AN INCORRIGIBLE DREAMER SPEAKS UP.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 233, 8 December 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN INCORRIGIBLE DREAMER SPEAKS UP.

BY ROBERT BLATCHFORI). 33###34W&###4H3

Am I the only Dreamer ?—What about the other Funny Fellows?— Peace, Retrenchment, and a rude Awakening.—Another "Blatchford Scare"; America This Time.

What n a practical man, and what is a sentimentalist ?

war will be the aslt war; that when it is over we may go back to our old way of life, and begin again to dream the dream of p\?aee, retrenchment, and reform.

If a man thinks that women ought not to be worked to death by sweaters and that children should! be washed and fed, is he sentimental ? And if his highest ideal is to get an extra farthing a pound for his margarine, is he practical? Some seem to think so; but 1 am one who thinks otherwise.

I think the British people are a goo 1 sort. They have a natural bent for peace on earth and good will to men, and one admires and respects them for it. But their habit of reasoning from themselves to other nations is a dangerous habit. We see in the case < f Germany that our good will to another nation does not ensure their good will to us. But have we learnt that wo must never again take it for granted that because we hate war other countries will keep peace?

I do not admit a person destitute of sympathy rind imagination :s more sane and trustworthy than one who is capable of lfriinan feeling. I think the really practical man thinks with his heart as well as with his brain, and he feels with h)is brain as well as with his heart. ' .

It is a vulgar error to suppose that he who is conscious of beauty is unconscious of utility.-' J!ri elegant pitcher will hold waiter as .well as the ugliest crock. I agree with' Dean Hole's saying that he who would have good roses in his garden must liave roses in his heart.

# * * AMERICAN CAICDOUR

As a m.atter of fact, we have not learnt that lesson, for we are actually at the present time committing the same blunder with another "great friendly nation''--with America. We have an almost passionate desire for friendly relations with America. We should receive the suggestion of a rupture with a shudder.

"Give a dog a bad I 'name, and ham* him." Call a man emotional, andi his suggestion that a wheelbarrow woncs better for oiling wi& bfe smiled at an amiable dream. Call him * business man or a practical politician and 1 his most sentimental platitudes will be accepted as sound and solid British sen%e.

For years, in fact for as long as I can remember, we have done our utmost to win and keep American friendship. And we have done wisely and done right. But we are no» doing wisely when we persuade ourselves that America is as cordial to us as wte are to her. She is not. She never has bc«H-

" f " SENSE— Any Englishman will agree that the Chamberlain, family are level-headed business meni few would accuse them of being emotional. Mr. Arthur Chamberlain, chairman of Kynochs', said a few days ago it appeared to him that in the future there must lie more interchange of commercial and scientific knowledge between the members of the same trade than there had been in the past. " Our unitedi knowledge of science and industry could produce results the equal of"those of any country."

Very well. That sounds to me a sensible, business proposition, and as such, coming frOiii a solid business man, it will be considered soberly. Bu; when I say the sarne thing in a newsP34>er article the sensible, business proposition becomes "emotional journalism."

" There's a peach, Maria! Look at that body and those lines." (And by that time the automobile to which ho was referring is probably too far away to prove an alibi.) —"Puck" (New York.)

When Sir John Brunner, who is t practical politician, as well as a practical business man, said he would prefer tlie protection of international Jaw to the protection of the British Naw. nobody called him a sentimentalist. But that is,what he seemed to me.

—AND SENTIMENT. When I have said that our railways should be co-ordinated I have been. told, with a kind of scornful pity, that 1 was a dreamer of dreams. And I have iwondeted. I have said to myself, in my artless Japanese manner, 'if what I suggest is a poet's dream, what exists is, I suppose, practical busmess." And then I have reflected. 'London is the capital of the kingdom. If 1 want to travel from Manchester to Portsmouth I can get on all right until I come to London. There I must get out, take a cab, tip a porter, drive a mile or two through dense traffic, pay for the cab, get out, tip another porter, and get a train on another line if there happens to be one. And we cannot alter that, because to continue a railway line from Manchester to Portsmouth is an idle and giddy droam."

And the funniest thing about this problem is that directly Mr. Asquith or Mr. Bonaf Law, or some Israelitis'a millionaire says there ought to be sun a line the public will clap their hands and shout, "There's practical sense for you; there's business genius. What a thinker! What a brain'"

What I have been trying to do in these articles is what I have been trying to do all my life. I have been trying to put cold logic into plain English. I want the British to drop the Germans, because they are dangerous.

AN OCCASION FOR TEARS. I am not shouting about beauty and love and purity; nor about punishment and revenge. I am thinking and speaking only of our safety and our breal and butter. I have always been a practical, logical person with a profound respects for facts. But when I come to consider the views and the policy and the political and business conduct of some of our leaders who are reputed to l>o consistently practical and solidly wise I could almost burst uito tears. That is why T have taken "Some Humanitarian Dreams" as the title of this article. And the dreams T am going to deal with are not my dreams, out the dreams of the funny fellow? who call me a dreamer.

I will take first of all that grand old Liberal dream of "Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform." As an indeal it is admirable. To remain at peace with all men; not to squander public money; and to remoys bv legislation any injustice or hardsh'D wich pressed upon the hearts or shoulders of the people. An ideal quit© beautiful; but a dream. Although J am called emotional I have always ygarded na a dream any policy whieu does not take account of the facts.

** . * WE'RE A GOOD SORT

Peace is lovely and war is hideous. AVe all agree to that. We are all r-s hostile to war a.s We are to murder. I don't believe there was a man or woman in these islands in July. 1011. who wanted war. Hie difference of opin'ion amongst our people began at tlio point where means for preserving peneo had to be chosen. I am not writing this by way of reproach, or censure. My object is to bring tRe fads home to the public, so that me mav not commit the same blunder aeain. I have a suspicion that the losson is not yet hnrnt: that our r>oer>!e regard this war as a kind r>f inrernaV irruption which is not likely 11 •Happen nga-'n; that they tlunk this

"Good heavens!" exclaims Mr. Pacifist, "is this fellow going to work up an American scare before we have done with the Germans ?" No, lam not. 1 am only pointing out that for a dreamer I have some capacity for seeing facts. I do'not believe that the American people are so cordial to us as wj are to them, and I think it is more healthy for us to know it. A few months ago an eminent American gave us a friendly hint. He said that while America was not unfriendly to us, slie did: not feel that close call of blood and language which we feel. He reminded us that all Americans are not of British descent, and he told uj that whereas in tins country the War of Independence is forgotten, in America. its memory is kept green in the schools.

WASHINGTON OPINION. This recalls an experience of my own. Many years ago, in writing io some American Fabians 1 said it was the duty of every American and British citizen to do all he could to keep the long friendship between America and Great Britain firm. To my surprise the American Fabian replied' that he was afraid friendship between our countries was impossible on account of our treatment of American prisoners in the War of Independence. A few days ago my old friend, A. M. Thompson, quoted some caustic remarks from the "Washington Post." In answer to a speech by Lord Rosebery the- "Washington Post" said:—

He no doubt thinks that the socalled Anglo-Saxon races should exhibit some kind of give-and-take or harmony in this matter. To that we reply simply that wo are not an Anglo-Saxon race, as the English understand tl*e term, and the sooner they realise it the better for them, though, perhaps, the worse for us. We have fought with Great Britain bfifore. We shall exhibit no blushing reluctance to do so again. Then, why not be frank a bout It?

That kind of sentiment is not dissolved by conciliation. That sort of person is not mollified by smiling patience and trustful good will. I hope there is not much, sentiment of the sort in the United States, and that such ill-mannered and truculent swaggerers as the "Washington Post" writer are rare. But the fact remains that in tins bad and sad old world too much amiability breeds contempt.

DON'T BE DTJPED AGAIN. A war between America and Britain would be a crime; but wo shall not siavj it off by kow-towing to a people amongst whom is a large leaven of hyphenated Germans and 'irreconcilable Irishmen. Do not let us repeat the weakness of being the dupes of our own good nature. And do not let us believe again that we can walk, rich and defenceless, about an armed camp.

We have fared in this war far better than we had any right to expect. The dream of universal peace and the. solidarity of nations i, a pretty dream: but a dream It is. ft is an ideal to work and to hope for; but we must not again be so foolish as to imagine that we can get the moon by crvin;'. for it.

(From ''Some Humanitarian Dreams.' bv P>. Blatchfnrd, in the "Sunday Chronicle.")

Mrs. Gostin, of Black-wood (Eng.), the wife of Corporal Gostin, of the Monmouthshire?, who has been a prisoner in Germanv since the battle of Hill 00, dreamed' that her husband hal escaped. She subsequently received a telegram which confirmed her dream, and stated that h.?r husband would be jjome shortly.