Io UUR WORLD DUUMED?
By H. F. Ue’Ath, London Correspondent
MAAS EN W. E. Gladstone entered
British politics in the Victorian era, he did
so determined strictly to follow out Chris-
tian principles. But he found this seem-
ingly impracticable, so he had to content
himself with adhering as closely as he could
to those principles.
Now this was commendable so far as it
went. But no true Christian would regard
such a compromise as satisfactory. Far
from it. Yet Gladstone did at least strive
to maintain Christian standards, which
striving served to keep the political atmos-
phere much purer than it might otherwise
have been. Thus did he and those of like
mind seek to produce and preserve the lofty
character and greatness of the British na-
tion. Moreover, the example of British
integrity had its influence on the leaders of
other nations, and so helped to maintain a
measure of integrity in international affairs.
But the world has changed lamentably
since the days of Gladstone. Today there
is far less effort to maintain Christian
standards in national and international
affairs. Indeed, in many quarters, respon-
sible leaders have ceased to strive alto-
gether in this direction. The result 1s
inevitable decline in character and morals.
This is a hard, wicked world, we are told,
and to make good in any direction you must
be hard and wicked too.
Such, for instance, was the attitude
of the late distinguished Premier of
France during the World War of 1914-
1918. Of him Mr. Webb Mills, Ameri-
can foreign correspondent, says: “lle
knew there were no morals in interna-
tional relations, and did not pretend that
there were.”
What a terrible indictment of world
pel tics! Nor have things improved since
that premier’s time. Indeed, they have
gone from bad to worse, for, according to a
recently published book by another Ameri-
can correspondent, Thomas Kernan, who
was in France at the time of her capitula-
tion to Germany, the personnel of the
French government at that time would
hardly bear inspection. “Few govern-
ments,” says Mr. Kernan, “have existed
in a shabbier moral atmosphere.” He cites
examples of what he calls “boudoir in-
trigue”’—that 1s, to put it plainly, the
political wire-pulling of notorious courte-
sans, the mistresses of national leaders.
Evidently, French Government circles
at the time were as bad morally as they
could be. No ship of state could steer a
safe course for long with such men at
the helm. When responsible Frenchmen
are asked, says Mr. Kernan, why I'rance
fell, they reply: “What did you ex-
Page TEN
pect? We were rotten, absolutely rotten.”
But this foul rot is by no means confined
to one nation. Some national rulers have
whole-heartedly accepted lying and murder
and plunder and persecution as legitimate
political instruments by which they hope
to advance the interests of their nation and
bring other nations to the dust. Christian
principles are openly denounced and de-
rided, even by those who should most
strongly uphold them.
Some rulers resort to murderous treach-
ery as a legitimate means of achieving
power. Relatively, of course, the weight of
justice and righteousness in the present
conflict 1s with the Allied cause. No gov-
ernment is perfect in this imperfect world.
But when nations claim to be fighting for
freedom and justice, their leaders need to
watch their steps very closely.
It has been said that President Wilson,
when at the Peace Conference, was no
match for “wily” European statesmen.
His own wife has left it on record that she
was glad he was not, for he could not and
NNN
would not descend to the political chicanery
practiced by them. A man of such sterling
principles and meticulous honesty must
have felt out of place with politicians who
were admittedly cynical and unscrupulous.
He made a bold but apparently ineffective
stand for righteousness as he saw it, but
lost. Selfishness and self-seeking were much
more in evidence than they should have
been.
The President attempted an impossible
task. The odds were against him, and
broke even his indomitable spirit. The final
reckoning alone will reveal how nobly he
fought for lofty ideals, which it seems were,
and are, impossible of achievement in this
evil world.
Even in free and less corrupted England,
there are sinister signs that moral standards
are not what they were. Nor is the Chris-
tian religion the virile force it once was. As
taught in Holy Writ, it is still as virile as
ever,— ‘the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth.” (Romans 1:16.)
But the Gospel of Christ has been so
watered down by critics, so shorn of its
essential truths to meet the demands of
rationalistic thinkers, that its own inherent
power has been cut away.
The result has been that the drink and
gambling evils have not been strongly and
courageously dealt with. Home and family
life are becoming disintegrated by loose
moral standards, which contemptuously
(Continued on page 17)
ZZL.
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ANY
x The Pacific War Council in session al the White House. Seated are: Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and President Roosevelt. Standing, left to right, are: Dr. Eelco van Kleefens, Netherlands
Foreign Minister; Owen Dizon, Australian Minister; Leighton McCarthy, Canadian Minister to
the United States; Canadian Prime Minister W. L. MacKenzie King; Lord Halifax, British
Ambassador; Dr. T. V. Soong, Chinese Minister of Finance; Manuel Quezon, Philippine Presi-
dent; and Walter Nash, New Zealand Minister to the United States. Will these benevolent-
minded statesmen save an apparently doomed world? Let Mr. De’ Ath answer this question.
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