PASSING NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27212, 15 October 1949, Page 5

PASSING NOTES

Day by day I am understanding better the doctrine of those philosophers who say that every good we attain is accompanied by a corresponding evil. Society and human nature being what they are, each advance holds possibilities of both advantage and disadvantage. I am not thinking of atomic discoveries, though I am not one who believes that that subject should be entirely removed from our thinking. At the moment the subject is accidents. I find that there is something to be said in their favour. I know they worry a lot of people and that there is a determined effort to reduce the number. But that has its disadvantages. The truth is that accidents have been one of the chief causes of man’s superiority. There are 105 boys bom to every 100 girls. If that ratio were allowed to continue it is easy to see the kind of world we would have. But accidents, disease and war have stepped in to keep the balance and have seen to it that there are many more women than men of marriageable age. With the advent of “ total ” war and the growing venturesomeness of women, so that they share almost equally with us the benefits of accidents, it looks as if men will have to put their faith almost exclusively in a greater susceptibility to disease or invent some new way of protecting their position.

Those who have thought of the question of soil erosion as synonymous with a campaign for compost heaps, must have thought Aldous Huxley extremely alarmist when he said: “ Soil erosion can put an end to the very possibility of any civilisation.” Ward Shepard, who wrote “ Food and Famine,” has it: “ Modern man has perfected two devices, either of which is capable of annihilating civilisation. One is atomic war, the other is world soil erosion.” Every one and a-half seconds the world has an acre of foodproducing land blown or washed away. Every one and a-half seconds the world has another person to feed. In about the time it takes to read this paragraph, 40 acres disappear and 40 more people are bom. In the United States 300,000,000 acres have been wasted and another 755,000,000 imperilled. In New South Wales 30,000,000 acres need urgent attention and another 30,000,000 are being affected. Man must make the effort to save the soil or starve, „The experts put it plainly to the layman when they say that good soil, as compared with sand, contains living bacteria produced by decaying vegetable matter. These cement the grains and make porous earth that absorbs rain and resists wind. Erosion is caused by indiscriminate clearing of the land, overgrazing and over-cropping. These rob the soil of vegetable renewal and leave it open to driving rain and wind. Nature decrees that get-rich-quick selfishness is a sure way to starvation.

Through the past 20 years there has been an increasing number of statesmen and others interested in international affairs who have, declared that a determined clinging to a narrow conception of national sovereignty is an obstacle to human progress. This applies not only to the pursuit of peace but also to the solution of social and economic problems. Yet Governments are unwilling to forgo \ their rights of deciding everything for themselves and in their own ways even when their actions may be detrimental to the interests of humanity as a whole. No doubt this is partly due to fear of others based on ignorance of them fostered by parochialism in education, as Lord Bertrand Russell has pointed out. Reform through education takes time. Governments will be affected more rapidly by the increasing revulsion from ruthlessness, aggression and intolerance and by the knowledge that economic and social co-operation is necessary for survival. Dependence on masses of population and huge technical developments in industry and war make it impossible for any but a few of the most powerful nations to practise complete sovereignty. The principle of delegating some national rights to an international body is embodied in the working of the Security Council of the United Nations. But m present practice it can act for the United Nations only if the five Great Powers and two others agree. Any one of the five can apply the veto, and its nationalism hinder international co-operation. If this right is removed it will be a momentous advance.

Where seeing is believing, the eyes have.it. Or do they? The average American woman is plain.—London daily. Generally speaking, American women are more beautiful, richer, riper, and more riotous than Britons. —Viscount Castlerosse, 1929. American men behave so well to their wives that they are the most desirable of husbands. —Woman’s journal. "I hope to marry an Englishman one day,” said the visiting actress, " because they are so much politer to their wives than Americans."—London evening paper. In the face of such confusion the mere layman is as helpless as a certain negro: " Rastus, seein' as how we’ve just joined de church do you spose it's right for us to go on stealin’ dese chickens? " " Mose, dat am a deep and pofound moral question dat babes lark us can’t be spected to solve. Hand down another yellow-leg.”

We have always been taught that the yoke of an egg has nothing to do with its fertility, but is the chick’s food supply to keep it going for the first day or so. However, a news item published in “The Farm” column last Saturday brings us up to date. An Australian poultry farmer, who has hatched 500,000 chicks and therefore must know all about it, has been blessed with twins from a doubleyolked egg. And the chick sexers, most of whom learned their profession in Japan, assert that a rare thing has happened in that both yolks were fertile. So evidently the germ was not in the white of the egg and we

shall have to revise our science files. All the same, we’ll leave the drawer open at the place in- case there are further developments. Of course, it could be that the modern dieting fad has invaded the poultry world, but we are not quite convinced.

Listening to the radio one evening gave our visitor, a competent pianist, the opportunity of holding forth on the banalities of the low-brow programmes that are broadcast instead of music. He quoted with delight a letter that had been written to the editor describing the lowering ofpublic taste by jabber and jingle, dis-' sonance and vulgarity. He agreed, that the station would be better silent if they can do no more than this in the interests of culture. No word was raised in opposition to his plea, for apparently all present had. suffered much. A little knob-turning brought us later, from overseas, an eloquent sermon by an internationallyknown preacher, it seemed to us an excellently-phrased, sound philosophical treatment of modern trends. “ Why does he talk like that.” asked our pianist, ‘‘away over everybody’s head? Ministers will have to learn to come down to the level of the average man, talk their language and give their ideas a popular touch. Otherwise they will never get their message across.” That left us without anything to say, at least without anything it would have been polite to say. But we have been thinking since about the ignorance of experts and the inconsistency of the human mind. It seems obvious that, in both realms of music and thought, there is need not only of trained interpreters, but of hearers who are prepared to practise the discipline of listening. To give the above note “ the popular touch” we recall two incidents. Two ladies arrived late at an orchestral concert when the first number was being played. They disagreed as to what the piece was. One insisted that it was the Overture from “Carmen,” but the other knew that it was somebody’s Minuet. To settle the argument one moved quietly down the side aisle to consult a notice displayed on the stage. Rejoining her companion, she said: “ We’re both wrong. It’s the ‘ Refrain from Spiff, ting.’ ” There have been periods when religionists showed an unwholesome fear of learning. It is expressed in an authentic prayer from the records of a denomination in the Southern States of America. The rural preacher said: “ O Lord. I thank Thee that lam ignorunt. Make me. ignorunter! Make me ignorunt as a mule.” Civis. .