TWO BLADES OF GRASS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145941, 26 September 1917, Page 7

TWO BLADES OF GRASS.

AND A WEALTH OP BLOSSOMS,

(Auckland Observer.)' He wlit) makes two blades of grass prow where one grew before is a greater man than he who makes two laws where ono existed before. Ho who saves the life of a single human being is arranging for the. future production of grass and of all other material things. In New Zealand, because of the superior comfort of the people, there is limited ■production of the race. It is not a matter for blame —the person who apportions bin 1110 should bo himself blameless; and there is none blameless. It is demonstrated by this “war of attrition” (by which Kitchener, an unproductive hum an being, meant the destruction of men) that the ruost vital nations of white men are being decimated at a. greater rate than _tbo rate of their reproduction. Very likely the average reader here throws the paper aside and looks for the racing news, which would not exist but for the careful breeding of beasts. If the breeding of boasts is a. vital matter, the breeding of the Master of .animals is paramount. Some attention has been given to tbo diminishment of tho human supply in Now Zealand by unselfish people of largo imagination—a quality not remarkable for its frequency between the North Cape and the Bluff. Inspirational among those people is Truby King, M.D., C.M.G., a. man whoso natural instinct has made him aware of the great deficiency. i h v « v V >' The problem of all British countries is tbo same. It is the problem of the “twoi blades of grass.” To be more exact “the two babies where one previously was born.” Truhy King is angrily enthusiastic because ho understands. Ho has seen that there is no problem' of propagation among Eastern peoples, and that but for a “renaiscaneo” among the Western peoples, the more vital .-Eastern will, by generation, dominate tho earth. It is a less useful thing to stimulate procreation among a diminishing population of ono million souls (as in New Zealand) than among tho people of tho British Isles where the natural increase of <lO odd millions is at low ebb. Nature has no law except tho law of creation and destruction, and no marriage ceremony except that of natural mating of two creatures of a kind. Wo in our “civilisation” have made 1 diminution respectable, and this respectability, if not countered, will, within a limited time, give to less respectable nations physical dominion over us. A medical friend with'a vision of tho future has referred to a, now European panacea for the short crop of babies acutely, if inaccurately, as “synthetic breeding,” the underlying idea being, of course, to produce the largest crop of human, plants in tho shortest possible time.'

Truhy King, C.M.G., is not necessarily a. personal exponent of tlie productivity of tho Iranian being, but ho is a gifted exponent and inventor in New Zealand of the care of the already born. In New Zealand we recognise ©rainonoo feebly. Wo aro addicted less to admiration and help of the man of ideas than tho fatuous politicians (most of whom would, in other countries, ho hewere of wood and drawers of water). The man who can reinvest civilised woman with tho idea of holiness of birth is a greater man than Alexander tho Conqueror. Tho ono depopulates tho earth; tho other tries to people it. Tho instinct of motherhood is impaired but not lost in this ton comfortable country. It seems almost incredible •that civilised people should have to bo taught things which to tho savage aro instinctive. Truhy King is a teacher of a very eminent kind:

The Marlborough School of Motherhood. in London, which Dr. Truby King goes- to control is, one presumes, only on© of the serious British attempts to solve the greatest of all the Empire problems of the future. The work Dr. Truby King has done in New Zealand, both as an alienist and for tho physical salvation of infants, is incalculable. Tho detestable prudery which declares that any living human being is of shameful birth and therefore to be scorned, will give place to other ideas in the future, for nothing that nature creates is shameful. Nature does not punish a human being because its mother has no document signed by an official, and humanity, hy the aid of the Truby Kings of society, will yet view life of any kind as beautiful and splendid. In New Zealand as elsewhere there is a greater desire to discuss vital matters with an absence of the idiotic “hush” policy once considered so respectable. Tlie medical man in tho privacy of his surgery deals in the truth. The truth is as valuable shouted' from tho platform or road from a paper as in tho hospital.’- The truth is that the Empire wants more human plants in the near future than over before, and any genius who gives his life to this great problem is greater than all tho lawmakers who over drove humanity to destruction. One of the most splendid achievements ever carried out is tho Plunkot Society, based nn common sense and common humanity, and tho distinguished medical man who is to he given so grand an opportunity of using bis knowledge and power should bo counted as ono of the first ominonts of this country.