DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 137, 31 August 1927, Page 4

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

ORIENTATION

(Copyright, 1927) ORIENTATION means, roughly speaking, getting one’s bearings. The mariner out of sight of land orientates himself by the North Star. By observing that he can tell in which direction he is going and calculate whereabout he is on the surface of the earth. In every dispute one is more likely to be correct in his contention if he properly orientates himself by certain accepted truths. This point was brought out in Daniel Webster’s reply to Hayne. It all comes back to the statement that has often been made, that there would be no disputes if people were careful to agree in the first place upon their definitions. In the case of the debts which the European nations owe to the United States, if both parties could agree upon the actual facts there would be less divergence of opinion. It is not a question of wrong logic upon the one hand and right upon the other, but a question as to the reliability of the facts assumed. Before you start an altercation with your fellow man if you will take pains to find out and define the terms of the thing in dispute between you, you will find that you have no dispute at all. The case of the two knights is in point where they fought over the colour of a shield. One said it was red and the other blue. They came to find out at last that the shield was red on one side and blue on the other. If you are engaged in a fight over the colour of a shield it might be well first of all to examine the shield carefully and see that it is all the same colour. Things seen from one point of view look one way, and from another point of view they seem to have another appearance. One reason why there is so much dispute among theologians is that they are never able to agree upon their facts, and one reason why there is rarely a dispute among scientists is that they do not commence to argue until the facts have been established. It is a good thing to find out exactly what is the truth before we begin to discuss it.