TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20272, 14 August 1937, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Each to His Taste. “ Let the doctrine be rejected at the outset, bluntly and emphatically, that there is any reason to limit ourselves to a choice between Fascism and Communism. If there are some nations who find themselves unable to combine political and personal liberty with the security of their national independence or with the economic wellbeing of their people, that is their affair and not ours. If they think it well to subordinate absolutely the freedom of the individual to the myth of a living State, let them do so if they must. We may see in that process merely a trend toward an insect civilisation. A true patriotism will not be content with a merely negative policy, although a policy may demand sacrifices. The need for a revision of the Treaty of Versailles becomes increasingly obvious. “ Goethe said in one of his conversations with Eckermann: l lt is not to be imagined that reason can ever be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular; reason remains the sole property of a few eminent individuals.’ Yet that need not be so among nations where education is widespread and the citizens are accustomed to fulfil their responsibilities. After all, the enthusiasm of the ordinary man and woman need not be stirred only by violence, rutlilessncss, the will-to-power; by ideas that arc belligerent and policies that boast themselves irrational. Peace, Liberty, Reason, Stability, Social Justice —these also may have their appeal.”—Lord Samuel.

Working. “If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him. If ho pays wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him, speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him, and stand by the institution he represents. T think if 1 worked for n man I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of his time, but all of his time. T would give an undivided service or none. If put to a pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. It you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, why, resign your position. When you disparage the concern of which you arc a part, you disparage yourself.”—Elbert Hubbard.