THE SUBMERGED GENERATION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Six,—Mr. Neil Jordan's letter on " The Submerged Generation," based on Harold Nicolson's rather pessimistic, if rot morbid, article, doubtless expresses genuine apprehension, but is, surely, determined by a false sense of values and by an unconcious projection of war-time conditions into the happier days of peace. The people cannot be simply divided into elder and younger, into " wes " and " theys "—most are in between. No one class, section, or age can be held responsible for the situation in which we found ourselves at the beginning of this war, and if the tenets of democracy have any meaning for us we must be prepared to admit that the powers that be acted during the pre-war years mainly in accordance with the views, or lack of views, of the majority. It is many years now since the enactment of adult suffrage at twenty-one years of age, and there was no real reason why the youth of the nation should not have expressed its feelings and made its influence felt if it had been so inclined. As a matter of fact, did not the policy of laissez- faire and appeasement fairly represent most ages and classes, and did not the opinions of the young, many of whom had grown up since the war, -characteristically -generous and tolerant, often do much credit to their hearts, but less to their heads?
There is no reason at all why the young men and women should not play their full part in rehabilitating our social structure after the war. There is every indication that they will have opportunity and encourage- ment to do so, and it is a little distressing for elders to be told that, however sympathetic they may be, they can do little to help, and that youth must evolve its own living faith and work out its own salvation. That is surely assuming a cleavage between youth and age much sharper than actually exists. We need not be so pessimistic. The events of the years immediately succeeding the last war afford little or no indication of what will be done after the war. The prevailing attitude then was vaguely to win the war as soon as possible and get back to pre-war con- ditions. Now it is much more precise in some respects and much more progressive in others. The fine qualities so widely displayed by -the young men and women now can be attuned to the ways of peace, and the possibilities are great.
The "never again" frame of mind is far, far stronger than during or after the last war. There is only one danger, very commonly forgotten or ignored. However determined we may be so to plan as to prevent a recurrence of war, we must remember that a new generation grows up in twenty years or so, to whom the horrible facts of today are mere history, and although the historical perspective should provide the truer picture, that only applies wiih those trained to assess evidence and values. On the other hand, the average young people of the next generaton, with no personal experience of the stark realities and gruesome crimes of the war, as perpetrated by the Nazis, may grow up with the idea that we in our time have been over-impressed by their nearness and have exaggerated this incidence and effects. There is, in fact, a risk of our plans collapsing like a house of cards unless those who follow us can inherit or acquire some measure of the realistic attitude that determines our actions today.—Yours faithfully, NORMAN BENNETT. 57 Harley Street, W. r.
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