WHO RULES IN AMERICA?

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 311, 24 October 1929, Page 3

WHO RULES IN AMERICA?

“ Our rulers to-day consist of random collections of successful men and their wives ” (writes Mr Wa’fer Lupmann In his “ A Preface to Morals ”). “ The / are to be found in the inner circles of banks and corporations, in the best clubs, in the dominant cliques of trade unions, among the political churchmen, the higher manipulating bosses, the leading professional Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Irish, Germans, Jews, and the grand panjandrums of the secret societies. They give orders. They have to be consulted- They can more or less effectively speak for, and lead some part of, the population. But none of them is seated on an assured throne, and all of them are for ever concerned as to how they may keep from being toppled off. They do not know how they happen to be where they are, although they often explain what are the secrets of success. They have been educated to achieve success; few of them have been educated to exercise power. Nor do they count with any confidence upon retaining their power, or of handing it on to their sons. They live, therefore, from day to day, and they govern by ear. Their impromptu statements of policy may be obeyed, but nobody seriously regards them as having authority.”

also benefit from the disciplinary effect upon our minds. According to Locke, “we are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections; unless we chew them over and over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment.” In short, reading without thinking is like eating without digesting. This form of reading should, however, not be permitted to partake of the nature of a task lest it deteriorate into the most i fruitless exercise, that of reading through compulsion. It is to be recognised, of course, that compulsion operates in more than one way. The force which compels the student to read extensively is irresistible. But many people feel equally constrained to read widely; some because they feel it is their duty to be sufficiently conversant with literature to be able to express an opinion on literary topics; others in order to keep abreast cf the stream of literature. The former flounder and the latter are submerged. To read because one must is to undergo the most miserable form of cramming, and to read to keep abreast is a hopeless task, productive neither of profit nor of pleasure. Dr Johnson explains it thus: “ If we read without inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing the attention, so there is but one half to be employed on what we read.” The person who derives most enjoyment from literature is he who reads courageously when and where he pleases. The book

one wh ; ch at the moment appeals, whether it be long or short, old or new, poetry or prose, history, drama, science, or what one will.