WORLD LEADERSHIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20324, 3 August 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

WORLD LEADERSHIP.

BY KOTABH

THE AMERICAN ENIGMA.

Once it was fairly easy to forecast the courso of human history. You had tho constituents of tho problem sufficiently clear beforo you Thore migh' bo unexpected irruptions from tho sub-conscious strata 01.o 1 . national life, but on tho whole you knew whero you wero. The main elements in your problem wero static and definite. You could say how the mentality of this or that country would react to a given situation Tho soul of a people was as much an established factor as its resources in men and money. What of the now Germany and tho new Italy? Every European factor is now largely unknown, and wo havo no measuring rod at hand to assess values. Could any man predict what changes in national attitude aro involved in tho transformation of English opinion that has had its supreme expression in the return to power ol a Government admittedly socialistic in its ideals ?

But even these vast uncertainties fade into tnsignificanco compared with tho enigmas presented by at least three of tho mightiest powers of the modern world. Tho nations that on a population basis are going to count for most in the futuro history of civilisation aro the biggest puzzle of all. What is churning to the surface in the mysterious land of China ? No one seems to have the least idea. All thai wo can say with any certainty is that nover again can China be regarded as an unwioldly mass of acquiescent conservatism to bo treated and moulded at tho whim of more vigorous Western powers And what of Russia ? Insoluble enigma again. We cannot go on indefinitely waiting for something to turn up moro flattering to our own hopes and desires Tho Russia of reality, whatever that may bo, will havo to be accepted and taken fully into account} for here lie many of the forces that will determine tho futuro of tho Western nations. America.

And to cdme nearer home, what are wo to. say of the post-war United States? It is often said that everything vital in our civilisation depends on the co-opera-tion and mutual understanding of the Eng-lish-speaking nations. That is true. But America is tho strongest of these numerically, and the richest in treasure. Her attitude in the last issue is what will count for most And J can find in all my reading ouly growing perplexity when men o) authority try to decide just what the new America is. Americans themselves seem to bo divided into threo groups.

Here is tho small but influential party of which Mencken is tho most vigorous spokesman Puritanism, materialism, and Philistinism have so corrupted the American soul, according to these prophets, that every expression of the national life is but another revelation oi the utter intellectual and spiritual depths to which a potentially great people has fallen. MencKeii is so pessimistic thai he must be wrong He is so disgusted with a certain typo of smug sentimental American that id his contemptuous wrath he hopelessly overstates tho case against his country And he is succeeding only in consolidating the forces he wishes to overwhelm. Besides, the things ho assails so savagely are not the exclusive property of America, though they (nay show their fullest development thero. A case as strong could bo made out against Britain, or New Zealand, for that matter, if one thought the business worth the powder and shot. Chauvinism, At tho opposite extreme stand tho Jingoistic sell-applauders who take it as axiomatic that everything American is lor that very reason infinitely superior to any thing any other nation can produce. It is noisny vocal, this group, and is cerlauily hard to bear, but much of the resentment other countries feel against this unintelligent spread-eagleism is due primarily to the lact that most peoples think the same things about themselves, even if they do not say them quito so emphatically A bore is a man who insists on talking about himself when we want to talk aliout ourselves We object to any other nation's claiming for itsell tho virtues which wo know are our exclusive possession. In between these extreme groups come tho American publicists who are looking away from the mere prosperity special circumstances have bestowed on America, and are asking whether the American soul 13 big enough for tho tremendous tasks ol world-leadership suddenly thrust upon her That is van Loon g altitude in his " America." After the Civil War, America set out on the trail of ihe uimble dollar, Events piospered her until money which had been a means became an end. The final test of a man in the public judgment was whether he had made money Why ho wanted so much money was a question not usually raised It was sulllcient that he should got it. And now. says van Loon, after the Ureal Wni America has the treasure beyond all her wildest dreams And she docs not know what on earth to dc with it She sol herself too limited a goal. She has reached the goal, unfortunately lor herself And she stands perplexed with hei wealth in her hands and round her feet Van Loon boldly says that in fixing a narro.v objective America ensured success, but killod the idealism which had perhaps markted her beyond all the other nations of tho world Idealism.

1 do not know how true this is. But since van Loon published hi« work its main position has been acknowledged by many loading Americans. At least it points to a danger Tho powoi that holds in its hands the destiny ot the world must Lave, if it is to fulfil itt- task of leadership, a highor ideal than material success And to anyone that knows any. thing ot America thero are abundant evidences in tho American character and history of resources of 'doalisi" that may guide the way out of tho impasse van l.oon thinks ho sees.

Waldo Frank diagnoses tho trouble dif fcrently In his " New America " he is concerned to analyse the national heart, to find, if he can, tho qualities that will fit her to take hor proud placo in the van ot tho nations with honour to her self and happiness to tho world He con eludes that in one respoct she finds her treasuries doploted by tho very conditions of her history, and this, unfortunately, in tho all-important matter of spiritual content. Whoro hor spiritual reservoirs might have been availablo foi tho healing of thf* nations, she finds them dry. She can minister to tho world only on tho lowoi levels.

" American energy has become external i fled equally from the soil and from tho soul of man. . . From th»* boginning we were centrifugal, nervous impatient. No potential energy could store in us; we poured ourselves unendingly, pioneering and exploiting. The erisi* finds us to-day innerly depleted We are clever. Wo are literate. Wo are materially ad vancod But facing the mandate of the hour, tho rc-crcation of the world, we aro moro backward than the Magyai or the Slav, because wo lack tho spiritual sub stance which creates faith and which remove? mountains."

Other aspects of this grave question we shall consider next week.