing forces and the strength of the defensive position of each, possible.
To attempt it would be madacas We do not want the lives of our young men thrown away'this' time on eplo attacks foredoomed to fallure.
wwwbyw
FRANCIS
WILLIAMS
Nor will this war be decided by military effort alone. Victory will re- Bull from the co-ordinated operation of political, economic and military force. The great strength of thể allled forces les hot in man power-great though that is-nor weight of arms on land and in the air-heavy though bc.
But it lies in the combination of these with the immense economie re
sources which wo control, with our ability both through naval blockada and by the exercise of our economic influence to prevent the flow of essen- tinl materials to Germany and with the immense political assots we possess in the international goodwill of neutral countries, who accept and ap- prove the motives which have sent us to war.
a
The combined effect of these politi- cal, economic and military foreca can- xot become operative for considerable time.
It would be foolish to weaken in any way the long range advantage they give us by precipitate military action tusving no justification other than the possible tonic effect upon the public of the feeling that something WI being done-a tents which would be soon dissipated if an effort taken without proper preparation proved un- successful.
The collapse of the Eastern front is a different matter.
*
Here, the fact that Britain and Franco did so lo beforehand to assist Poland, either by material ald or military advice, to withstand the German attack, in a legitimate cause for concern, particularly it the failure in the symptom of a "one-front” mind on the part of the Government or the military authorities, which may lend to the missing of aiher opportunities in the future.
Yet, in distributing responsibility, the crushing effect of the unexpected -Russian intervention cannot be nini-
mined,
But for this, a rallying of Polish forces in positions more defensible than those from which they had re- treated-and retreated, it has to bo remembered, without very heavy casualties would have been possible.
And at that stago British and French Assistance could have been made avail- able to stiffen the resistance.
The Russian intervention made that impossible. Yet, oven taking that into account, wo atili await an adequate explanation of the fallure to send sup- port to Poland earlier.
It is a grievous and tragic failure. and one for which responsibility must, when the evidence is availablo, be fixed.
★
It would neom, too-though here t is Imposible to form a complate`Judg. ment since all the factors which have to be taken into account cannot yet bo generally known-that we havo so far made insufficient use of the air arm, not for heavy fighting for which the time has not yet come, but for the surprise attack.
Kiel, the leaflet ralds over Germany We began woll, The air raid in
Had the right quality of imaginativo dash But we have not followed him up, why? ·
Such enterprises.have a dual valle. They serve to horien one's own people
and help to undermine the morale of the enemy-who cannot tell where the next attack will come. Their cumulative effect is much greater than the sun of the effects of each indi- vidual blow.
Particularly is this the case when wo know that within Germany there is grave weakness, and where there are, as in the gallanit “revolutionaries of Dohemia and Moravia, men and women who are enrolled with us in the battle for freedom,
Their efforts would be enormously assisted if a Government, having to deal with internal revolt, had at the same time to withstand the psycho- logical effect upon the population generally of a series of daring surprise ralds upon scattered military objec Lives.
We must be careful lest the poten- tially immense assistance which could come from internal revolts within
Germany is dissipated through lack of supporting activities by our own forcea
What is at the moment the most serious of all the factors inoking for public concern is the absence of any ated planning on the home front. evidence of really effective co-ordin- The criticism made by Mr. Arthur
Greenwood of the weaknessca at the Ministry of Supply, provide grounds for the gravest public disquie
*
LOST CHANCES IN CHINA
By CLARK LEE
Tientsin, (By Mail).-The Union Jack, symbol of Great Britain's almost unchallenged predominance In Far Eastern shipping for nearly a century, is being rapidly replaced on China's seas and rivers by the Rising Sun of Japan's fast expanding mer- chant fleet.
P.tu
of
Japanese shipping companies are cushing in handsomely ΟΠ their navy's conquest of Chinese seaports and waterways. With hundreds of miles of inland rivers closed to all tut Japanese vessels, operations along the entire China coast being made so dimeult for shipping that a complete Japanese monopoly
be only question appears · time.
While British ships lle idle, Japa- nese ship yards are turning out small vessel for the China trade at the rate of 80,000 tons a month.
British shipping firms, which re- present one-fourth of Great Britain's gold Investment in $2,000,000,000 China, are so hampered by restric- tons and one-alded regulations
that they can no longer maintain regular schedules. Revenue from passengers and freight has fallen sharply with Japanese compantes getting the busl ness which formerly went to the Bri- tish.
20 Per Cont Drop Noted The British shipping business Shanghai, for example, declined 20 per cent. during the month of Sep- tember, 1930, while Japanese ship-
These weaknesses' and comparable weakness in other sectors of industrial and economic control are symptomatic of a deep-seated failure on the part ofing gained by exactly members of the Coremment to under stand the nature and scope of the problem which faces us.
It may well be that this failure comes from causes so congenital that it will not be remedied so long as this present men remain in control.
the
summe
soing China
amount. In other ports, British ships ก traction of the handled but volume of even a
year ago. While the European war has taken British ships away from the service and thus contributed to this [decline, British officials state the loss is mostly the result of Japanese restrictions.
The nation muy before long have to ask solf whether they are the kind of people who are likely to provo
A brief survey of China's import- capable of organising a natiorini, effort
ant commercial ports tells the story. which necessarily Involves a planning
Tientsin is closed to all ocean of economic resources and a central control of great industries altogether Hoing ships as a result of silting of allen to their political philosophy and
the Toku
Bar, at the mouth of the thair thought.
Hai river. The trip of 35 miles from Finally, failure in the vial task of Tuku to Tientsin takes three days bringing our case before the world for passengers on British ships, in- persists. It comes not only from an cluding a 48-hour wait in quarantine inefficiency in the censorship and news and one-night on a river launch. departments of the Ministry of Infor- Meanwhile, Japanese ships maintain mation, so great that neutral countries three day schedules between Tientsin which are crying out for British news and Shanghai via Dairen. After are forced through lack of it to series of menacing anti-British de- their papers with German propaganda, monstrations, the British plots". -
but from a desper cause.
sociation operating on the Hat river was sold to Japanese. Lighters cargoes from Tientsin's blockaded British concessions aro sometimes the river. Japanese
Thero appears yet to be na ngree, ment upon the principles which should govern our propaganda. Yet the whole of propaganda experienco do monstrates that a successful campaign fired at in must be based on the putting over of blame "Chinese irregulars" for these A number of ideas which need to be attacks, expressed over and over again,
Until these ideas are agreed and are made the basis of all propaganda work, eñork must be dissipated.
That is happening now,
It is the more tingle because, the Ideas for which we fight, the motives which inspiro our arms, ate such, pro- perly expressed, as not only to steel
the resolution of our own people, but to win the sympathy and support of all men and women of goodwill throughout the world.
Fox Bites Man
And Dies
Foar Rotallation Chetoo, long famous for its Ilnen exports, is no longer a profitablo port of call for British ships. Japancet controlled lighterage compantes re- fuse to unload British vessels until all Japanese ships in the harbour are landed and unloaded. No British chips can get export cargo. +
At Tsingtao, no British ships are allowed within the inner harbour. Chinese shippers, here and elsewhere, refused to send cargo by British vessels, stating that they fear reta- ilation by the Japanese against their business.
Shanghai is still open to ships of all nations, but through Japanese control of the customs, and currency manipulation, customs, 'dulles have been sharply increased., The Whong- poo river, which was formerly dredg- SAN JOSE-Science now knows ed at regular intervals by the Chinese
government, is fast filing with allt.. what happens to a fox when it bites Unless the river is dredged within a
ja policeman. Police Captain Charles year or so, experts report, such big A. Heriell was attempting to give President Coolidge and the Canadian runspacific Uners as the American
some medicing to his pet fox when Empress of Japan, wlif hot be, able it bit his hand. Just as a measure of to reach Shanghal Buting of the Yongle bar, at the mouth of the precaution, Herfell underwent Pas Whangpoo, already requires large tour treatment, but the fox diod,"
PLEASE Turn To Page 9.