PUBLIC OPINION

Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1931, Page 2

PUBLIC OPINION

MR FORD ON GOOD TIMES. “People hate ceased to believe m pood times, They nro now thinking. When you begin to think, the result is inevitable; you begin to work, J3ecause the world is thinking I foresee happier, that is, hard-working times ahead.”— Mr Henry Ford.

MAMMON AND—WHAT? “Of all the consequences that have flowed from mechanisation, particularly as regards its application to agriculture, perhaps the most interesting is the reduction of the proportion of labour employed in the production of prime necessaries, thus permitting of an increase in the labour available for other purposes. In the United States for example, this proportion was diminished by more than one-half in fifty years. Probably this record lias never been equalled by any nation in the history of the world. It is argued that a civilisation . whose primary needs can be satisfied by the exertions of relatively few has achieved much, the assumption being that the remainder are released for the creation of commodities that confer comfort or even ‘luxury upon the community. But though the standard of living is far higher than lit was before mechanisation was known, it cannot be .said that either poverty or unemployment has been banished. Nor can it be pretended that spiritual culture lias kept pace with material wellbeing. As learning grows in complexity, the sence of life is less understood.”— Lancelot Lawton, in the “Review of Reviews.”

POETRY ON THE RADIO. “Within the last; few years a miracle of mass intelligence has made it possible for listening to poetry to become again a universal joy,” said Dr. John Masefield, the Poet Laureate, speaking at Edinburgh. “Broadcasting has made it, possible for a speaker to reach thousands of people at thousands of miles. If only the broadcasting people could work with the poetry to create ari\art of poetry adaptped for broadcasting, that art of poetry ntight come to life. It might be made one rtf the most remarkable schools of poetry that has been for centuries. If the broadcasting people could be made to work with poets and find out what kind of poetry is the best for broadcasting ,it would be found that narrative is the best. The demand for narrative is like the demand for bread. We are the people who ought to see to it that the new narrative poems that are made should ho spoken beautifully, so that people who hear them may go to their heels and lie awake, feeling all night long how interesting it is to hear poetry spoken by a beautiful voice right into the heart.”