The problem of mere buildings is serious since it is well known that there is acute overcrowding and very high rentals. This spring quite a number of buildings were occupied by factories formerly operating in the Eastern District. How to find suitable buildings at a suitable rent is a hard problem, In addition it may be noted that for reasons of their own the French authorities are not allowing new Chinese schools of the middle schoo!
ade to open up in their territory, If facilities for education are to In Shanghai, whenever peace comes to this troubled area, even though that desired-for time may be still five or ten years in the future, all of us will be wanting to create conditions that will lead to future peace and not to future strife, Supposing the war drags on for another five or ten years, it will be fatal for the welfare of millions in this area if we allow conditions affecting the moral and mental welfare of the people to steadily deteriorate.
Mr. Sopher wrote, "no capital fund in all sanity is going to be forthcoming where there is mental, moral and physical chaos as here at the moment." In another paragraph he stated. "capital cannot be got without implicit confidence, which means simply if we trust you we can work together but the utmost security would have to first exist, The policy of Japanese military leadership must suffer a sea change' before it can command' such unquestioning faith and trust. It must metamorphose the principles of the ethics and morals of mankind.
'A very powerful and ever-present factor in our speculations is the idea of world conquest held by many of the Japanese militarists, After tw cive months of hostilities it is more than likely that some of these grandiose ideas have decreased in size. More-ewer, in view of the world reaction to {ue Japanese adventures or misadventures, it is more than likely that most of Japan's non-military leaders have considerably changed their ideas and appreciate the fact that in the world of 1938 {ft is the' better part of wisdom to pay some attention to the ideas and interests of other nations.
The peoples in many lands have not given up their. interest in the Far Fastern hostilities. On the -contrary. the foreign. policies of England and of the United States of America are definitely "actively engaged in the search for peace." If we are to judge a nation by its own highest standards, we can rest well-assured that the best Japanese statesmen would vehement! disclaim the idea that their civilization is one which leads to moral and mental degradation of citizens fostered by such nota: the encouragement of the drug trafic and widespread smuggling with all its dishonesty.
Chinese, Japanese and Westerners, all the citizens who live and work in this marvellous city, Shanghai, will benefit if more attention is paid to constructive measures that promote peace. To change the hearts and minds of men so that they will use science for constructive purposes rather than for destructive ones is no longer an idle dream nor an idealistic sentiment, It is a necessity. It would take almost a whole book to attempt adequately to discuss the feelings existing between Chinese and Japanese, Most Chinese people differentiate between Japanese militarists snd non-militarists, but we cannot blind decrease whilst the number of students tends to increase, we may readily see that all is not well in this educational sphere. Let it be al noted that the facilities for extracurricular activities, specially athletics, have been seriously curtailed. How many athletic fields are open to Chinese students at the present time? How many football fields are available for Chinese boys? We should not close our eyes to this situation, deceiving ourselves with the thought that this is merely a temporary state of affairs, Already twelve months have passed, a long time.. If another twelve months or two or three years are to pass with no improvement in these conditions, we shall have inflicted considerable injury on the growth of our future citizens.
Most people will feel that food, clothing, shelter, work and security come first in order of importance. As has been pointed out above; Shanghai is a large and important city with a very large population. "We must cut our coat according to our cloth," but that is not a sufficient reason for neglecting to support adequately our facilities for education, Let us urge that the Settlement and the Concession authorities render greater help in securing and opening buildings for primary and middle school students. Let us try to enlist the help of various organizations in securing some athletic fields for the use of these thousands of students who have been deprived of athletic facilities. This whole problem is one which will not be solved just with the passage of time. Rather it witl grow more acute, flattering coiffures Your hair can have all the natural life and sparkle and waviness with an ANTOINE'S PERMANENT—and make a very flattering coiffure. Undetectable hair colouring. Most comfortable salon. Phone for appointment.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.