THE UNITED STATES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 426, 22 August 1947, Page 5

THE UNITED STATES

Sir,-Your correspondent "Pro U.S.A." in a recent issue shows, I think, rather a curious standard of values when he says, "Now America is on top." As regards wealth in actual terms of money, I grant this, but is that. the best of standards? When I was in America a few years ago, one of the things that most struck me, in speaking to strangers, was their deep admiration (not untinged with a trace of ‘envy sometimes) for the best that England stands for-the true aristocracy of ideals and manners which our King And Queen had not long before exemplified to them. While it is true, I think, that the Almighty Dollar makes itself unpleasantly felt, first of all, when one visits America, I think one does get to realise that it isn’t the actual money itself, but the power it bestows, and, the success that it exemplifies, that count-the picture in the Corcoran Art Gallery, for instance, for which they paid half a million dollars; and other lovely things which only much money can buy, they seem willingly to spend their money on, We were in the States early in 1940, and even then, with the war only just developing, Sunday after Sunday we heard preachers give the same exhortation to their hearers-that America was so wealthy and so blessed, that they should not even lend, but give, out of

their abundance; warnings about the rich man, and the Kingdom of Heaven, and reminders that "every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above." To me, the most outstanding of the results of the war was the forced association of the Allies, linked by a common ideal. Most of the criticisms, fore merly, were based on ignorance, I think, and now that that excuse has been done away with, and we have the experiences of the past few years in common, don’t we find that, given that common sure foundation, the differences in outlook broaden one’s view, and make a link, — rather than otherwise-make us feel that, as members of a world family, each country has its own individual contribution to make to the good of the whole, with no thought of rivalry? And as re gards New Zealand, does not Rewi Alley set us here the best of examples?

C.

BEVERLEY

(Auckland).