The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. TUESDAY, APRIL, 6, 1915. A SANE IDEALISM.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 April 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. TUESDAY, APRIL, 6, 1915. A SANE IDEALISM.

Ut the necessity for inculcating in the I jdy politic a sense of the individual vjed for impersonal judgment on national policy as well as domestic the leaders of thought are become more and more deeply impressed. The policy of a nation in regard to its peere and .vibonlimites amongst the peoples as

;•■ whole should be inspired by a lull realisation of the duty of the pree uineitt powers towards those that lave started later on the move towards perfection or who have lagged lehind through restraining influences ' |>erating oil their governing forces. Some interesting and helpful notes on a kindred subject to this are set out iu a recent issue of "The Round Table." a cosmopolitan magazine that deserves a patronage even wider than that already accorded to it throughout Ihe British Empire. The magazine we speak of observes that in forming the foundations of empire "it is the simplest truths that are the hardest to understand and practise. While the practical poison looks only to what p-iys, the idealist takes refuge in I'topia. Rich must learn his lesson it his work is to be of enduring value. The practical man has to see that peoples are moved by ideals as well as by material interests, that" the march of history is governed by moral even more than economic causes. The conception of a Realpolitik uninspired by ideal motives betrays a childish ignorance of the realities of life. Modj crn Germany was not fashioned b\ j blood and iron. Tt was the moral i fibre of n great people that triumphed at Ticuthcn and Liepsie. at Koniggratz and Sedan. What counts in history is individual and racial character, and force of character is proportional to foree of moral conviction. The only sure path for national statesmanship is that of a practical idealism which seeks something higher than mere expediency in the fulfilment, of public duty and in the furtherance of the moral welfare of the community. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' The idealist, too, has his lesson to learn if his aspirations for the good of humanity are not to remain quixotic and unfruitful. He must face the facts of the situation. No serious student of the problem, of Empire, can fail to tie impressed by the indifference or avowed hostility with which many of the most ardent social reformers view a constructive Imperial policy. That this should be so must cause him searching of heart. There have been faults on both sides. The advocates of Imperialism have failed to throw into natural and just relief the moral interests which their policy, and their policy only, can satisfy. Idealists, on their side, have clung to the inheritance of an outward theory of government, with its shibboleths of laissezfaire and individualism, ltfl blind confidence in economic generalizations, and its prejudice against the Empire as a useless and expensive burden."