give us the power to place ourselves second to the social good it may yet save us from complete moral bankruptcy.
Preparing1 for Another War ?
Towards the beginning of August Mr. J. C.
Davidson, Parliamentary and Financial Secre
tary to the British Admiralty stated in the
House of Commons that the battleship Nelson
would be completed at the end of the year,
the battleship Rodney in April 1927, two
cruisers in. May 1927, three probably in
October 1927, and minelayers and destroyers
in 1926. Altogether they were building some
£58,000,000 worth of warships.
Mr. Ramsay MacDonald remarked with
reference to this statement that the expendi
ture was unnecessary as there was no chance of
a war with America or Japan. As for France,
a fight with her would be mainly aerial. Mr. Mac
Donald did not think it possible that there could
be a war with America or Japan ; but his
opinion regarding France contained no such
assurance. He only said that a war with
France would, mean engagements in the
air. Did he mean that a war with France
was not an improbability ? Who knows ?
Whatever the chances may be in favour of
an Anglo-French war, there is no doubt that
England is wide awake to its implications.
A war with such a near neighbour as France
would mean devastation of the industrial
areas which are near the coasts of England
and France. The lesson of the last war has
been that it is not safe for any country to
invest much capital within a probable war
zone. Buildings, roads, wharves, railways,
machinery etc., represent the wealth of
modern industrial nations. If a nation fits up
probable war areas with industrial equipment,
the first thing an enemy would do would be
to blow up these and thus hit the foolish
nation in
a vital spot. That is why
England and France are finding it expedient
to keep their capital-wealth away from such
dangers.
England has lately begun to believe in
growing more food within the country aud
investing as much capital as possible out
of it. Behind this one can see the fear of
submarines and aerial bombardment. Eng
land has suddenly developed an “eagerness to
industrialise India. This means that instead
of manufacturing goods in England and
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479
carrying the same to the Indian market* they would much rather do the manufactur ing as well in the latter country. This will keep both their capital and markets safe from military and trade rivals. Of course on the surface England is giving protection to India, probably at the request of the Rationalists ; but let us look more critically and, may be, we shall find English capital gaining a firmer foot-hold in India under .protection than it ever had before. And pro tection may save the Englishmen in India from, let us say, German competition. A. 0.
“Bengal Swarajya Fund” Accounts According to the Amrita Bazar Patrika there are certain doubtful points in the accounts of the Bengal Swarajya Fund which have recently been made public ■ by the members of the ' Finance Committee of the Fund. The Members are Principal G-. C. Bose, Dr. P. G. Roy, Babus Nirmal Chandra Chunder, Saratehandra Bose and Nalini Ranjan Sircar. Says the Amrita Bazar Patrika We have carefully gone through the statement. The name and reputation of the signatories are a sufficient guarantee of the fact that it was not pre pared with haste. Yet there are certain points in it on which sufficient light has not been unfortunate ly thrown by--them, which in the public interest require explanation.
$
We are told that altogether Rs. 92,249-1-3 were remitted to the Bank exclusive of the donation of Mr. T. C. G-ossain which was Rs, 1,25,000. The two together amount to Rs.2,17,249-1-3. There is no mention of any other sum in the statement pub lished. It is, therefore, certain that so far as the Committee are aware, this was the amount contri buted to the Fund. Yet. we find from an appeal of Deshbandhu Das in the issue of “Forward” on the 31st January last that “the total amount collected up to date is Rs.225,003-7-llV2.” There is thus a clear difference of Rs. 8000 between the two figuresWhere has this large sum of money gone ? It should be remembered here that when Beslibandhu announced the collection of this amount, the Funds were not closed. In fact he expected that “by the end of to-day” at least another lac of rupees would be collected. .It is thus pi'actically certain that the sum obtained exceeded Rs. 2,25,003-7-llV2. It is said that “out of Rs. 92,219-1-3 remitted to the Bank, Rs. 10,866-2-0 is represented mostly by cheques given by contributors, but not honoured when presented”. Undoubtedly a most splendid record of the honesty and. patriotism of the donors ! But why have the committee become so tender to these respectable gentlemen who so fraudulently
