BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20690, 9 October 1930, Page 13

BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP.

BRITAIN AND AMERICA. SPEECH BY MR. HOOVER. NEW YORK. Oct.. 7. At King's Mountain battleground. North Carolina, in order to symbolise the bonds of friendship and peaco between tlie citizens, of the United States and of Britain, a memorial was dedicated to-day to Colonel Patrick Ferguson, a. British commander, wlio was slain in ono of tho battles of the revolution. It was the 150 th anniversary of the battle.

In an address at tho dedication the President, Mr. Hoover, said: "I have lived among many peoples and observed many Governments.

" From my experiences in many lands I have sometimes compared the different governmental systems to a race. In the American system, through free universal education, wo train our runners and strive to give them an equal start. " The Government is the umpire of the fairness, and tho winner is ho who shows the most conscientious training. No umpire, despotism or class Government picks those who run or thoso who win.

" It is significant, that some of these systems deny religion and seek to expel it. I cannot conceive of a wholesome social order or sound economic system which docs not have its roots in religious faith. " It would be foolish for me to stand here and say our political and social system works perfectly. It does not. The human raco is not perfect yet. " While wo cannot permit any foreign person or agency to undermine our institutions, yet wo must look to our own conduct that -we do not weaken our own institutions by our own failure to uphold and safeguard America. "Tho world about us is tormented with the spiritual and economic struggles which attend tho changing ideals of systems. Old faiths are being shaken, but we must follow our own destiny.

" Our institutions arc a growth. Wo can follow them with confidence. Our problems are problems of growth, and not of decay."