The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1920. IS THE PLANET SAFE?

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3403, 6 February 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1920. IS THE PLANET SAFE?

With which its incorporatcci “The Taihape Post. and Waimarino News.”

.__.___Q.._.._._._.. The most alarming feature of modern human life is the seeming determination of all mankind to live and grow rich without Work, without applying themselves to anything that really makes the world, or the race, any better or -richer, whatever they may do ‘for themselves. It is remarkable that almost all science is now being directed, or purchased and used, in discovering means whereby money may be accumulated, for storing up labour in its conereted form instead of allowing it to be employed for its legitimate purpose of general human betterment. If history of the rise and fall of all the great. civilisations isenly ‘scanned it will be found how remarkably similar cause and eifect was then to cause and efl"ect. operating upon the world ’s civilisation at the present day. It is worth while to doubt." whether there is not a very general misconception of progress, whether a progress measured by money will result, or operate even in ‘ our civilisaation faring‘ any better th':ul older civilisations did, labouring under similar misconceptions. Is it not fatal to judge of a man’s, a nation’s, or the”,world’s progress by the volume of money made, or -riches cornered, taken from their legitimate purpose of widespreading human health, comfort, and contentment; on the increased number of millionaires that have sprung into existence on riches extorted from peoples in the death-grip of a great Armagedd=o-n. It ‘has been the world’s experience since war was declared that accumulation of

great. riches amongst 13. few people has resulted in industrial strife, misery, and death unprecedented in history. It is not possible for any man, by his own energy and industry to become a millionaire in one short lifetime; he can only become so rich. by taking riches earned by others which he has no moral right to; he secures by cunning and extortion rather than by work and useful expenditure of energy. Cable messages are daily received telling solely of scientific progress in aerial navigation 'and improvement in aircraft structure, but the one guiding purpose of this nlisr_lireeted science. is nothing more than the same old grovel for means to acquire more money, more power, more case to the disadvantage of the many who cannot afl’ord to buy up scientifically-niinded men. It is seen that scientists have largely be‘ come the property Of men Of Prodigious greed, of men who covet the earth. They do not. see the folly of it, they never ask themselves the old QlloSti‘o‘na the truth of which has been proved by old eivilisations; by nations. and kings in modern times: “What does it profit a man if he gain the whol-e world and lose his own soul?” If he weakens or loses his higher i.n't'clligencd he ‘becomes nearer the level of t.he,h=og, no -matter how full his money -troughs In'3.y become. There are scientists who realise that man has in him the possibility to rise out of a state of intelligence measured by the money he dishonestly, rather i-mmorally, accumulates. The very mind processes of money-getting (lebase the intellect, harden thefiner sensibilities, until the resultant phoe-nix-like rising of worldwide resentment against the misery it widespreads is not 'apparent. There may come a day when that Great R‘e‘former’s question, asked two thousand years ago,

will not be understood in its narrowed and perverted way, but in the wider, saner sense intended that it should be understood. Surely there is ample evidence in -SllPPo.rt‘ of ‘the postulate that man is Something more than a. brute, even if not reaching to that intelligence which is little less than ‘-that of the aIIgOIS- There is need to go back for inspiration to the Great Refol'nler’s

days on earth, for soul culture is new overshadowed by _a materialism begaf of the brute practice of riches getting; like the hog and the carnivorous brute, man of to-day revels most where there is a plentitude of fo'od for the Physical organisation, and means of gratifying tastes and aspirations so low that the brute is incapable of them. Is the world concerned with ~a‘ mistaken notion of progress? Is the progress of greed productive of peace, contentment and happiness‘? Is the human of to-day, with all his insatiable desire for riches and power to dominafe, superior from an intellect point of view, to men who 1i"0d in times less fort-unate in opportunity for intellectual advancement? We think not; the men that are seeking to gain the world are completely losing touch ‘With -that science which alone can improve the race. Money

has that influence upon worlr_i—energy and intellect that a.‘le:ohol and other drugs have upon the individual energy and nienllality, it enel‘V:ltes, eliminates, and leaves, in the "end, a Wrecked intelligence, or soul whichever term is preferred. HOW long in history will the names of such apostles of commercialism such millionaires as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan figure‘? They will be almost out of mind in one short year, and if they are mentioned a decade hence it will be asked who they were. Of all New Zealand’s politicians the names of Ballance and Seddon remain brightest in history, not because they strove for a condition‘ in which millionaires thrive, but because their whole energies were directed into work for improving the generalstatus of the whole body politic. Well may it be asked, did -money and greed save ‘ancient civilisationsi Did greed, lust for power, love of ease, lack of personal industry tend to the perpetuation and progress of Roman, Grecian, Assyrian. Persian eivilisations? Those very qualities and practices were the canker that resulted in decadency and death. Will the desire of "the few to live upon the labours of the many today produce results unlike"? The evidence is all, to the last word, the other way. Ease is a revolt against nature; energy is life, if naturally applied;

energy can be wasted, and is wasted on idleness and luxury, instead of being applied to adding something to the sum total of the world’s, not the indi—vidu'al’s, possessions. Such scientists as Edison’ and Marconi are labouring, but their successes in raising man to a higher intellectual plane are the side issues to their labours in finding 111(‘.'3.11S of increasing the power and sharpening the faculty for accumulating riches. ‘Such men will be revered in history centuries after. the Cariregies, hlor-gans. Rockefellers and Inchcapes are completely forgotten. -The world should have no need for pliilantlrropists, for no surer indication exists that something is wrong with intellectual pro« gress than the presence of Carnegie’s, who have millions to give away, no man could honestly earn them. The world may, at this moment, be on the eve of the most wonderful discovery; it may be of something partially known, such as rendering alt-‘o!lli’3 energy usuable, or it may come tliroiigh a better understanding of the universe by the actulal discovery that other planets are peopled -with intelligent beings. Me.reoni’s mysterious communications are puzzling and (‘Xperi—mental work is witli what is almost entirely eonjeelure or guesswol'k, but with atomic energy scientists are -on more stable ground. Sir Oliver Lodge has written: “If the atomic energy

in one ounce of matter could be utilised it would be sutficient to raise the German warsliips at Scapa Flow, and pile them on top of a. Scottish mountain.” It was said two .‘l1l011S8.ll(l years ago, that if a man had faith he could remove mountains into the sea. Sir Oliver Lodge expresses the hope that man will not discover how to use atomic energy in nmtter until he has brains and morality enough. to use it properly, for, he adds, if the discovery were made before its time" and by the wrong people, “the very planet would not be safe.” The true, real, pure scientist is conscious that the world is not morally fit to be trusted xvith such I 1 power; they know that if it came under the control of men who corner everything that contributes to disgusting ostentation; into the power of grovellers after wealth, that they use up in savage Warfare, in orgies of human slaughter to gratify their lust for more wealth, the very planet would not be safe in its position in the solar system. To-day society is. not safe, to-mori-ow the very planet on which we life may be unsafe. Why? Because mtm is renclering hiinself more and more intellectually and morally unfit to have control of such power as is known to exist in every atom of matter, he it earth. water, or air. If the very safety of the planet is in jeopardy surely the subject. discussed is worth some thought. i