WORLD AND YOUTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 July 1939, Page 8

WORLD AND YOUTH

CRITICAL ATTITUDE JUSTIFIED.

LONDON, May IS.

The effect of current conditions or. the 'young people of the, work! was described by Mr. Joseph Kennedy, the American Ambassador, last night, as a problem gravely disturbing leaders of thought everywhere. He was speaking at a dinner given by the University Association of the University of Liverpool at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. “We have come to realise,” he said, “that the difficulties of to-day, serious as they are for adults, are of even greater significance to youth. “Will these difficulties warp the outlook of the young? Will they make our children sceptical of the manner in which we have handled! the affairs of the world? Will they, finally, cause youth to revolt against established institutions and perhaps result in a new form of society.

“As you have probably heard, Mrs. Kennedy and I are endeavouring to raise a family of nine children. 1 think, therefore, that I may speak as something of an expert on the outlook of youth. I have a couple of boys and two or three daughters who think they know what’s wrong with, the world. “One of my beys l has just come back from Spain; another is now in Warsaw on his way to Russia. They are quite outspoken in their opinion of the way we old folks have been doing things. I shouldn’t want them to know it, but I must admit, just between us, that I can’t blame them.” The disturbing problem that faced youth to-day, continued Mr. Kennedy, involved the clouded economic outlook, and the ever-present possibility of war. Either was sufficient excuse for a very critical attitude on the part of the young. “The young men and women of every country,” Mr. Kennedy continued, “beheld a hostile world. They see nations armed to the teeth. They see the normal processes of trade perverted and all but destroyed in a mad rush for military supremacy. “They see international relations reduced to the level of the jungle. It is no wonder that they want to know how things got this way and what those who are responsible intend to ; do about it.

“War, like unemployment, bears most heavily on the young. All over the world we find/ young men under arms. I do not know’ what any one nation can do to arrest this mad competition! in armament. 1 am afraid, however, that it is a tragedy for which all of iis will some day be calk’d to account.”

“It is up to us,” Mr. Kennedy declared, “to provide leadership that works and In which the young people of to-day can have confidence. I believe that somehow or other we shall find a way out of our internal difficulties. I dare to ( hope that we shall be spared the calamity of war.”