OBITER DICTA.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18485, 12 September 1925, Page 14

OBITER DICTA.

[ByK.] Of all the delusions of modern men none is so persistent or so foolish as the idea that to improve the machinery of communication is to enlarge I the mass of human happiness. Mod- \ em history is the story of man's at- j tack upon the obstacles to communj- j cation between men and peoples—|>f the steam-engine, the electric telegraph, the harnessing of hydro-carbons, the airplane, and The result, so far as I can see, is only the multiplication of talk. My own opinion, a very unfashionable one, is that of Arminins, recorded in the seventh letter in " Friendship's Garland'': 'His English energy and selfreliance," I answered very stiffly, for Anoinius's incessant carping began to put me in a huff; "those saroo incomparable and truly British qualities which have just triumphed over every obstacle, and given us the Atlantic telegraph!—and let me tell you, Von T., in my opinion it will be a long time before the 'Gei'st' of any pedant of a Prussian professor gives us anything: half so valuable as that." "Pshaw," replied Arminius contemptuously; "that great rope, with a Philistine- at each end of it talking inutilities." To this passage something makes me turn nearly every week. This week the impulse was supplied by poor old Oliver Lodge's message to the radio cranks. " Harnessing the electron for the purpose of communication may be an* event in human history equal to the initiation of railway locomotion; and the electric telegraph. It bids fair to make the twentieth century eclipse the nineteenth." < ~~"~~~™ Everyone, of course, will agree with Sir Oliver Lodge, for everyone believes that to be able to communicate is far better than to have something worth communicating. The only exceptions known to me are myself, and the Public Trustee, who, one gathers, is rather an oyster. One supposes that Sir Oliver Lodge and his million million supporters may feel that Science and its inventors are a kind of elaborate machinery for treating that low-grade ore, the world's mind. Let men—so wo may suppose them to think —let. men talk enough over_ cables and telephones and the trackless waste of ether, and now ami then someone may say something useful; let men whisk themselves over the world often enough and fast enough, and someone may make a useful journey. There is something to be said for this theory, but one may doubt whether the dividend is worth the expenditure. Faintly to trust the larger hope,' to trust that somehow good &c. may be wise, but one doubts whether the modern man, clamouring, as. it were, for madder music and stronger wine, is anything but cocksure. He knows. Nothing will convince him that the harnessing of the electron is not the way to reach Heaven.

In the meantime the politicians are filling up Hansard, that most unpopular of publications, some facts concerning which were printed this week. Ever since Dr. Thacker left politics, Hansard for me has been unreadable. But there are some faithful supporters

•• iitVji ' ' » £ witn«a of &X want of skill in chcwfffe maker, For subscribers, willing, - contribute £2OB towards the WS publication, which when all j* reckoned, to fiXK?^ figure, which is that every member many copies. -These with his speeches portcrs-a fact which \ energy witb which a j bcrs seeking flection «, ; out. The people Plaining of the weather •*, iSS* ; able. In less than tno-«3TEj will have the pleasure of »2L?$ the ranks some of these feTfaTlfc! j talk in the marble halls tor** the marble floors. They wait J* everything, v"** ■»«» During the week Sir Jam* described. as «a gesture" t-v"^ j vehement denunciation of tt»wZ2 : reductions in the income tajt«23! | brought into the House fi?%S time a woid which elsewhere & »». i hard-worked indeed. The |«h»wl quite unnecessary: the poor fifr!!?' who support the Labour WT urm in their faith. They bdsKj Uncle Ted's occasional jokes art ft! f loud of Mr Parry, I mcbeal Mc€ombs's penny bookofsE r are gradually levering Mamae* 2 his throne and hastening the day «W I seven halfpenny loaves will he ttf&ft a penny and the three-h,ooped potS have ten hoops. It was quite '. sary for the Labour members toST the proletarian by telling liim fift, 1 Government is robbing mm of otter people's money: the inflamed already. But their, W sleep was not lost in vaiaf'W it led the liberals into, m£'- J lan attempt to show that are full of wrathful pity fn.\% worker who sees the GoyetnnwrtM/ ing £IOOO from "the rich U««Wi giving him back £1 in discount s&i . Liberal is the true optimist sJjn the workers are making their pwitdl contributions to the Labour 'PtittfV collectors, be also sidles up lecting box and a placard pfo4tigj|«' his love of the masses. T&jjE* laugh at him, throw brieksat iSm give him nothing. But couraged. He comes up time as full of hope as disappears, we shall miss Unmis* In a long letter an Aneklamwp' pondent, M. D. Gray, falls column for something said here concerning tfflsji|pa' ' Liberals. They are Imperialists," .he says, ~ \ courteous and f riend'l V " triffilßk "M ions, and he cannot .• m writing " with such an m dour and fairness." " 3araß&yfr9 says, "' one may May I- suggest that prefer justice and '■ ence to hypocritical 'ftUoWwK'iSJ What I said was: ( tf allowances for LiberkUfinVui ijfjHp tion of destitution and decaf, £m|B k Liberalism in decay nor good-tempered, as j' - oan sec for that they are people will go on W