The Hawera Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1924. WARNING FROM AMERICA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 6 October 1924, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1924. WARNING FROM AMERICA.

Dolivered ewr, evening by b o’clock in flawen, Manaia. Norman by. Okaiawa, Eltham, ™ teb ’ Mokoia, Wbakamaro, Uuanga., Meremere. Fraaer p koad . fcnd Otakenc Munuuhi. Alton. liurleyville. Mangatojn, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake,

Ihe nation really needs a setback; and it would be no bad thing if the " ar which is threatening between Japan and America should - come about. It would leave America, financially bled, and that would be like the old blood-letting cure for disease, it would make them healthy and strong again.” These startling statements were made not by a military or naval leader, nor by one of those political sensationalists of whom one has sometimes read, but they a,re the calm conclusion of a man whose worlc and piofession are such as to make him very careful in expressing his views. Professor Macmillan Brown is well known in New Zealand as Chancellor of the University, and he has spent many years in very careful ethnological study, a most interesting and fascinating work, and his statements quoted from an article appearing in another column in this issue are therefore the more arresting. The professor fears that the American people through, their wild pursuit of pleasure and dollars are moving in the direction of the abyss into which the Roman Empire ultimately sank. It is obvious to any thoughtful person today that since the war ended there has not been that sense of responsibility and duty among people generally which was formerly in evidence. Citizenship and respect for the old institutions built upon strong foundations are not regarded in the light of former times, and we believe that the world is the poorer because of this drifting, away from old-time customs and observances. Over and over again the difficulties into which people have been plunged through their mania, for pleasure and an easy life have been recorded in the newspapers,

mid though there are still many people who cling to .the belief in selfdiscipline and control, so strictly followed by their forefathers, there is in evidence much laxity and unwillingness to-submit'to anything of an irksome nature. But life has been so ordered in this wprld that unless people observe certain laws and follow definite rules of life they will inevitably suffer. Jt is curious that human nature is such that adversity and difficulty bring out the best side of character, while prosperity and ease often show people at their worst. “On the bed of luxury most kingdoms have expired” is true not only of States, but of the individual. Alan is by nature inclined to be lazy, and the more the inpliiiation is encouraged the more selfish does the person become, and it is selfishness that is at the root of many of the great evils spoiling the world. We suppose that selfishness is due largely to lack of thought or mental laziness. There has .never been a time when the world needs guidance through its innumerable difficulties more than it needs it at the present time, and there has probably never been a time when the average person gave less thought to his duties and responsibilities to the nation to which he belongs. In the progress which democracy has made earning a living has become a less difficult problem than in olden times, and many people have given way to ' extravagant impulses, placing pleasure, ease and luxury first and their work second. From what vte know of life in New Zealand we would say that though there is abroad a tendency towards excessive pleasure we are far from the serious ‘ stage to which Professor Macmillan Brown refers in his comments on life in America, but we do think that there is daijger in the laxity of life among many of our young people, due mainly to lack of parental control of children. The professor’s remarks should serve as a warning, for even though the position in the Dominion may not be serious, if the laxity and the tendency to do away with reason able discipline continue for a few generations, it may easily happen that the people may give up entirely the fine principles upon which the Dominion has been built and upon which it must rely for its future strength and welfare. The danger lies in tendencies to drift into that state of constant pleasure described bv Professor Macmillan Brown as a “disease,” to cure which be does not regard war as too drastic.