TAFFY IS NOT A THIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1934, Page 17

TAFFY IS NOT A THIEF

The piejudico which has pressed the conclusion that "Taffy was a Welshman,- Taffy was a thief"—which, rightly or wrongly, saddles an individual with supposed national tendencies and leaves him to suffer tho consequenceswas heartily condemned during the Conference of Educational Associations'in London, says the "Christian Science Monitor."

Professor H. J. Fleure, who is Professor of Geography at Manchester University, and secretary of the Geographical Association, led the,general condemnation in speaking to tho members of tho School Journey Association. Not, as he said, that he was particularly concorned in any way with Welshmen, as such. He merely took Taffy as a handy examplo of those who suffer from the prejudices of others and do not deserve it.

."Apart from being a thief," said the Professor, "there is at least one village in Wales where the signal that everyone has gone to chapel on a Sunday morning and left tho house empty k the placing of the key in the lock on the street side of the door. And," he added, '[wn. equally intimate understanding of things might, in many instances dispel the prejudices', national and international which, through ignorance, wo cherish at the present time."

Tho Professor believes that fhe greatest need of the moment is for what ho calls "objectivity of ' mind," which, lie says, is another way of describing the "cultivated ability to understand the other fellow's point of view" and to respect it. l For the promotion of such a, method of thinking, Professor Fleurc recommends an ever widening use of the school journey. "I love," he said, "to tramp with a band of students through a country against which a prejudice lias been cherished, and to watch that prejudice disappearing until it vanishes altogether."

But he also recommends that the young people of one part of the country shall visit those of other parts. He would like, ho says, to see the prosperous city child come into personal contact with tho child" of those mining areas which are suffering the deprivations and fears of -unemployment, and the agricultural child come into contact with tho child of the Lancashire mills. Prejudices, like the one applied to "Taffy," said the Professor, provide ono of tho main sources from -which a public, ignorant of its brother and condemning him, may be trapped into the support of undertakings which lead away from world peace and individual happiness.