One of the principal arguments adduced by Herr Hitler in his "Mein Kampf" against democracies is the irresponsibility of the members of any government elected by the people. The fallacy of such an argument could not have been better illustrated than by the agitation which has grown up in the House of Commons against the Cabinet, owing to the temporary setbacks which have been suffered in Norway. Undoubtedly, the Cabinet, in the opinion of the British public, is responsible, and they are expected to produce rabbits out of their hats in order to counteract it. No one who understands anything of the machinery of modern government can entertain this idea for more than a moment. The Cabinet must necessarily depend for expert advice upon those who are thoroughly familiar with the situation to be faced, and in the case of the landings in Norway, there seems to be little doubt that, if anyone was at fault, it was the General Staff. It is by no means certain, even, that the General Staff erred, for there seems to have been an underestimate of the powers and enthusiasm of the Norwegian resistance which seriously hampered the small bodies of troops landed and now withdrawn, But whoever can have been at fault in this connection, it is obvious that the Prime Minister and his more intimate associates, who have all the major problems of statesmanship to consider, should not be blamed. Mr. Chamberlain, like any other man who might hold a similar post, must be in the hands of expert advisers. He cannot be another Hitler—an expert in all departments of war or peace, whose "volce"—as it has been well described by Sir Nevile Henderson—is more powerful than the force of gravity. Sir John Simon's reminder of the united responsibility of the War Cabinet was therefore timely. Though there may be many who think that a man of seventy-one is too old to bear the tremendous responsibility of conducting a war against an admittedly efficient, and quite ruthless, enemy, it would be unfair to attribute to him alone errors of judgment—if they were errors—made by comparative juniors. There seems, therefore, to be something artificial in the personal agitation against Mr. Chamberlain and his senior colleagues. In the long run "it's steady as does it." No one should confuse the old adage that "a man is as old as his arteries" with the truism that "a prime minister is as old as his youngest adviser." y Important Discovery The account of the discovery of a new substance, at present known as "235" the calor energy of one kilogrammes of which is said to equal that of 5,000,000 kilogrammes of coal is interesting as indicating that after all the scientist's dream of a motor car engine no larger than a top-hat, with a piece of fuel the size of a walnut to drive it until the machine falls to pieces, may be nearer than most people imagine. Nevertheless: it is suggested that the report be accepted with some reserve. It is reported that the qualities of "235" have been known for some time past, but that the method of isolating it in a manner which would make it useful from an industrial point of view has only recently been discovered. Apparently 139 kilogrammes of uranium, a metallic, chemical element, contains one kilogrammes of the new source of energy, and it is stated that the production of the same in useful quantities is now only a matter of months. If indeed this proves to be the case a most revolutionary discovery has been made, one which may entirely change man's conception of the best means of generating energy, and lead to the discontinuance of methods, which, though effective, are known to be comparatively wasteful. Uranium is obtained from pitchblende, of which it is the principal in-gradient. It was M. H. Klaproth who, in 1789, analyzed pitchblende, and obtained a yellow oxide which on being reduced at a high temperature with charcoal yielded Uranium. Just how the new source of energy is to be used does not appear in the short report to hand, but judging from the other constituents of pitchblende, from which it will be remembered radium is obtained, it is possible that some form of atomic energy has been discovered which is capable of being harnessed to modern machinery. Fortunately Britain has its share of pitchblende at such places as St. Just in Penwith, Redruth, Gram-pound Road and elsewhere in Cornwall but whether enough to serve all purposes remains to be seen. Large deposits are also to be found in the Belgian Congo, Canada, Germany and the state of Colorado, so that this new discovery, especially with regard to Germany ne: cause no heartburning. Despite all this the report needs to be accepted with considerable caution. The world may be on the verge of the discovery of a means to utilize atomic energy, and if that proves to be the case something of even greater importance than the war will have occurred.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.