DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 243, 4 January 1928, Page 5

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

ARMISTICE DAY

(Copyright, 1927.) ROUND arms! This is the talk that is in the world current to-day. They are working at it at the League of Nations and President Coolidge has been trying his best to get at a disarmament conference. The Japanese s tatesman, Saifo. recently said that the Japanese were very much in favour of disarmament and would try a conference again. The Japanese are hardly to blame for their bellicosity, for they were never recognised as a first-class power by the civilised nations until they had gone out and licked Russia. People are finding out very slowly that war kills as many pounds as it does men, and in the mind of the world killing pounds seems to be more serious than killing men. It is a hard process to get the military spirit out of mankind. We love a contest, as evidenced by the late Dempsey-Tunney match, and we love the larger contests of war. There is something in them that stirs the blood. In fact, as Henry James pointed out, some way must be discovered to transfer the excitements of a military life over the ordinary business of life. For all you may say against militarism it seems to have the monopoly upon certain good qualities. A man in the army devotes his life to his country, he is loyal and he is obedient and he is disciplined. Somehow we must make the spirit of public service and loyalty and discipline rule in the business world. Only then can we expect our youth to take up a business career with the same enthusiasm that they go out to war. It has been written that man shall not live by bread alone. He must have his enthusiasms. And lifo is certainly more colourful when there is a. great contest going on than otherwise. The business world is becoming more and more interesting and indeed it is from the predominance of the ideas of business that we may expect the abatement of war.