(Contributed).
'On' August 4, 1914, commenced wud on November 11 terminated, the Breatest catastrophe in history—the world war. That war, and all it entailed, (can never be effaced from history and. never removed from living memory; and while its effects will be felt, by victor and Vanquished alike for many genera~ tions to come, it still remains, to those who were concerned or interested in it, directly or indirectly, 8 a ghastly nightmare constantly obtruding itself, and a. glaring xe~ flexion of mah's crowning triumph lund glory in futility since the world began. We all of us, in our hearts, want to forget that war, but cannot for on all men and women of the present generation, in all stations of life and of all nationalities, the war constantly has its (generally Daneful)—influence—economically, sentimentally, physically and morally. This influence, this reminder of those four terrible years when half of the world's modern civilization paid tribute to the idol of slaughter—the modern Moloch—who ever was Satiety Unsatisfied, may in many cases be indefinite and indefinable, but always it is th We cannot forget the war, how much we would like to, but we hope and expect that we shall not unnecessarily be reminded of it, and cof what it meant and means. "And yet such unnecessary reminders are constantly occurring though the medium of the one agency which really could be interesting and me structive, and even uplifting—the cinema, Why, nearly six years after the termination of the war, do our local cinema exhibitors persist in showing pictures of or concerning the war? Possibly the exhibitors in Shanghai are to blame in showing war pictures years old and which, have been forgotten in other parts of the world; if not, it can only be assumed that the producers, faced with a famine in suitable subjects, still continue to appeal to the public by fanning those international flames of hatred which, owing to five and a half years of political and diplomatic blundering and national celt, are still smouldering in the hearts of those who won and those The deeds of 0 Tate the sacrifices and the f our own peoples, can humanity's true conception of them, We in Shanghai, like thousands of other places, have our war memorial 8 a solemn reminder of what the war meant, and it is not only une necessary, but positively harmful, to remind us and our former enemies of those four years of Armageddon a time when the chief sential to a rehabilitation of the world's normalcy is a prolonged era of peace, with inter-racial hatred premium instead of at a discount, This appears generally to be realiz= ed by all except the cinema peopl and unless and until they also s appreciate and act upon the fact. that humanity has enough of wat and hatred, they will continue in their present pastime of re-poisoning the minds of mankind. ry officer is quoted by the ting that the authorlties are desirous of a speedy evacuation of Northern Saghalien, if possible, as the maintenance of troops there interferes with military educa tion. The evacuation will, however, bbe Smpossible unless the Russian authorities give a clear pledge that the safety of the Japanese residents that territory will be guaranteed ter the withdrawal of the Japanes9 troops. Arrangements must also be previously made with the Russian authorities as to the disposition of the light railways, wireless install fons and other equipment provided the Japanese troops of occupation. Even if the evacuation policy were decided upon to-morrow, it would be impossible, says the officer, to withdraw all the troops with in a fortnight, as i domanded by Russia. "The sea on the eastern coast' of Saghalien is, shallow, and consequently the troops stationed there will have to march to the western coast to embark for home, this process secupying two
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.