The Manawatu Daily limes Prayers For Profits

Manawatu Times, Volume LIX, Issue 7470, 22 May 1934, Page 6

The Manawatu Daily limes Prayers For Profits

“ Wc are indeed devoutly thanklul lor present mercies, but , n n v I add that tor wliat 1 hope we are about to receive, tne Lord make us truly thankful.” These words might have been taken from a benediction. Actually they are part of an address delivered by a leading arms maker to his shareholders lecen y The speaker had just alluded to the depression from which the armaments business has been emerging—no doubt suit } in the last troublous year. Otherwise “present mercies might be read as meaning a continuation of an all to ° Xlv Id be peace In its context, however, the phrase is more likely to be interpreted as referring to the military operations o Japan in the Far East, to the slaughter over boutti America s Chaco to the “jitters” in Europe, it is conceivable that armament hawkers, gathered together to consider their profits, might speak of these things as “mercies.” Similar remarks may be found in other addresses, they mark as sharply as anything could—unless it be the trade o arms with enemies in war time-the beautifully detached view with which the arms vendor regards humanity, they lllustiate equally well the way in which the interests 01 one industry in particular oppose the interests of mankind generally. What men fear, these interests welcome. What men call blessed, these interests oppose. Yet even arms dealers know the wordings of pray eis: koi what I hope wc are about jo receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. ” But, as if even he were conscious of the ironic humour of the situation in which lie found himself, the speaker of these words added: “And I say this in no irreverent spirit/ Maybe not. But no doubt many readers of his address, recalling the betrayals of peoples to the gods of dividends and counting the millions who perished in the last aims makcis heaven, will speak another prayer: “From what they hope we are about to receive, may we mercifully be delivered.” Kindness to Words From England comes a playful suggestion for forming a Society for Preservation of Words. In days when new social organisations are constantly springing into being, this seems not at all a bad idea. It has the advantage that one can join without an entrance fee or annual dues; and it might do really useful work. Words are constantly being misused. Slight modifications of the significance and employment of most words do not always matter very much. But in the last 400 years the meaning of the word “prevent,” for example, has been completely changed in this manner. Whereas formerly it was a synonym for “allow,” popular usage has transformed it into directly the opposite. Yet changes of this kind are incidental to the giowth and development of a language, and are a sign of vitality and energy. In some cases, however, a word may be misused with more serious consequences, and it is in these instances that people would do well to be on their guard. Perhaps there is no single tem more frequently used in error than the word “tragedy.” Nearly every sordid incident is called, in the sensational Press, a “tragedy”; nearly every film with a disastrous ending is called a “tragedy”; nearly everything depressing or discouraging, nor sordid. Of all forms of art, it deals with the noblest characters and the noblest actions. The consequence of the misemployment of this word is that there is built up a deep prejudice against tragedy based on a complete misapprehension of its real nature, but which nevertheless does much to prevent modern artists from exploring its possibilities, to the intellectual and aesthetic detriment of the age. If the Society for Preservation of Words could succeed in preserving only this term, it would justify its existence.