DE HAAS HITS INTERESTS AS DESTRUCTIVE

"This calamity may be turned into opportunity" if we realize that individual interests must be subordinated to the welfare of the nation, Professor Anton De Haas of the Business School said last night as he addressed the initial summer meeting of the Post-War Council.

The immediate problem that will face the United Nations will be the settlement of the agricultural system. Agricultural machinery is wearing out and "the land is being neglected; . . . men are being taken off the land." Next is the problem of resettling of peoples uprooted from their homelands. Then there is the revival of industry, where property is being destroyed, and trained workers dislocated. Lastly is the need for educational readjustment, for "nothing is more tragic in Europe than the destruction of the educational system."

Criticism Too Easy

In long range planning it is all too easy to find fault with others, he said. "We let the British do the fighting and then criticize them." The Versailles Treaty and the last peace settlement failed largely because its makers lived in the past and ignored economic factors.

"Democracy means equality of opportunity," he asserted, and pointed out the important role that economics will play in the post-war world. Already some effort has been made towards pooling of the world's resources and money in the Lease-Lend act with England, China, and Russia, but Professor De Haas warned that the pressure groups stand in the way of success.

For the next six weeks the Post-War Council will be divided into three committees meeting weekly.