EVILS OF BEING HIDEBOUND.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 September 1927, Page 4

EVILS OF BEING HIDEBOUND.

MINISTER ADDRESSES ROTARY CLUB. Eev. J. D. MeArthur, of Levin, was the speaker at the Palmerston North Rotary Club yesterday, and he took as his subject, "Getting Down to Facts." In opening his address, Mr MeArthur stated that nowadays the world was getting smaller and smaller; it would not be long before people would hop across to the United States of America for a week-end. The whole country was linked up so that all places were really inter-dependant. No nation or any individual for that matter, was able to go far by itself; all must make their pace relative to the pace of their peers. ,

Referring to economic factors, Mr MeArthur said the only ground upon which the disputes between capital and labour could be settled was-the moral ground. As long as labour was looked upon as a mere machine or so many hands, we would n'ver get anywhere. Too often we put money before men, and production before personality. Moderation should be the order of the day* and many of the present-day problems would disappear. There was one universe in which it was very hard to stick to the truth, and that was in the realm of public affairs. "You take up Hansard," said Mr MeArthur, '' which I am inclined to think is a sorry example of inaccuracy. Too many public men enjoy throwing a little dust in the eyes of the people. Take the nonsense that so many of our worthy representatives in Parliament talked about the Summertime Bill. You would think that every farmer in the country Was about to go bankrupt if it was passed." The trouble was that getting down to facts required too much mental effort, stated the speaker in conclusion. It meant a long and hard struggle to get down to bedrock. Too many men wanted their facts to agree'with their pre-conceptions. People didn't and wouldn't believe things because it took too much' trouble to reason them out. Right was always in conflict with wrong all the world oter. Even when our pre-conceptions were knocked endwise, we were honest men when we accepted an unpalatable fact, because we knew it was true. If we looked back through history we saw that a certain number of abuses had been gradually disappearing because men had recognised that they were wrong. The doctrine of "every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost" was, he thought, gradually disappearing. Tihe square - deal was becoming much more popular, and the idea of a bargain was no longer that of taking in the other man. A hearty vote of thanks was passed by acclamation to Mr MeArthur for his able address.