HIS FAVOURITE WORD IS "SHARE"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 271, 1 September 1944, Page 14

HIS FAVOURITE WORD IS "SHARE"

"The Listener’’ Meets Mr. Greenbie

T will not be the fault of Sydney Geenbie if New Zealand in a month or two does not know the difference between America and the America of the films. Nor will it be the fault of the Office of War Information (O.W.I.) which sent him here. Mr. Greenbie is not here for the first time. He spent a year in New Zealand between 20 and 30 years ago, and when I told him that he looked far younger than the records proved him to be, his answer was that his early wanderings in both islands had given him a good start. That, and the fact that his later years have been spent on a farm, For Mr. Greenbie is one of those lucky men who own a farm without being owned by it. Although he has 100 acres of "wood lot" and 50 of "meadow and orchard," Mr. Greenbie does not himself farm the land. He lives on it-uses it as a place on which he and his wife, both authors, "loaf and invite their souls." And when winter comes, with snow and the thermometer "28 below," they move into the city for a few months. But much of my conversation with him was about sheep. He wanted to know why our wool is so _ good; whether the reason is feed or breed. Why did we still keep Merinos? Had

we much animal disease? If we did, who advised farmers in such cases, and did they listen? In Maine, where his own farm was, he could call on the State Agricultural’ College for help if his chestnuts got rust or his plum trees canker, and that was the position in most of the States of the Union. What was the position of the agricultural colleges in New Zealand? And he was not collecting information for another text-book, of which he has already written several. He was trying to find out what our way of life in New Zealand is, and our way of mind; what we think about Pacific problems, and are doing about them; where we get information about the American way of life (after the films and the radio); if we retain our pioneering zest; if we realise that New Zealand is still only half-developed physically and a most exciting place spiritually; if we are happy or uneasy about American activities in the Pacific; if there is any reason, in us or in his own people, why there could not be reproduced in the Southern Hemisphere what we see already in the Northern Hemisphere in the case of Canada and the United States-the closest association with the most complete independence. Here To Learn He asked me straight out if it was true that New Zealanders were afraid of the United States, and thought that America had political designs against us. I said no, but that when the American forces were here, some New Zealanders, not many, did say such things occasionally. He was frankly astonished. This was politics, he said, and therefore out of his domain, but he had never heard anyone say or suggest at any time that America should even influence us politically. It was clear from everything he said that the last thing he will attempt himself is undue influence. "Share" is his favourite word. Let us share experiences, he kept on saying. "You are far ahead of us in some things in New Zealand: the prevention of infant mortality, for example, and child welfare generally. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Your social legislation has aroused the notice of the whole world. Let us in on your secrets there, and if there is anything we can offer you, anything we may have done a little more successfully than you-shall we say the organisation of our libraries and museums? — our experience is at your service. But don’t think that I came to teach you anything. If I am anybody at all in that line, it is a learner." It was my turn to be plain, so I asked point-blank if America was still the land of adventure: "Does the average boy in America still believe that there is a fortune for him somewhere if he is bright enough? I gained the impression from your soldiers that it is unusual in America to worry about the future." "Yes," he said, "that is still our mood. Life is still an adventure. We don’t worry too much about social security. But don’t think that dollars are our only aim, even when we are after them." "But you don’t despise dollars?" "No, we don’t despise them, and some of us of course worship them. With us, as with you, the love of money is deep-rooted. But I think our love of adventure is. deeper-rooted still, It is the excitement of the game rather than the reward that keeps us going, though we are not indifferent to the reward. Americans are no more interested in moneymaking than any other people in the world, and less interested than some." "Are you indifferent to the fate of the man who loses?" I asked, a little rudely. "No and yes. Some of us are gogetters and nothing else. It would be ridiculous to pretend that it is otherwise. But it is no less ridiculous to think that the dollar is America’s god. We ° are not saints. In our scrambles for wealth and power we are often ruthless. But we do a lot of things besides — making money." The Influence of Hollywood I asked if one of the difficulties in the way of a better understanding of America was not the films. His answer was a little startling. "Not merely the films, but the something in so many people everywhere that makes the undesirable film acceptable. You are entitled to complain of y of the films you see. I wish you would complain more about them. But you don’t. You pay money to see them. If you did not welcome these things the producers of them would not send them to you. But you do precisely what we do at home; precisely what Japan does, and Singapore does, and Sydney and China. You let bad films drive out good films." I asked him if we had any choice-if there were better films available to us. "There are many, and there would be more if you demanded them," he answered. "But don’t think I am now complaining. The number of people in America who want better films is at least a hundred millions; but there © are 20 or 30 millions who are content ‘ with what they get, and the others, of course, don’t stay away. It is the money of the careless majority added to the money of the delighted minority that makes Hollywood possible. You will, I am sure, agree that to complain of bad and still support them is a little weak-in Wellington as well as in Washington." Generalisation is Dangerous I did agree. I agreed, too, with his further remark that the correspondent (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) who. asked The Listener if a great nation produced "Pistol Packin’ Momma" was looking at a very small section of that nation. "T am not hereto whitewash America. I have neither the capacity nor the desire for that job. But I do ask New Zealanders to realise that 140 million people can’t be compressed into a generalisation of one sentence. It is with our music as it is with our films, our books, and our graphic arts: we sink to the depths occasionally, but we also rise occasionally to the heights, If your correspondent had followed your own programmes, he could have heard from America the best music in the world, played by some of the best instrumental combinations in the world, and it would have been as accurateand of course as inaccurate — to judge America by these as by the things of which he complained. Still, I don’t object to his complaint. I am an American, and Americans believe in free speech, and in free thought." This seemed like the opportunity to ask if the word American really meant something new. Was there already an American nation, or was the process of Americanisation still incomplete? "It is a fair question, but not easy to answer. We are a _ nation = right enough — you would not doubt that if you lived among us, studied our newspapers, or served beside us on the field of battle. But I am not going to say that there are no undigested lumps. If a family emigrates from Italy say, it naturally joins up with an Italian group in the United States. If this is a large group, it will retain its own language, its own food and customs, perhaps its own newspapers. But don’t forget that although there is freedom in America, the children will have to attend American schools and learn the American language, and soon all members of the group will have to be able to speak English, or they will not be able to participate in. the economic and cultural life of America. It usually takes about one generation to escape from racial isolation, but the process is inevitable, You can’t remain stationary in a side pool when 140 million peaple ate sweeping past you. They catch You up and. carry you along whether you like it or not, and you soon do like it. There are Germans in America who are still Germans, Japanese who are still Japanese; but we all become Americans in the end — most of us, I am afraid, tather self-conscious Americans." The Colour Problem "Even your negroes?" "Even our negroes. But I am glad you asked that question. We have a colour problem, and it is big and ugly. But you are wrong if you suppose that we are doing nothing about it. I can’t go into details now, though I hope to be able to say something later, but I ask New Zealanders not to believe that the negro problem is intractable. It is very delicate and very difficult, but we are going to solve it. We are solving it, and in the meantime I hope no New Zealander will think, if he reads of race riots in one of our cities, that we are rioting all the time." I risked one more question. Would the fighting men of America be a problem when fighting ceased? What was the mood of the men themselves, and what was the feeling at home? (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "A problem of organisation — certainly; but a problem of mood-no, I don’t think so. There are some things of course on which all are agreed; some evils that must cease, some customs that must be changed. Our men want a better world rather than a different kind of world. They have been told that certain things will be done for them, and they are going back to see that they ‘darn well are done,’ but it goes no further than that. The American way of life will remain." met Sp

A. B.

C.