BRAWN VERSUS BRAINS

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 549, 16 July 1920, Page 2

BRAWN VERSUS BRAINS

THE ULTIMATE IDEAL. By MEDlltJfc. dancing at a newspaper jjhe other day, I came across the following im-s' teresting paragraph, comment on f which may interest many readers "The Franklin and I'ukekohe Times": "If a man has no education |ie is always a good worker. .he more education you give him the less . work he wants to do," said Mf. Hawken at the Hawera Council meeting, when an application. on behalf of the Workers' Educational Association for financial assist" ance was under consider^g^™^^ education should be able work than the man cause lie has his knowledge to sist «im." Mr. Hawken: "Yes, he lows his muscle. The more ' - cation the less muscle. In my -e£*r ; perience of' workers, a rains aigfe*muscles\d«i»t g<wt#gether." '*%<.> Food for ih the logieatfsequence of things Mr£ Hawken has arrived at a sijjfo eon^, r ' elusion -for the time being. Meh# are possessed, of three forms of en- "W ergy, namely, physical, mental, and' nervous, and according to their ip- y clination and occupation so Wilf 4 ' these forces be stiengyWned or de- - muscles, to the corresponding ening or atrophy of his mental air nervous powers; if his work requires consideiii^.exercise of the mental faculties become mentally alert, and oi a nervous fibre that will withstand mental and nervous strain under which the mere manual worfcii &°ul(l collapse. Nature giy«- ? us i qualities we cultivate;* Ve are the plants of her human garden. But it has long since become tritely true that it is not in the interests of the race that disproportionate development of the powers of either, the mind or the body should'take place; we require sound minds in 'sound bodies. jDoubtless Mr. Hawken, harrassed bjjphrbour troubles, and not being able cure the necessary labour for - in£ out navvying and general afed work in his county, would like to p horde of horny-handed sons of reared up, possessing enormous cular development, irrespective of whether or not they had brains enough to get in out of the wet —or, better :;fill.Mhat they should be hardy to from .sjicfe" trifling complaint as pneumonia," and pleurisy. Thus far well and good. But we can imagine that a breed of men of this sort would approximate the dreadful picture by fc>ir John Everett Millais, "The Man With the Hoe," which depiets a brutish creature, inciting - in ~ all refinement and sensibility bending over his hoe from dawn till dark. One wonders what would happen to a race of such men in competition against a modern, educated, •cientilically-trained race, possessing all the arts of peace, and—of war! Of a surety these "perfect physical specimens" would be lorded over by the educated like "dumb-drivefj cattle:" certaigly they would not be "heroes in the strife." Mr. Hawken* seemingly, takes a gloomy view ot things, and we may tbw* is reason for his gloom/j&Ajbw. But a brighter day is da#nmjHtajid the labour problem is beinggjßttA by the inexorable law thatijs^& the mother of ' councils, being unabie faJgy. ficient number of dp'their ' road work, are now .fast: rfjKgajring up-to-dite machinery, such as motor lorries, graders and stone crushers. Thesfc.. ' things your horny-handed, brutalised Hodge could never invent, but thesi surpais him for cheapness of out*; put, speed, and magnitude of work f done. And by such means the ser- 4 vices of raucous, ever-increasing wni;e- lemaiiding Hodge sr:: gradually becoming of less and less import-# ance. He has gotten for himself a lot of rope at present, with which he is strenuously trying to hang his employers, directors, and superiors in general, while the latter are, by giving the rope many and dextrous £ twists, gradually strangling the Hodge. Hawera. County, and likewise Franklin, tray take heart of pfrace from this reasoning. The ideal to aim at is a race physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually of a high standard, and developed in harmonious proportions. The late war has proven that mem of no particular physical powers, but keen enough intellectually,be trained and built up that such men, owing to

ness of their rffcrvous tjfcaue *• alert brains, are superior of fighting men, and can stand greater strains, both physical and nervous, than can your physically strong men who lack education and refinement. A race must either go

forwards or backwards: it cannot stand still. Mr. Hawken's labourers would degenerate to the rude capacities of primeval man, and a British Empire of such men would soon be conquered, both in commerce and war, by any civilised nation. We do rot w int men who art giants ,jL and phj|ical weaklings, and do we want men who are of physique but uneducated and mentally of a low order. I grants you / that some men get along fairly well without much education, and get passable results by rule of thumb, but they do not get the best results, and in any case they are exceptions. Let us strive for symmetry and a high standard all round.