SERVING THE WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18722, 30 May 1924, Page 6

SERVING THE WORLD.

The great men of former ages were men who conquered the world. The great men of to-day and to-morrow are the men who are serving the world, -writes Dr. Frank Crane in Current Opinion. Alexander the Great, Tamerlane, Julius Caesar, Attila, Louis the Magnificent, Napoleon, were warrior heroes. * They climbed to the peaks of fame up mountains of dead bodies. The blare of band music that heralded their glory, the cheers of the multitude that greeted their triumph, were hardly able to drown the moans of heartbreak and the shrieks of anguish of their victims. Those were the days when the Great Ones of earth were the rulers of men. Evolution has unfolded. The mind of mankind has ripened. The world has fairly . entered into that zone of time in which greatness is measured by service. Even the 'God of the past was called the King of Bangs in the effort of men's imagination to exalt His magnificence. We are. beginning to glimpse a better title • for the Deity, ~o«p, indeed, suggested to us by His chief representative, "Servant of all." As our boys and girls read history they learn that at this date and that such a man was ruler of a nation. In the Fiftieth Century boys and girls shall learn the names of those men who, each in his epoch, was the most conspicuous servant of the people. . ; ;

THE DOLLAR AND THE POUND. " In my well-considered opinion there is no reason why the pound , sterling should, before very long, not be on - a parity with the dollar," said Sir Felix Schuster, director of the National Provincial Bink, in addressing .the' American' Chamber of Commerce in London. "Sentiment in these matters goes a very long way, but it does not govern everything. There must be underlying sentiment -a sound condition of things. The settlement of our debt with the United States shows how far sentiment goes. When that debt was funded one * would have thought it would have brought about a detrimental effect upon the exchange. But, instead of producing a detrimental effect, it had a beneficial effect at once, because you and the world felt 'here's a country going to live up to its bargain, going to settle its debt,' and you had confidence, and the pound sterling improved in value at once. Similarly, what I may describe as an ill-considered speech made by a Minister of the Crown, had a most detrimental effect, and was instrumental in bringing down the exchange to the level we now see. It is more than sentiment which makes it desirable that we should once more re-establish the pound sterling all over the world as the best standard for air international transactions. A parity between the dollar and the' pound sterling exchange will lead to lowering' the price of commodities on this side, and particularly of raw materials arid articles of food. It would lower the cost of living and restore confidence and enterprise." '

CHIEF AIM OF TEACHERS.

A striking definition of the chief duty of teachers was given by the - ArchBishop of York in a speech at the annual conference of the National Union of i Teachers, held in Scarborough recently. He said that unless teachers could,, make children teach themselves, the greater part of their work would re'main undone. They should contrive to arouse the interest and the curiosity of children; it was not their business to iurnish children with correct answers to questions which they or other clever people might ask them, but to give them an . insatiable desire to ask questions of themselves. .By so doing they would lay the foundation of a system of education reaching'' from the elementary schools to the) universities. The best leaving certificate that children could have was not a record of anything, that they had known, for most of that they would forget, < but a desire to know for themselves, which was something they would carry with them for the rest of their lives. If children were to be sent out from school at 14 years of age with no prospects, no employment and no continuation of education their' interests would be quickly damped. It was very necessary • if . the teacher was to arouse the interest of the child that classes should be of a size where the function of the teacher could be exercised to the highest possible point. He rejoiced- to think that the 'great teaching profession, the education authorities, and the Board of Education , wero coming nearer : his own ideal of what national education should be. The. ideal of education used to be regarded by many as a . mere paradise, but it was becoming a reality ideal that ! teachers should receive ; : the best possible training and the highest possible "salaries, and should ' teach ■ j the fewest possible subjects to the smallest possible classes. Everything depended upon - the use of - the word possible," but . we existed to . make the possible actual* • : '' ; "<• .■'