Great Britain and a Better World
FOR several years it has been our practice to include in the " Better World " Christmas issue of the Spectator an article which seeks to direct attention to some of the more urgent problems in the nation's life, and for one week in the year to deal with ultimate objectives rather than immediate problems.
How to eliminate war is much the most urgent task which faces this generation. We agree with Professor Zimmern that it is " the only thing that matters in international relations at the present time " ; civilization has reached a point where it must abolish war or perish by war. Somehow or other we have to make the Kellogg Pact a reality and those who are working for sanity in international relations will have to redouble their efforts, for at the moment the reactionaries are busy. In Great Britain we are witnessing the sorry. spectacle of popular organs watching with glee the failure of the League of Nations so far to solve the Manchurian problem, and openly advocating with-. drawal from Geneva, so that Great Britain may attend " to her own affairs " ; a doctrine which clearly shows that its advocates are possessed of a pre-War mentality.
Within a few days of the Armistice celebration one may well ask whether as a nation we are doing our utmost for the cause of Peace. It is thirteen years since the War, and without in any way lessening the respect we pay to the dead, could we not turn Armistice Day into Peace Day ? There is already a movement to celebrate "Peace Sunday" in certain countries; in Great Britain the Sunday before Christmas has been celebrated as Peace Sunday for a century, in Italy and Holland it is the fourth Sunday in Advent, in Sweden the first Sunday in November. Each nation has its own celebration. Here is a case for international action. If the Armistice celebrations could be transformed into a Peace Week, culminating in a day of worship for the cause of World Peace on the Sunday following November 11th, something that would appeal to public imagination would have been achieved.
Our Peace propaganda is not sufficiently picturesque. It is so much easier to stir emotions by an appeal to all the panoply of war, the flying banners and the rolling of the drums. And yet to organize the armies of Peace should not be impossible. Lord Baden-Powell has shown in the holding of an international Scouts' Jamboree that the advoCacy of world peace can be made picturesque. The enthusiasm with which modern Germany has thrown itself into physical training, as those who have witnessed the displays in the great stadiuM. outside Berlin can testify, and the superb organization of the Sokols in Czechoslovakia arc instances of what can be done. • But workerS for Peace must 'not underestimate the difficulties. The baize-table of the conference rooni is not as picturesque as the battlefield, seen from a distance. Perhaps one of the best ways to preserve Peace would be 'to follow the advice Lord D'Abernon gave to his B.B.C. audience last Month when he said; " All statesmen and officials responsible for the outbreak of hostilities' should' be included in the first detachments sent to the front.. . . and those concerned in the manu facture of armaments."
When we survey the progress which the nation has made in coming to grips with our internal problems we must sorrowfully admit that little headway has been made in the task of reconstruction. It is true much has been done in re-housing the middle and lower-middle classes, much has also been achieved in road-making, probably no country in the world has better roads, but the major task remains untouched. How are we to wipe out the greatest menace to our 'ciVilization- the slums ? Since the Spectator - first devoted a series of articles to the slum .evil Governments have come and gone, many conferences have been held, successive Ministers of Health have made eloquent speeches, but the problem remains almost untouched so far as it affects the lOwest strata in our large'. cities, although, of course', we must gratefully acknowledge the splendid work of the voluntary housing societies in the face of great odds. We think the nation has failed because it has not approached the matter nationally. We need a new crusade, a deliberate campaign with the definite objective of wiping out every slum in Great Britain in ten years. The thing can be done if we are' sufficiently in earnest.
In education great progress has undoubtedly been made, but we are still a long way from equal educational opportunities for all, irrespective of class. Our education .
must be more democratically planned. We are many years behind the Scandinavian countries and indeed behind our own Dominions in this matter. Insufficient education strikes at the very roots of our life. It is the superior education of the Danish agricultural worker which is largely responsible for the commanding position Denmark occupies in the export market. • If we could organize a Peace Army for undertaking urgent tasks of national reconstruction on the Bulgarian model, there are many jobs at hand. One of the advan- tages of such a scheme of conscription for national non-military service is that it inculcates in the citizen the recognition that he is a cog in the machine of State and that his individual services are required to make the wheels revolve. There is still urgent need for a national health crusade, which would include better pre-natal care of the child, and greater protection for the expectant mother, and a drastic overhauling of the methods of caring for the nation's teeth ; in dental matters we are a C3 nation. A' wise nation' would spend less' money on palliatiVe measures and more on prevention and in reforming the national dietary. And' included in our health campaign must be the provision of more air and sunlight for. our city dwellers by the abolition of the smoke nuisance.
In industry we should examine such projects as that put forWard by Mr. Gerard Swope, the President of the General Electric Co. of America, which employs 78,000 workers, and others. Broadly, we must admit that modern industry must recognize as its first obligation service and not unrestricted profits. As far as the organization of public utilities are concerned we must seek to learn from the examples set by the Port of London and the B.B.C. In the control of the drink trade we are opposed to private ownership and we favour State ownership or control on some such lines as -Sweden's experiments and of our own at Carlisle. In our treatment of animals there is still much to be done. A hundred years hence no sport will be tolerated that involves cruelty. In the, immediate future our task will be to introduce a universal measure of humane killing applied to all animals, to abolish stag-hunting, otter hunting and rabbit coursing. The task of pre- serving the countryside must be supported with renewed zeal and a series of National Parks must be established.
The recent financial crisis and the difficult times through which the nation is passing will not have come in vain if they incite in us the determination to recognize our shortcom- ings and to create a better Britain in abetter worlds
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