THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3494, 22 February 1921, Page 51

THE SKETCHER.

MORE BRITISH IN THE UNITED STATES THAN IN GREAT BRITAIN. THE DOMINANCE OF THE BRITISHBORN. It is a happy augury for the future of civilisation that, of the 95,000,000 white people at present within the Continental limits of the United. States, 65,000,000, or more than half, are of British origin. This fact should silenoe tho critics, here and in Europe, who describe the United States as an incoherent mass of antagonistic raoea. Tile fact is that these 65,000,000 constitute the largest single British population in the world to-day. There are more people of British origin in the United States at present than in Great Britain itself; the actual figures are 55,000,000 in this country against 37,000,000 in England, Scotland, and Wales. For every two representatives of the British race found in Great Britain, there are thus three in cur own country. “One_ of the greatest of English historians, John Richard Green, long ago foresaw what promise this fact held tor the future of mankind,” says the World’s Work. “Writing in 1870, and describing the significance of the American Revolution, he said ; ’Whatever might be the importance of American independence in the history o; England, it was of unequalled moment in the history of the world. If it crippled for a while the supremacy of the English nation, it founded a supremacy of the English race. From the hour of American independence the life of the English people lias flowed, not in one current, but in two; and while the older has shown little signs of lessening, the younger lias fast risen to a greatness which has changed the face of the world. “In wealth and in material energy, as id numbers, America far surpasses the Mother Country from which it sprang. It is already the main branch of the English people; and in the days that are at hand the main current of that people’s history must run along the channel, not of the Thames or the Mersey, but of the Hudson and the Mississippi. “As 200.000,000 Englishmen fill the valley of the Mississippi, this vast power -will tell through Britain on the Did World of Europe, whose nations will have shrunk into insignificance before it. “What the issues of such a world-wide change will be, not even the wildest dreamer will dare to dream. But one issue is inevitable. In the centuries that lie before us, the primacy of the world will lie with the English people. English institutions, English speech, English thought, will become the main features of the political, the social, and the intellectual life of mankind.’ ” The remarkable statements here made with regal'd to the British in the United States are the result of the recent census in the United States. “In 1910,” says the World's Work, New York, “there were 5.063.311 people in this country who were themselves born in Great Britain or English-Canada, or who had one or both parents born in Great Britain or Canada. At the same time there were 4,504,456 people who were born in Ireland or who had one or both parents born in Ireland. —An Industrious Population.— “Another significant fact is that the number of British born is steadily increasing. In 1890 the number for the British born were 3,983,500 against 4,795,681 for the Irish, but since then the British element has surpassed tho Irish. The increasing prosperity of Ireland in recent years and the industrial unrest of England probably explains the fact that the English are arriving now in greater numbers than the Irish ; the fact that Ireland is a very small country compare** with England is also important. In the great immigration that took place in the two years preceding the World War the English were much more numerous than the Irish or the Germans, and, in the flood which is now starting in, the same tendency is even jaiore marked. Washington reports that the largest racial element now landing at Ellis Island is Italian; and that the second is not, as might be expected, south-eastern Europeans, but English. “In our British, old and new, in our Irish, our Germans, our Scandinavians, our northern Italians, the United States, unquestionably at this moment possesses the most industrious, the most intelligent, and the most progressive population ever assembled in any one country. “The notion that it is only the dregs of a people which emigrate is absurd ; the mere fact that they have the energy, the ambition, and the courage to abandon their old environment and seek to better their fortunes shows that, in«gencral, im migrants form a selected group of the populations from which they come. One might as well claim that the native Americans who left the New England and Middle States to settle the West were the social and industrial sediment; the fact, of course, is that they were quite tho reverse. As truthfully nfight one assert that the Englishmen, who’landed on Plymouth Rock three centuries ago were the offscourings of the England of that day, instead of representing, as they did, its most precious blood. “The behaviour of the American people in the war, the courage and intelligence which the American soldier showed in battle—and not only the soldier oi ‘native’ stock, but also the representatives of the other 40,000.000 —lias sufficiently silenced tho critics who asserted that we had outgrown the virile qualities which distinguished us 50 and lOC years ago. Thus the American nation has every reason to congratulate itself on the beginning of its Fourth Century. Never has a united people faced a future o dazzling. “The actual result of the 1920 census of the United States was —105.683,108 population. Tn 1910 the population was 91,000,000—the increase, therefore, 'a about 14.000,000.

“From 1900 to 1910 the population increased at the rate of 31 per cent., whereas in the decade which has just closed we advanced at the rate of about 15 per cent. A similar fall in rate took place in the decade from 1860 to 1870, the period that covered the Civil war. —Quality of Immigration. — “One of the results of the World War will probably be to improve the quality of immigration. America’s best immigrants have come from north-western Europe Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. The United States can readily absorb and assimilate all the people in these countries who care to emigrate. In a generation or two the peoples from these countries become part of the national fibre; there are isolated groups among them, indeed, who seek to maintain their ‘ethnic individuality’ and to uphold the torch of hvphenism, but the great mass soon cease to regard themselves as anything but native stock. “in the last 10 years we have added to cur population a nation almost as large as Spain and one which is twice as large as Belgium. The Netherlands is generally regarded as a thieving and vigorous country, yet it does not contain half as many people as is our increase for this same period. In ten years three Norways and three Swedens have been annexed to the United States, and six Denmarks have added their fortunes to our own. "If we go back twenty years, the numerical advancement which the United States is making is even more striking, for since 1900 our population lias increased by 30,000,000 —which in itself is a nation almost as large as France or Italy. Since 1890 we have increased by 43,000,000 people—a population which is practically as large as that of the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. If rapid growth is in itself an evidence of vitality, there are apparently few signs of degeneration in the American Republic. “In all likelihood the decade from 1920 to 1930 will show a greater proportionate increase in population than that which followed the Civil War. If we should

jmpiy to 'the next thirty years the rate of progress which controlled our develoY)ment from 1870 to i9OO our growth would be indeed startling. Indeed, on this basis it would reach 137,000,000 in 1930. Sen sationaJ as this figure seems, there are indications that we may possibly attain it. The present birth rate itself will give the nation a population of 117,000,000 bv 1930. “Immigration has already begun at the rate of 1,500,000 a year, and this, continued for ten years, would add 15,000,000. These two items would bring the census figures of 1930 up to 132,000,000 —and this takes no account of the increase which would be obtained from the birth rate of the immigrants themselves. If we wish to be conservative, and estimate immigration at 7,000,000 for the next ten years, our population will certainly be 125,000,000 by 1930. “On this same basis, we shall reach 150,000,000 in 1940 and 180,000,000 in 1950. By the time the United States celebrates its bi-centenniaj, in 1976, its population, at the present rate, will have passed 240,000,000; and, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, it will be approaching 300,000,000. Extravagant as such a forecast may seem, it is not inherently improbable that the nation may attain this number or even exceed it; such a growth would fall far behind that which has taken place in the last century. “When George Washington became President we numbered less than 4,000,000 ; since his day, therefore, we have increased our population twenty-five times. Should we increase twenty-five times in the next century and a-quarter, the United States would contain, by 2045, more than 2,500,000,000 souls—more than the entire population of the world at present. Such a figure is incredible even in the minds of a generation which lias grown accustomed to miracles; yet it is not incredible, bat highly probable, that we shall reach 300,000,000 bv the year 2000. “The reason why such an estimate is r.ot fantastic is that the country has the space and the resources to sustain such a population.’’ WHAT IS WASTE OF TIME? A PLEA FOR GOOD READING Most of the occupations which are commonly called “waste of time” are in reality far from being so, while those whose days are filled with superficial activities, and who are accounted worthy industrious folk, aro really the ones who waste the most time. It is these people with whom one feels inclined to pick a quarrel! It is so very inri'bating to feel that there is no competing with them, for it would be a difficult task for one to recall all the wasted minutes of one’s life; they are so many! Ask yourself whether you would care to contemplate living with a person who “never wastes a minute,'* and instantly you feel that your days would pass in anxious questioning of yourself as to whether you were wasting your time; you could not take up a book, or chirrup to the canary, or pick a buttonhole without a guilty start, for that might be accounted one minute of wasted time ! Among the many accusations of wasting time brought by certain people against others is, first and foremost, that of reading. “I never have time for reading,” how often we hear people say. “I call it waste of time.’’ Waste of time to read ! it seems almost impossible that anyone should sn.y such a thing; and indeed no one who thinks much could so speak. The Reward of Good Reading.—• Consider some of the advantages gained by reading How it broadens the mind ! 1 n&so who refuse to read are liable to become narrow and bigoted they can only see one aide of a subject, instead of being

able to see all round It, whereas those who read many views on all subjects will naturally gain much besides what is already in their own minds, and will always be willing to listen to all sides of a question, believing that as there is always more than one point of view so there is always something to be said on all sides which may be worthy of consideration. How reading takes one out of one’s self and one’s surroundings, kindling the imagination, uplifting, amusing, so that next to a holiday, there is nothing like a book, to renew us and fit us for our daily work. And let no one think himself too practical to descend to reading. History, biography, and' good novels, all help the practical person to a truer i lerstanding of life more than one realises. Those who never read cannot have such a tine understanding of life and character as those who do. Then it is worth while surely to read for the sake of information. Many people who are grossly ignorant on some subjects might have been quite enlightened had they not chosen to give up reading. There is, of course a class of reading which helps no one, and which might as well be given up for all the good it does. Trashy stories written only for the sake of sensation, may with truth be called waste of time. A Wordsworth Call.— Lovers of nature have always been the butt of the utilitarian. For the latter, the soil, and everything it produces, water, air, sun, moon and stars are but worth considering as they affect practical affairs, and the nature-lover who spends many hours simply admiring and enjoying is looked upon as an “idler.” Yet, is it waste of time to be in touch with Nature? Waste of time to listen _ to the nightingale, to wander through pine woods watching the shafts of light falling through the dark boughs, to gather the wild flowers, and rest by the river side? Wordsworth was not afraid of the reproach of idleness— It is the first mild day of March, Each minute sweeter than before; The redbreast sings from the tall larch That stands be3ide our door. Then come, my sister! come, I pray, With speed put on your woodland dress; And bring no book; for this one day We’ll give to idleness. One presumes that most people would be snrrv if we. find op.-ei- heard nf Wmds-

worth, yet such would certainly have been the case if he had never been allowed to “waste a minute” ; for he would have written no poetry; it would have been buried a.s surely as the violets are buried beneath the snows of winter. Dreamers of Practical Worth.— Nothing- which uplifts and renews can be called with truth waste of time. The woman whose hobbies consist of occupations which are thought of as “practical” enough is always commended. It is not considei'ed waste of time by some people to spend endless hours over clothes for their own sake, or useless fancy work, or to live for the house-work for the mere love of it, as though the doing of it were an end in itself, when there is no need for her to do so. All this is considered practical and, therefore, useful, but those whose pleasures are not of a utilitarian nature are often rather looked down n-'on. Yet true utility does not always consist in “doing.” Even dreamers are often the most practical people in the world, for dreams have a way of coming true, and without the dreamers very little of practical worth would be done in the world ! PLUCKED FROM THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. THE IDEAL OE BIOLOGY. “The general result and ideal of biology is to deepen our wonder in the world, our love of beauty, our joy in living. The modern botanist” (says the Nation) “is in a very real sense more aware of the Dryad in the tree than the Greek could be. Our point is that biology, by its revelation of the mystery, wonder, and beauty of life, its intricacy and subtlety, its history, its tragedy and comedy, approaches another aspect of the Idea of God. “It is the Idea of God which has been plucked from the Tree of Knowledge by lr.en risen from the very dust of the earth. Canon Barnes’s recent address to the British Association on “The Fall of ‘ The Fall of Man ’ has been received with equanimity.” So far as be can be aware of any occurrence outside the records of personal experience we know that the dogma of man living thousands of years ago in a golden age, in communion with the Divine, and falling from grace by disobedience to the heavenly will, or, in other words, falling with a thud from the top of the evolutionary tree when he was still fumbling about at the roots, is theological moonshine. Man’s Fall To-day.— “The fall of civilised man today is probably more disastrous than any past tumble, because the height to which we have risen is correspondingly greater than all previous achievements, and the resultant demand upon us the more urgent. . And the world rings with the loudness of this summons. “Consider the evolutionary advance of the evolutionary concept done since the days of its discovery. There •»«*. be no doubt that the Victorian m.sreadir’.g of the Struggle for Existence has had a fatal repercussion upon the .nerital processes and, in consequence, the to,i --ul well-being of modern man. But what a revolution of attitude has taken place during the last fifty years —a mutation o! thought, as the biologists say. Variations, said the Victorian, are the product of caprice, and we now realise that ‘ctiance is ono of the most orderly phenomena in the universe.’ “The older physicists explained the universe in terms of molecular energy, and interpreted the living creature as a pfiysico-

chemical mechanism. We now know from the experiments of Jennings and the patient researches of Driesch, that not the meanest organism that waves its cilia in the waters but employs a force in its vital functions baffling every mechanistic formula. The amceba behaves; it is capable of profiting by and registering the gains of experience, it ‘trades with ' time,’ and can learn bv the ‘method of trial and error’ to reject and accept. ‘The ’ living creature,’ we read in a book justly named ‘The Bible of Nature,’ ‘feeds and ; grows; it undergoes ceaseless change, yet j has a marvellous power of retaining its integrity; it is not merely a self-stoking, self-repairing engine, but a self-reproducing machine; it has a self-regulative development ; it gives effective response to external stimuli • it profits by experience; it uses time; it co-ordinates its activities into unified behaviour, it may be into intelligent deeds and rational conduct.’ The New Attitude.— “There is surely no discovery in this balf-centurv of progress which so vindicates idealism and so unifies the rational and spiritual approaches to the cosmic process as this recognition of the ‘individual and creative genius of the organism,’ of its entelechv as the autonomous agent of an organic imagination, and the studies of the Mendelists and Professors Bateson, Poulton, Doncaster, etc., into the properties of the germ-plasm only strengthen the evidence. It is a deliverance from fatalism. These examples can be multiplied. “Huxlev painted nature as a ‘gladiatorial show,’ William James as a ‘harlot’ and ’mere weather,’ hut the moderns have swung over to the other side, not as artists and dreamers, but investigators of facts, and we have Professor Bourne saying : ‘This fratricidal war is not so evident—a doubt whether it exists to any great extent—in the animal world.’ Practice Mutual Aid. “The Darwinians defined competition as the rule of natural life; the modern zoologist listens to Kropotkin’s : ‘That is the watchword that comes to us from the bush, the forest, the river, the ocean. “Therefore combine practice mutual aid!’’ ’ The new knowledge that man has conquered the world not by brute force, but by mental evolution, and that altruism (as Herbert Spencer in his day cried to deaf ears) is an integral and increasing part of the order of nature, is a further example. Before this wonderful turnover of opinion, accomplished in so short a period and derived from quarters used to treating sentiment as an irrational bogey, we need feel no surprise at Professor Murhead’s statement that : “ ‘lt is not too much to say that religion in the wider sense of the word exercises a stronger hold on the mind of the civilised world to-day than it has done at any period since the Reformation.’ How to Rise. “It seems, then, that coincident with the fall of civilised man we have a renaissance of civilised thought, and that we are more advanced in our knowledge of how to rise with the universe at our backs at the period of our fall than we were in our Victorian altitudes. We have proved the world and found it good; we have gained an incalculable experience in utilising its resources for the welfare of humanity; we have asked and received a natural sanction to better our lot, and we can no longer plead ignorance in the methods of opening this great reservoir of knowledge to irrigate all our moral and physical deserts. “Nor are there reallv formidable obstacles to putting our faith and our wisdom to practical tests. We appear to forget that if Canon Barnes had thrown the Fall of Man to the formalists 500 years ago (a toddle in the evolutionary journev), he would have baen burned at Smithfield, with Mr Chestei'ion dancing round the flames. Both theology and science have come through into the century with broken bones but cleared heads and mended hearts, and there is nothing to bind them. Christianity is Necessary. “And on the negative side, we have repeated and clamant signs (the omens and portents of an older world) that the ‘gathering darkness of the frown of God is not a picturesque phrase, that Christianity is a practical and necessary experiment in government, and that mar shall not live by bread alone, or he shal not have even half a loaf. The repudiatioi of our brutality, greed, and stupidity comes not in whispers luit shouts. “V e are perfectly well aware that evo lution is a switchback movement, and that, slowly as it moves, it is not goint to be held up because we are fools enougl to get in its way. The sovereignty of th< earth is only ours so long as we can mak< our responses, arid if we fail to mak< them, then nobody is to blame for th< crash but ourselves. At least if we per sist in falling, we shall havtj the deep 1 melancholy satisfaction of knowing that i we do not survive, and that the ultimati truth of evolution is not shaken but sub stantiated by our fall.”