FATHERS OF MEN.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15274, 26 June 1923, Page 6

FATHERS OF MEN.

(To the Editor). Sir; —Sir Alfred Pickford says New Zealand Is neglecting her finest product, the; boy. At this stage no doubt our lady friends will inquire, “What about the girl, is she not equally as important?" But while it may be a moot point as to who rules in the home, it is none the less a fact that the male sex is still dominant In politics, so for the present we shall confine ourselves to the boy. In England the Public Schools have long been regarded as institutions turning out the best type of man, and though lately they have come in for a certain amount of criticism on various scores, they have certainly done a great deal toward moulding the British nation. Their main failing is that they are almost entirely out of reach of any but the sons of the well-to-do. Our own secondary boarding schools are modelled largely on their English prototype, modified of course to suit our more democratic requirements, but still showing to some extent the same failing, for although secondary education is available «i New Zealand to almost every boy with the average allowance of grey matter, to board a boy at school gcnrally requires money, and there is a vast difference in the general training received by a boarder and a day boy, even at the same school. What we want, therefore, is an institution that will appeal to and be available by all classes. This demand Is well met by the Boy Scouts, an Institution worthy of much greater interest from the general public than it generally receives. Many people will tell you it is all very well, hut they have not time to be bothered with “those kids,” but were they to slop and think for a moment they might realise that these same kids will be the men of to-morrow, and that on the training, or lack of training, they get now depends the kind of men they will be later. It is much easier and more effective to train the growing mind and body than to endeavour to alter them In the adults, and the same people will decry the arrogance and unreasonableness of Labour or the oppression and intolerance of Capital are often too dull or too apathetic to realise that the boys of to-day will soon he in the shoes of the men and will, if allowed to drift, be no better than their fathers. The world is at present in a state of chaos brought, about by the greed, ambition and lust for revenge of its people. Economic collapse has in many cases followed the strain of war, and either the'will or the courage to set things on a firm base again is lacking. Nobody seems anxious to remove the primal causes of the. war, and one wonders how far distant is the next great combat, either between the European nations themselves or between the white and yellow races. . The Balkans, always the happy hunting ground of the international mischief maker, are still threatening an upheaval, while Japan is pursuing a policy of economic penetration into Cnina, and although there is apparently no love lost between these two nations at present, they may •Very probably coinuine and would then be indeed a "menace io tue western civilisation from which they have learned so much. A great war in the future would be a far greater disaster than was the pile from wiiich we have lately emerged. . The inventive genius of man is constantly seeking new means to the destruction of his neighbour, and, incidentally, of himself, as a new device seldoms remains long a secret. PiloLless aeroplanes lauun with bombs and poison gases more deadly than 'anything used hitherto could practically wipe out enemy cities, while the radius over which they can work is constantly increasing. A war on this scale would probably mean the downfall of our present civilisation, which would merely follow those of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Home and the rest which successively waxed, grew lop-hcavy. and collapsed. • Fatalista may say this is iXjvitahle and that things must take their course, but we can postpone it indefinitely if we look constantly to the youth of the country. Teach them to be tolerant, but not with the tolerance which comes of indolence, and to regard war as sometimes necessary but always undesirable. Militarists tell us that no nation that li not warlike l can survive, but this is only partly true. Small wars such ’as the border fighting in India may make for virility, but wars in which the entire population is involved are ruinous and serve only to drag the nation down. “ You can’t change human nature,” objects the cynic; “man will always be on the lookout for his own advantage.” True, but we can teach the rising generation that their immediate advantage is not always their ultimate advantage. Besides, human nature, in spite of the cynic, is by no means entirely selfish, and we can generally develop the better side of It if we catch It young enough. In scouting for boys, Sir Robert BadenPowell has devised a scheme which seems as nearly perfect as Is possible for the training of boys to become good and useful citizens. It makes just the right appeal to a boy’s nature, and is therefore applicable to boys the world over. Extended to embrace every hoy obtainable, and kept in the right hands, free from militarism and class prejudice, it cannot fail to be a very great factor in the future of the Empire, not to say of the world. We could have no better class of immigrant, and should certainly send Home some samples of this excellent product to the British Empire Exhibition.—l am, etc., LEONATUSu