Then, when the world is born again And the sweet year before thee lies Shall thy heart think of coming pain Or vex itself with memories?
It is a very appropriate question to ask, in times such as these, as to how the year ahead shall be entered into. There is, of course, every reason to look forward with anxiety. Not only because of the immediate situation in China, but because of the conditions which pertain in the rest of the world. While there is prosperity in Great Britain, the same can hardly be said of most of the other countries, even that of Japan has diminished and is being grievously hit by the military adventure in which she is engaged. Politically the world is experiencing an unstable peace, one which has been: grave danger of disruption during the year which has passed; that danger has not yet been removed, and the unhappy impression is formed that there are forces bent on keeping the world in this state of turmoil in the hope of sooner or later doing some profitable fishing in its troubled waters. In China millions of peaceful farmers, and merchants are fleeing before the advance of the Japanese armies, homeless, destitute and in increasing danger of famine through the general disruption of the national system. Hundreds of thousands have died directly or indirectly as a result of what has been happening during these last four and a Half months, and the blood of the innocent cries unavailingly to the skies. It is inevitable that the old year should pass out in a black cloud of hatred, hatred not only of one nation for another, but in the hearts of neutrals hatred of the iniquity which is being perpetrated. That is how the dyed-in-the-wool pacificist will see present conditions: the realist is just as impressed by the aspect.
There is something inexpressibly beautiful about the coming of a new year, as beautiful as the white page to which these thoughts are being committed, for at the end of each year, spotless at its beginning, the full tale of good and evil, of happiness and unhappiness must eventually be told. What will it look like twelve months hence? It would be idle to prophesy, but this should always be borne in mind, desperate though the outlook may be, the forces of good have not destroyed. They may find matters during the coming year, but the love of justice, of truth, of humanity, of freedom is still as strong as ever it was, even though for the moment it may be dismayed by the strength opposed to it. Nor is the faith which this sentiment inspires any the weaker, nor the courage in which it is held, It may be that this new year will call for greater sacrifices from mankind. The ideals which it holds so firmly may demand them, and the fortitude of the human race is such that they will be made cheerfully, in the stern belief of their necessity, The heart will think of coming pain, but to vex itself with memories, merely for the purpose of a moral flagellation will be useless. Memories, nowadays are only useful for the purpose of discovering how to avoid future errors. And yet there must be an exception even to that generalization, The remembrance of the manner in which this strange city of Shanghai has borne. the tribulations of the last year, the disappointment of seeing a revival of business dashed to the ground, perhaps not to recovey for years to come, and the horrors of those hi ght August days which struck dismay into} its very heart, is an inspiration to pre. Whatever may be said of Shanghai, however wicked the casual sensational writer may endeavour to make it, the fact emerges that Shanghai is gifted with a sound heart and high courage. The people of Shanghai are the inhabitants of no mean city.
The heart does think of coming pain; it is bewildered by the misery around it, but it has risen to the facts of the past, and there is no reason to believe that it will not rise to ihe occasion in the future, should such demands be made upon it. There is comfort in the reflection that the economic future of Shanghai cannot be denied. Not until it raison d'étre has been completely wiped cut, and China reduced to a state of complete desolation—an unthinkable hypothesis—will the future of Shanghai be hopeless. There are many whose prospects have been dashed to the ground by all that has happened here of late, who have been driven back to the wall, who will be obliged to start all over again in an endeavour ta rebuild their fortunes, With them there is the deepest possible sympathy, and hope that in the New Year they may find a betterment of an outlook which at present looks so black. To others more fortunately situated there must be an expression of the hope that their good fortune will continue. And if the expression of good wishes is to be extended it would be to the Chinese people that during the new year peace will again be brought to them, a peace consonant with their national dignity; for the Japanese the hope that the disaster they are wreaking upon an innocent people, in their endeavour to chastise a government, will not rebound too severely upon their own heads. The old year has turned out to have been a very bad old man, the new one seems ta be starting out like a confirmed rake, but, who knows? It may be, by the time this yearly editorial again comes to be written, that he may have been completely reformed.
It is to be hoped so, and in that hope it is possible to wish the readers of this- journal all good things for the twelvemonth which has now commenced,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.