THE WAR OF “ISMS”

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 72, 18 December 1937, Page 10

THE WAR OF “ISMS”

Professor Shelley’s View Of Nations’ Aims Dominion Special Service. , Palmerston North, December 17. “Countries are not piling up arms against human beings; they are piling up arms against ‘isms,’ ” said Professor James Shelley, Director of Broadcasting, in his address at the breaking-up ceremony of Palmerston North Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools, last night. "People do not kill one another in the name of humanity; they kill one another in the name of ‘isms.’ ” A great deal was said these days about “isms,” said Professor Shelley. They were . merely superficial expression’s of some fundamental things. Nothing was more misunderstood than freedom. Many thought that freedom meant lack of restrictions, but that was fundamentally wrong. Freedom could not be attained unless there were restrictions, and the order of people lighting for freedom to-day were fighting for various “isms.” All were striving for the same thing, but all had different ways of getting at it. “As long as you respect a fundamental thing, a set ‘ism,’ and go blindly after it. so long will you have to pile up arms as fast as is going on now, which iu this world of science and knowledge is a disgraceful rate,” said Professor Shelley. "Nobody wants it. All countries are fighting for peace in some way. None wants to pile up these armaments against one another. The solution is to get down to fundamental things in human beings and not superficial things.”