SMUGNESS THE GREAT DANGER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23599, 8 September 1938, Page 6

SMUGNESS THE GREAT DANGER

“ This nation requires the inspiration of a great idea] in the domestic, no less than in. the foreign sphere. It cannot give of its best without it. No nation can. A country without ideals is a country without faith or hope,” said Mr Anthony Eden,speaking at the Brotherhood Conference in England. “Of course, _we should take account of the practical difficulties, but in so doing we should not weaken in our determination to, employ what are-the most practical means of pursuing our ideal. Theideal is the beacon that lights tlie road. Without it we grope uncertainly from expedient to expedient. But expedients, however ingenious, are no sure guide. So that, with each succeeding difficulty, the temporary -remedy becomes, more extravagant and less effective; . and we plunge ever further from the path. Do not, therefore, let* us be afraid of. the taunt of being idealists, for without the inspiration of an ideal a nation perishes. Nor should we be timid to oroclaim and to maintain before the world those standards in which we believe. The greatest danger is that of a smug contentment. None, not even the best, can survive that baleful influence.”