The cimmerian gloom of destruction and brutality is here relieved by many examples of philanthropic activity and spontaneous efforts to mitigate suffering. The report on the Refugee Camps is thus encouraging. It shows how Chinese and Foreign workers are diligently endeavouring to grapple with the problems which have been created by the influx of homeless, workless and destitute refugees into the International Settlement. Obviously this labour is in a sense a measure of self-protection; no community can be blind to the danger of entertaining hosts of men, women and children for whom the normal economic, sanitary and social machinery of the city must be inadequate. Dr. R. C. Robertson, as Officer-in-Charge of Refugee problems voluntarily attached to the Public Health Department, gives a cheering picture of practical commonsense vigour shown by the departmental organizations and the public bodies which have ce-operated in ministering io the refugees. and in facilitating their evacuation. It will be noted that gaps have io be filled. For instance the provision of a large house for the establishment of a small hospital for tubercular cases would be a real act of generosity which should appeal to the imagination of a large-hearted property-owner. Crude cod liver oil in bulk is urgently required and the departmental supply of ointments and antiseptic lotions might well be supplemented by private gifts in kind. There is no doubt that at this time the splendid work which medical and lay effort is doing should command a more widespread support from the community as a whole. The obligations of the wealthy are not exhausted by the donation of a few thousand dollars here and there. The situation demands real self-sacrifice and the ordinary appeal is apt to be heeded only by those who already have inured themselves to the gospel of altruism. It is easy to suggest what can be done. It is easy to criticize the disclosed joints in the armour of civic protection. What Shanghai wants to see is some practical stirring of the conscience of wealthy residents who have the substance by which remedial processes can be.richly endowed.
This seems to apply with considerable force to the work of dealing with the refugees. At ihis time Shanghai is undergoing a severe financial shock but everyone knows that there is ample wealth in private hands for supplying the deficiencies of which Dr. Robertson writes. It may be futile to appeal for a more generous disbursement of this wealth on ordinary grounds of humanity. Let the demand be made on the prosaic basis of self-interest. If the wealthy desire to see this city quickly recover from the present ills it is incumbent on them to ensure that no medical supplies which money can buy are lacking at this moment. Such supplies mean the suppression of disease, the elimination of distress and the consequent avoidance of dangers which beside exposing the community to immediate disaster must inevitably retard the approach to recovery. If the heroic work of medical men and nurses were io meet with commensurate emulation from citizens who, unpossessed of personal capacity for relieving suffering, have ample resources at their command in coffers and banks, it is safe to say that the refugee problem would be solved. Public men have moved in the matter, but the community is not composed entirely of public men. There are others who keep themselves discreetly in the background, emerge diffidently to offer advice, stand forth not so diffidently to condemn or criticize—then retire into their shells to count their savings which they hope in due course will be securely available when the clouds have rolled by. This attitude is anti-social. It is not necessarily deliberately selfish. It derives more often than not from a certain timidity—perhaps from a past experience of the woes of extreme poverty—and from a certain lack of perception. If it be squarely put {o sich laggards that they would rise in their own estimation as well as in that of their fellow-men by boldly pooling resources for the commumity's benefit they may be encouraged to bring their powerful aid to bear on the fight against disease, destitution and despair. In the well-worn biblical phrase they may realise that the gain of the whole world is of no profit to him who loses his soul. Souls are lost to-day when their owners forget to share in the common effort to succour their fellow-men.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.