NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18895, 18 December 1924, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE BUSINESS OF LIFE.

" There is growing a distinct comprehension that the business of man's life is more than business. The business man who lives only in tho present, and whose heart and soul are moved by nothing but material gains, is gradually passing away," says Edward W. Bok, in an article in The World To-day, in which he suggests that " money is no longer king." Mere possession is not counting quite so largely as it did, ho says. It is being driven homo that posssession is very different from ownership. After a man has wrestled a while with the things that he wants to possess, and acquires them, he finds, often to his great astonishment, that he still has himself to wrestle with. Said the poet to Dives, " The land is yours, but tho landscape is mine." Possession connotes what a man has in his hands; ownership connotes what a man is in himself. Possession is sending, as one woman is said to have done, for three yards of good books in brown bindings to match the furniture; ownership is saying with Fenelon, " If the crowns of all tho kingdoms in Europe were laid down at my feet in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn them all." Possession is having a house; ownership is creating a home. Possession is material; ownership is spiritual. A man may possess millions, and yet own nothing. And that is the truth that is burning itself into tho minds and hearts of so many business men: That how much a man owns depends on the height and breadth and depth of his mind and soul, and not on his bank account. THE UNITED STATES ELECTION. "America is American. That is the illuminating revelation of the election," says the New York Outlook. "America is not European, s.bo is not Oriental, she is not giving way to any political or social order that divides the population into definite and permanent classes, sho is not at all inclined to put government | into a position of mastery over the people, she is not disposed to place her destiny or her policies in the keeping of other nations; she is proud of her Constitutional form of government, sho is democratic, not socialistic, she is friendly with other nations but independent, and she holds that the concern of tho whole people is supreme over the interests of blocs and groups within her borders and 'over any international groups and coalitions without. . , . There were definite appeals to the particular interest of special classes based on the apparent assumption that as in Europe, so in America, the individual citizen's interest was confined to the interest of the group in which he happened to find himself and his duty was confined to furthering tho interests of that group. This whole conception of America as reverting to a European stage of society has been repudiated by the American voters. For tho second time the American people have been asked to subordinate their will on matters that may affect their vital interests to the decision of foreign nations. It is true that the Democratic platform proposed a further referendum on this subject; but the Democratic candidate this year, as four years ago, was explicit in urging that the United States become a fullfledged member of the Leaguo of Nations. For the second time tho American people have rejected the proposal. As long as the League of Nations is a political organisation, assuming to direct tho foreign policies of tho constituent nations, America seems likely to remain outside. Self-reliance at home and abroad, the quality that has distinguished Americans as a peoplo and America as a nation, the sourco of American liberty at home and American influence abroad, is reasserted."

ACCIDENTS IN AMERICA. Tho control of fatal accidents in the United States continues to bo ono of tho outstanding problems in tho life of the American people, says the Statistical Bulletin of tho Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (New York). It is estimated that there occurred 84,000 deaths from fatal accidents in the United States during 1923, and that thi3 number was 7500 in excess of the figure for the year before. The writer remarks: "That tho fatal accident rate in tho United States is unwarrantedly high is shown by comparison with that for England and Wales. In England and Wales during 1922 the fatal accident rate was 321 per million of population, and in tho United States 698 per inililon! Because of our higher accident death-rate wo loso from 35,000 to 40,000 of our citizens annually in excess of tho number of deaths which would occur if the British rates prevailed here. Tho American death-toll from accidents amounts to 209 per day! Automobilo accidents and injuries head tho list with 37 deaths per day in Continental United States. Then come falls with 36 per day, and drownings with 19 for each day ! There arc 18 killed each day in railroad aeci dents. These are lamentablo facts of destruction of valuable lives and a frightful price for carelessness, apathy and deficient knowledge. Automobile accidents and injuries head the list of fatalities. These casualties accoijited for 18.8** per cent, of the total accidents; in 1911 tho percentage of these automobilo injuries in total accidcnts was only 2.6. In 1911 there were 2061 automobilo accident deaths and in 1923, 15,714. This latter figure includes only the deaths directly ascribed to automobile accidents. If we were to include fatalities arising out of collisions in which railway trains were involved we should have to add, possibly, from 8 to 10 per cent, of this uuinlmr mi thai tho total number of deaths attributable to the use of automobiles <hi! ing 1323 in the United States was probably in excess of 17,000."