MUSSOLINI.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3378, 13 June 1927, Page 2

MUSSOLINI.

Signor Mussolini describes himself as a realist (says the Rev. J. Campbell in “London Opinion”). He says we have to deal with human affairs as they are and not as we would like them to be. He ■'justifies his own methods of Government

by claiming that they are necessary. Government by talk is a failure, he declares, and must be superseded by efficient autocracy; men in general would rather be well and firmly ruled than attempt to rule themselves.

He .might be right in this so far as the Latin races are concerned; they have had long experience of Caesarism in the past; but he is wrong if he means.the statement to apply to Englishmen. It is just because we do reckon with things as they are, and not as we would like them to be, that we refuse to submit to any dictatorship; we prefer to rub along together in a spirit of compromise and moderation.

It is impossible to stampede the English into anq extreme course, and therein lies our safety. A German publicist warned his countrymen in 1914 that the English only win one battle in any wax - —the last. Wo are slower to begin, less willing to organise ourselves than some other nations, but we get there in the end. There is comfort in this knowledge when we reflect upon our present perplexities. Neither politically nor industrially have we yet exhausted our reserves of vigour and common sense.

But in the business of living every man is something of an idealist as well as a realist, or else his activities are futile.

I put it to every reader of these words: Do yon not habitually judge things by what they ought to be ? Yes, you do; and you seldom submit to the dominion of things as they are when what they ought to be? Yes, you do; and yon seldom submit to the dominion of things as they are when what they ought to be is clear to you. All through life we are constantly coming. up against the contradiction that exists between the real and the ideal, and we cannot give preference to the former without feeling self-condemned. Wo do not believe in ideals merely because they make us comfortable; they more frequently do the opposite. If a man for the sake of personal gain acts against his conscience he does not delight in the fact or publish it to the world.

More likely ho has to argue with himself and make excuses; and if he can keep the world from knowing of his meanness ho does so.

This is one of the most mysterious things about human nature and a proof that we are greater than we know. Goodness is not goodness because it pays, but because it accords with the idealism glowing in our hearts. Ditches of water, instead of fences, keep Dutch cows in their pastures.