PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 12

PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY.

GENERAL RUSSJILL’S VIEWS. ADVICE TO EMPLOYERS, Problems of peace, and .the' need of exercising the spirit of co-operation in solving them, were referred to by Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association, when speaking at a returned soldiers’ social function recently. As one who had studied the question of solving the-difficulties confronting the world to-day, General Russell said that one of the besetting ills of the present day was the want of a spirit of unity, and a tendency to obscure the main issues by quarrelling and by differing over petty details which do not affect the main issues. “In other words,” said Sir Andrew, “in order that we may win the battle of tomorrow, we too often run the risk of losing the campaign, because we miss the strategic possibilities. The battle of to-morrow must always seem of infinite importance. It is the strategic possibilities we all miss. General Russell added that sometimes he thought he would sit down and try to write out the lessons which he believed that "he and those that had fought with him had learned in the waY; and in writing them out, to try to adapt them to conditions of peace and the every-day problems which they found in front of them. He believed that if he could only muster up the energy, and had the talent, he might put together some very useful ideas. “There are two or three ideas to which I wish to draw your attention,” General Russell proceeded. “One is the imperious need fox - leadership, and the recognition of those who lead that if they are in that position it may be presupposed that they have a talent, and that that talent must be used by them for the benefit of those whom, they are leading for the time being. Another point that I would raise is that of cooperation, and remind you that while we must attend to our own fronts, we must also attend to the front on either side, and that if we fail to render assistance to the men on our right, we expose our own flanks, and fail, because we do not render assistance to our neighbor. . . , “There is a third point which I wish to draw attention to, and which, indeed, for many of us perhaps constitute the most pressing of our problems, I Would say that there is a certain spirit which, if we could encourage it in everyone in this country—you cannot do that, hut you can encourage it in about 70 per cent. —would go far towards solving the difficulty. 1 w ® nt put it to you this way: That, that commanding officer, that officer, that sergeant who looked after his men first before he looked after himself, was pretty sure to find that those men looked alter him. That is the natural tendency of human nature, and we must W” rk with human nature. I feel that P wka P® the employers—because they may te supposed to be the men with the best eduration, and when I use that vord I use it in the broadest sense—owe to their fellow men a debt, which they can never repay. Owing to the advantages that mort of them have enjoyed, A is ud to them, perhaps, to take the first sUp in these matters, and by their own personal example, to convince the rank and file who, in industrial circles are represented' by, the men with the weekly wage that they (the employers) are considering the interests of those whom they employ. It is up to them to show the example.” _____