Book Review: Shinto, the Unconquered Enemy
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204600100415 |
| Author | W. H. H. Norman |
| Published date | 01 October 1946 |
| Date | 01 October 1946 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book
Reviews
formulated midway
in
the
war
by
a
group
of
eight industrialists
and
economists
headed
by
Sir P.
Thakurdas,
envisaged
a
fifteen-year
plan
divided into
three
five-year
plans
designed
to
achieve
a
three-fold
in-
crease
in
the
national
income
during
the
overall
period.
Comparing
Russian
statistics
with
relevant
Indian
figures
Mr.
Ghose
maintains
that
India
could
equal
or
surpass
in
both
industrial
and
agricultural
fields
the
expansion
attained
by
Russia
after
1928.
The
main
obstacle, in
his
view,
is
a
lack
of
realization
of
the
implications
of
the
Bombay
Plan;
it
could,
he
believes,
be
carried
out
successfully only
under
conditions
of
socialism
and
with
a
degree
of
state
control
far
greater than
its
authors
apparently felt
would
be
necessary.
In
view
of
the
sweeping
nature
of
the
Plan
and
of
the
preponderant interest
of
its
creators
in
its
financial
aspects
from
a
strictly
orthodox
standpoint,
it
is
difficult
to
deny
the
force of Mr.
Ghose's
argument.
Political
considerations
find no
place
in
A
FOOD
PLAN
FOR INDIA.
This
study,
prepared
by
an
anonymous group
of
British and Indian
agricultural
experts,
outlines
concrete proposals
for
an
emergency
pro-
gramme
to
increase
India's
total
food
output
by
between
one-quarter
and
one-half
in seven
years;
in
actual
figures,
to
raise
the
extra
14
million
tons
of
food
annually,
which, with
a
50
million increase
in
population
and with rising standards,
will
be
required
by
1953.
Technical
aspects
dealt
with
include
the
use
of
fertilizers and
manures, improvement
of
water
supplies
and
erosion
control,
use
of
improved
varieties
of
seed,
control
of
seed-borne
disease
and
of
stored
grain
pests,
and
malaria
control.
An
essential
part
of
the
scheme
is
to
create
an
organization
of
25,000
picked
men,
largely
of
war-trained
Indian
N.C.O.'s,
which
would provide
instruction,
distribution,
and
col-
lection
in
the
villages.
The
study
postulates
the
interesting
proposition
that
a
drive
to
increase
food
production
in
India
cannot have
permanent
results unless
accompanied
by
a
similar drive
to
raise
the
standard
of
living
in
other
respects,
that
without
this
the
incentive
to
increased
agriculture
cannot
be
maintained.
I
Ottawa,
August
1946.
Charles
J.
Woodsworth
SHINTO,
THE
UNCONQUERED
ENEMY.
Japan's
Doctrine
of
Racial
Superiority.
With
Selections
from
Japanese
Texts.
By
Robert
0.
Ballou. (New York:
The Viking
Press.
Toronto:
Mac-
millan.
239pp.
$3.50)
A
dozen
years
ago
a
missionary
in
Japan
got into
trouble
for
writ-
ing
that
the
emperor
as
he
existed
in
Japan
was
an
"anachronism."
It
is
not
only
the
simple-minded
that
are
naive:
many intellectuals
are
naive,
as
was
the
missionary
in
his
statement
about the
emperor.
For
recent
history-and
one
does
not
need
to
limit his
survey
to
Germany
and
Japan-has
shown
that
the
most
reactionary
ideologies,
which should
be
anachronisms,
can
attain
a
terrifying
vitality
and
flourish
in
spite
of
progress,
enlightened
religion,
and
science.
377
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