Evening star., 1937-02-14
"A. P. Photo.

"A. P. Photo.
money to the country. Some of them
give way to the itch for masquerade
ing in fancy dress. The kilt is once
more popular, even If the knees it
shows of are Of an alien breed.
Problem Of Highlands.
In the nineteenth century the rest
of Scotland did not concern itself
overmuch with the problem of the
Highlands. For was not the industrial
revolution doing its beneficent work,
and the industrial belt sharing in the
rapidly expanding national wealth?
Individual Scotsmen were pushing
their way up to fortune. Nineteenth
century liberalism was their creed,
and the survival of the fittest its car
dinal article of faith. The Highlander
was brawling. turbulent fellow with
a taste for cattle-lifting as a heritage
Of blood. A romantic survival-and
the modern industrial world put divi-
dends before romance.
The nineteenth century passed into
the twentieth. In South Africa Scot
tish soldiers fought with their Eng
lish comrades for the noble cause of
bigger dividends for the Rand mag
mates, and in the World War they
fought for the tragic paradox of a
war to end war; Here Scotland's
services to Great Britain and the
Empire she so largely helped to create
will be forever one of the noblest
pages in her history, and an imperish-
able memory of fortitude, valor and
endurance. And on the fields of
France and Belgium. Scotsmen and
Englishmen have-for all time
buried memories of old feuds and
ancient wrongs.
II that is true. you will ask-why,
then, this question of Scottish ma
tionalism?
Unity i'm Difference.
The answer is that the full measure
Of brotherhood entails common rights
an equality of opportunity-a unity
in difference.
This, as understand it, is the un-
DERIVING principle upon which the
Scottish national party bases its pro-
gram. And by Scottish nationalists
do not mean those windy extremists
who. with their eyes on a dead past,
indulge in an orgy of what a Scottish
friend of mine describes as "senti-
mental ballyhoo opinions are
negligible and would carry no weight
with a race distinguished for the yir-
tues Of sober sense and due reflection.
But rather of that moderate party
whose members are concerned less
with the memories of past wrongs
than Of present-day actualities.
What are its aims? And what does
1t ask?
1t is no separatist party. It accepts
full responsibility as partner in the
British Empire.
1t desires to work In the fullest
cooperation with England. But it
asks for a parliament in Edinburgh
which shall be 'the final authority on
all purely Scottish affairs, including
taxation and finance"
Reasons for Demand.
What are its reasons for this de-
mand?
/. Because under the present system
the Scottish members are outvoted by
eight to one. Result-England has
full hegemony over Scotland and
Scotland's internal affairs.
2. Scotland's contribution to I'M
perial expenditure is excessive. and
her per capita taxation abnormally
high in proportion to her national
wealth.
3. An altogether insufficient time
Is devoted to Scottish affairs in the
Westminster Parliament.
4. Unemployment in Scotland is so
per cent higher than in England.
S. Legislation refuses to take into
account the undoubted fact that
Scottish conditions are unlike condi-
tions in England-especially where
agriculture and fisheries are con-
cerned. The wheat quota and beet
sugar subsidies, while materially bene-
41StlllS tllC EllSllc1l dIC NOul-
paratively useless to the Scottish.
6. Scotland's national income has
declined out Of all proportion to that
of England and Wales, Scotland's de-
cline being 43 per cent, as against Eng
lands and Wales 20 per cent. The
decline in her manufacturing indus
tries is % per cent, compared with
England's 5 per cent.
Book by Thompson.
I have not the space for further
statistics. Let those whom they in
terest read Scotland, That Distressed
Area" by George Malcolm Thomson.
It is a clearly written, concise work
containing a good deal Of valuable in
formation. Two extracts from it I
will quote-and leave you to draw
what unsettling conclusions you may:
"At the beginning Of this century
Scotland was as rich a country as Eng
land. BY 1929, before the world crisis,
to which so much is attributed, Scot
land was only two-thirds as rich as
England. ."
IN 23 years the volume Of Scot
tish production has fallen below the
figures Of 1907 by IL per cent. But
the volume of English production has
risen In the same period by 20 per
cent"
This. no doubt. is very gratifying
(Ocntinued On Ninth PAge.)