PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 April 1927, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

AN ALOOF CM ITU 11. ■'Wherein the Church is ‘muldlcelass' is tlial, supposing her 'literature,’ e.g., her sermons, her theological hooks, her exposition and commentaries, were examined philologieali.v by an Indian scholar n thousand years lienee, they would furnish practically no internal evidence of the revolution which had taken place by the development of industrialism in the modes of thought, and mmles of life, of what i- numerically the largest section of the community. So much has the Church remained immune from tin- effects of the industrial revolution that its literary remains would indicate that in the past four hundred years there'laid been scarcely any social or economic developments which might he supposed to alter the categories of thought and expression of the larger proportion of the people to whom she ministers.” Rev. . wavi.l McQueen, in the "Scots Observer.”

THE FIVE-DAY WEEK. "The public at present is interested in Henry Ford's experiment of the, fiveday week. Labour is interested in it. So is Capital. It is a question that concerns all. I am inclined to believe that the time is not yet ripe for such a change. I do not know that it ever will be advisable. Industry with its present capacity for production cannot produce in five days what it could produce in six. When you cut a day off the working week we bring hardship and misfortune on the public, the ultimate consumer. Less production means higher prices. It is the consumer that pays, it is clear that a plant that turns out. eighty-three articles in five days when it used to turn out one hundred in six days will seek to cover its production costs and make its profits on the smaller output hv adding to the selling price of each.”—Elbert 11. Cary, chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. IN 2026. ‘-In one way it is easy to prophesy the world of 2020. We are sure that there will he unimaginable scientific advance. We look back with Snowden in m. ’■ ink. "Is the World Crowing Better?” and see that: 20 years ago there was no airship ■ 30 years ago. no wireless telegraphy; 40 years ago. no automobile; 60 years ago. no telephone or electric light; 00 years ago. no phonograph : 75 years ago. no telegraph: 100 years ago, no railway or steamship; 125 years ago. no strain engine; 200 years ago, no post office; 300 years ago. no newspaper ; 500 years ago, no printing press; 1000 years ago, no compass and ships could not go out of sight of land: 2000 years ago, no writing paper except parchments of skin and tablets of clay or wax. Basing our figures on this history we have good reason to suppose that by 2026 the antiquity still represented in backward methods in many places in the world "ill lx- radically changed ; there will be no such thing as an incurable disease: illiteracy will

lie piartieally ii- ! . •' • wireless photography and individud r.i IF -els will enable ns in sen and In nr our friends •l!ICO miles away, abolishing all loneliness; every man will have specialised training to (it, him for a highly technical civilisation: there will he incredible speed in world travel, and perhaps a. universal language as a result oi the obliteration of boundary lines and the lifting of rest rietions against migration. 1 '- Hov. Carl Knudseli in "Zion’s Herald.”