TOPICS OF THE DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20522, 11 June 1938, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Freedom of the Mind “Hitler and Mussolini are both men of genius,” writes Mr J. L. Hammond, the historian, in the Manchester Guardian, “who have made some simple and important discoveries about the art of government. They have seen that, as Bishop Berkeley suggested, man is ruled rather by imitation than by reason. If they rule Europe, they will rule it as they rule Germany and Italy—by putting its mind into a prison. Now the life of the English mind is not a separate thing quite apart from the life of the mind of Europe; it lives and develops in the medium of this larger world. Does anybody think that if discussion is to cease in Europe, if men are to talk only in whispers, if religion, scholarship, philosophy, letters, science, and art are to take their orders from Governments England is not going to be impoverished? Nor would it be surprising if Hitler, astride the Continent, found himself in a strong position for persuading a British Government that our old-fashioned habits of free discussion were not worth the price of a quarrel with Europe’s master. The truth is that Europe could not have a worse master than a man who combines efficiency with intolerance. F reedom “Freedom is the universal possession which we would all rather die than sacrifice; and it is very hard to take it from you. You may part with your garments of ceremony, your comforts, your pictures, your books, even with much liberty of action, and still retain the luxury of free speech. Yet most find that t--o dear for their possessing; they surrender it to keep their motor ear, their diamonds. | Even when free expression is gone there lies in the last reserve one i most intimate indulgence—the practice of shaping our own thoughts, : instead of getting them ready-made from the Press, the pulpit, or i some other factory. It is dangerous; it may lead to putting thought into word, or even into act; but it is a luxury by my definition. You | enjoy it; and the mass of mankind does very well without it.”—Mr i Stephen Gynne, in Fund Opinions.