MOTIVE POWER.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 July 1924, Page 1

MOTIVE POWER.

(By J; Frederic Stiiidersli

“Tile time will come when you shall hear me,” said Disraeli, as amid jeers inid laughter he resumed his seat after making his maiden speech in the House of Commons. What,was tlio motive power which enabled him to make good liis word, win the confidence of tlio country and the highest honours the country could hLslriw?

It is not through lack of alllbiMotij nor through lack of ability, nor, indeed. through lack of powers of application, that men fail to gain success; a high motive and incentive is the one thing needful. Tell me your motive in life, and 1 will tell you what drivingpower is behind you. When you inquire into man’s motive you c-aleli sight of his love, for the power which impels mail to action is always generated by love—or haired, which is an inversion wf love —and according to the nature of his luve so is his motive power. The majority of men are dominated by self-love, the lowest iorm of love, and it never takes them very far. It usually enables them lo establish a home, woo and win a wife, and Hidin' sufficient money to remove them I’roiil iini I ear rtf penury. They gel out of life a little euinfWH- end happiness, and delude themselves wii.ii the notion that they have “made good.” At best a sorry, humdrum existence! They stick in the ruts, not through lack of ambition, but through lack of a higher incentive.

Cromwell was: perfectly satisfied with the work of liis farm until his country's distress supplied him with an incentive to use his great gifts of heart and mind in his country** set vice. Quentin Alatsye, of Antwerp, was quite content workitfg at his blacksmith’s forge until he fell in love with an artist’s daughter, who declared she would marry none hut an artist; lienco .xatsye was given an incentive which .enabled him io gain a place among the foremost artists of his day. Re lore the Great War England despaired' of her aristocratie. sons who were wasting their time in idleness and frivolity. Bumpered, coddled darlings of society, afraid of a draught, and 100 languid to take an interest even in their own affairs, they seemed degenerate son:* unworthy of their blood and high traditions. Yet the roll of the war-drum roused them, stirred their blood, discovered in them unsuspected powers of initiative, of endurance, of leadership, whereby they nobly served the Empire in her hour of ueeil.

~ot only under stress of war, hut in times of pence, is over a strong incentive to* achievement. Burns, the ploughman poet, bore witness to its driving power: 1 mind it weel, in early date,

When 1 was beardless, young and blate And first couH thresh the barn.

Ev’n tlien it wif-h (I mind its power), A wish that to my latest hour > Shall strongly heave my breast: That 1 for ]>oor auld Scotland’s sake Some usefn" plan or hetik could make. Or sing it snug a t lc»:ist. Vet there is it higher incentive than patriotism—the highest ol till—fountl in what Seeley calls “tKe enthusiasm ol humanity" : the desire to make one’s life ;t bridge over which others may cross to it happier life under conditions is tht< mightiest incentive of all. It generates a motive power which makes man invincible in whatever work he undertakes. Henry Ford. Sir Oliver bodge, Emile Cone, art; men moved by this incentive. Self-interest would never have enabled them to “screw their courage <o the sticking-plaee,” hilt their intense desire to make the world it hotter place in which to live generated that driving power which enabled them lo will the highest success in their respective fields of labour. Sir Ernest .Shackleton. with his gallant crew, sets out on a voyage of discovery lo the frown south, impelled by the same motive power—enthuasistu for science and humanity. Weigh in the halance the overwhelming odds against them ; insurmountable difficulties, lurking dangers ,tcrrifiie cold blizzards, privations, impaired health; throw into the other scale Slmckloton’s superb h ndership. devildare courage, skill, determination, and tenacity, yet it is not enough to tilt the' scale. Ihe time conics to the hardy adventurers wTien no earthly motive is powerful enough to make them take another step; k divine incentive alone impels them forword.

Tlii‘ spur lit' ambition, of faint', or self-love will never bring out the latent powers or human naiure. By these incentives men may he spurred to a momentary cnllmasism. never to a real sneeess. The rich endowments of the human mind and character can he developed only under pressure of some hitch 1 altruistic motive. The politician who is moved by sell-amhition and attracted by the emoluments of office may gain a passing ascendancy, hut he who is moved by altruistic motives “to make the world a little better, a little

sweeter, a little fruit filler.’’ becomes charged with an irresistible lnomclitnm. The medical man whose thought is centred on high fees can never reach the heights attained by other men who lose sight of personal ucjiin in their absorbing desire to alleviate liuntan suffering. Were the clergyman to keep one eye on his church emoluments, and the other on bis reputation, bis would lie indeed a poor incentive; but bo •who burns with entlmasism to bring the sunshine of Heaven into the lives of his parishioners, has within him a power which ensures the highest success.