BELIEF IN 1931.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 10 April 1931, Page 3

BELIEF IN 1931.

(By Sir William Morris):

We English as a race are singularly unimaginative and unimpressionable. It takes us a long time to react to any indicative set of conditions. But when we do get a thought into our heads our actions are dogged, virile, and tenacious. That'is why I have great faith in 1911. The year that has just closed has seen the culmination of a. trend of events that have given conclusive proof that all is not well in the world, het I think that the slump, or depression (call it what you will;, lias done us good. I would not have welcomed it had I been pre-warned of its advent, but definitely and on all sides I see around me signs of the return of that back-to-the wall spirit that ultimately, time and again in the history of this great nation, has pulled us through and seen us come out on top. Only as recently as 1914 it took us two years at least to realise the full gravity of the great war. But, realising it, we won. The perils of the ensuing peace, less dramatic perhaps, have taken longer to be recognised. But 1910 has served its purpose, and I believe that we are nwo witnessing the beginning of the swing-hack of the pendulum. We arc regaining the will to work, which in the long run means prosperity. Let us analyse carefully this belief of mine, for I am no blind optimist. Let us examine it from two angles, the worldwide state of trade and the national situation. The world seems to me to have just come to the end of a farreaching series of adjustments that became necessary as the result of a period of very rapid development. The people of this country have the power to choose their own leaders. Every country at all times has ultimately had the government it deserves. I believe that early in 1931 we shall see a change in the political situation that will have an almost immediate effect in the* improvement of commerce. The majority of the old gang of politicians have lost the confidence of the people. The electorate to-day, conscious of the futility of lip-service to obsolete party principles, is willing to accept and support with outstretched arms a leader who Avill restore to its proper place the prestige of Parliament as the council house of the nation. Too long have we suffered —if sometimes gladly, as fools suffer —the selfish adherence to partisanship of some of our so-called leaders. Yotc-catching had almost become a protected trade. But results speak more plainly than promises, and the old professional politician is a back number in these .modern days of an enlightened electorate. The will of the people for better leadership will assuredly have its way. Remains then the question: Who is to lead?- Have we in England to-day men of the calibre and experience necessary? In several instances record business was done —proof that a change in the mental attitude of the people (which the readjustment of the political situation will assuredly bring about) can lift us out of the worried state of 2930. For myself, I am content to take my courage in both hands and, by strict application to business and the adoption, after careful trial, of every modern device for the improvement of tlio products that I make, to pass on to the public and my employees the benefits that can and do accrue. Ts there a better principle for the head of a manufacturing concern to adopt? If so, I do not know it. To-day we have to realise that we must think harder than did our foie--I,ears. We live life more intensively. I would like to impress that fact particularly on the youth of both sexes to-day. Money only conies to those who earn it by doing something useful. That is not a bad thought to bear in mind at a time when a round of festivities may have tended to disturb one’s mental estimate of the values of life. And so soberly, earnestly, and with the truth in our minds that success always comes to those who deserve it, let us greet 1931 with a smile of welcome. It will be a year of benefiting from the lessons of the past. It must be a year of hard work and serious endeavour; but, above all, it should start, with every justification, on a note of confident optimism. Let me conclude by wishing everybody the •best of all good fortune and by saying this: “Work hard, play hard, and, above all, buy hard. Buy goods that will make your life more enjoyable and improve your status. Buy carefully, shrewdly, and not more than you can properly afford. Above all, buy British and keep down unemployment.” Bo these things, resolve never to .talk loosely of depression, and 1931- will be a happy year for all of us.