Evening star., 1939-01-01
. ooDBy to 1898. We could almost add
q good riddance, for the utmost COM
Dlirnent navable to the past year

And now, as the msts recede and as January
First offers us the psychological optimism OF
all New Years. we can see how sharp that edge
was, and how deep the abyss below.
Psychological optimism by that mean
the mood in which one writes, with awareness
of it, 80" instead of "8' at the end Of the
date. We shall get used to it in few days.
but at first it is new we have to think as we
do it,
Quite fictitious, anyway. this time division;
it is like those big clocks in railway stations
whose hands do not move evenly, but IN for
ward jerks every minute. Time goes on all
the time: any day can begin new year every
day does begin new year and a new life for
thousands born into this world.
And yet, for all that. January First is day
of days. 1t would be hard, think. to begin
war on it. and easier - if only little easier
= to make peace. For people or nations who
have been quarreing, January First creates
no solution but it does encourage mood in
which = if there is a solution = both sides
might suddenly find and embrace it,
In this mood let us make our own resolu
tions for the New Year - both personally
and nationally We want 1899 to be happier
for the world and for ourselves. No dreaming.
no wishing. can make it so alone. We have to
think and work, to face the facts of the past
before we can nourish any hopes for the
future That backward survey will not be
cheerful There can be no denying it = all
over the world the forces of democracy have
r,x f,uh ard
against the continued thrust of the dictator
ships
Japan's invasion of China can only be
regarded as failure by those who willfully
blind themselves = it is indeed, one of the
two tragedies for which history may remem-
Der 1898.
The other has been the Peace" of Munich,
by which the democracies, having for ten
years after 1918 been strong enough to refuse
what was temperately asked for. were at last.
after twenty years, weak enough to concede
what was brutally insisted on.
Let us make no mistake - if 1899 is to
offer US any greater satisfaction than its pre-
decessor. it will not be because its problems
are easier. On the contrary. the New Year
inherits every disadvantage of the Old -
every debt, every defeat, every dishonor
But there is one big item to put on the
credit side. Again. it is psychological = but
nonetheless of huge importance. A year ago,
as democracies and also as individuals in
democratic countries, we were asleep. Few Of
us guessed that things could happen in the
way they have happened. We were content
to jog along. with few misgivings. maybe.
but with no real wavering in our faith in such
tangbles as the British Navy, or in such
intanqibles as the Monroe Doctrine. But
today, year later we are awake alert 80.
and profoundly disturbed. 1t is good thing,
this complete change of attitude. for the noe
turnal burglar has lost his biggest advantage
as soon as the householder sits up in bed
thinking he heard sound.
We the democracies. have many weapons
In sheer physical power, if challenged and
compelled to use it, we could still match
the relationships - though less easily than
year ago. 1t may be that this madness will
be thrust on us without escape. But we shall
still, even then. have other weapons. We have
still the ideals of free thinking and free
speaking men, which, in the long run and
throughout history have always survived the
Caesars. We have still the spirit of tolerance,
extended to everything except intolerance.
We have the quiet love of mankind, which
crosses frontiers against all bans and offers its