THE TROUBLED HOUR.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 35, 13 March 1930, Page 6

THE TROUBLED HOUR.

REDFERN WHITE.

(To the Editor.) Sir, — The world seems filled with goods and short of money, but new luxurie|t appear to be the order of the day. The "Big Bug" rides in his thousand pounds car; while the artisan plays a "popular" jazz on his gramophone or "listens-in" on -his easy terms wireless. He envies the "Big Bug" and calls him a "Profiteer,"while the owner of the "Super Six" retorts by calling the possessor of "tinned music" a "Bolshie." The hewers of wood and drawers of water, thrust their gnarled hands into their enipty pockets and snort at them. both. A sort of confusion seems to rule all minds. With those, whose jobs are a-j-sured, law aiid order are their chief thoughts. Those,*. who, from day to day go forth in search of work, and as tegularly retu: n home without it, tiiere is a fierce des|re for justice whica obliterates all other thought. Parhaments meet, and with many a head wag and throaty promise, limp through the session. Snlall tradesmen give notice to their one and only employee — they cannot afford to retain him in their service any longer, smce so few possess tlie necessary tokens to purchase their goods, and the list of the une'mplqyed grows longer day by day. And so' this vast social -machine goes on. ,It needs adjusting, does this macliine — it needs altering and expandihg'to meet th'e needs of.,.hoth the present and the*tiine to come. If this ic not done— -if we "continue to patch aiid patch, insfead of giving' it a'thorough overhaiil — there are forces moving in this world of ours that will, like some blind Sampson, seize upon it and kuri society down to destruction. Ihe longer we Kve, the more we observe, and, observing, learn; and few there are of us who, having watched the >ears go by, are not profoundly impressed by the appalling inequalities of our human lot. But perhaps we have become so used to it that we fail to sce it. Riches and poverty jostle "each other. The outcast gazee with hungry and hollow eyes as the c'hariot of the rich goes by. Mean and sordid want is a neighbour of abundance. For' some, a life of foolish leisute with niock activities to mask its uselessness. For others, monotonous toil from youth until the exhausted bddy sinks into a penurious_ grave. We acquire a soro of an indifference— a studied disregard to the things that really matter, and make an unholy fuss and nojse over some little hurt, "We cry over the possibility of a small bruise , while we ignore the probability of a broken limb. We spend thousands of good pourids in a puritanical but ,vain endeavour to force people to become "soher'1 hy law, while we ignore the obvious fact _ that drunkennesg is absent. It is inextricable. At times, to the needy is issued a dole of sympathy. Anon a casual mite is cast into tln vast ocean of want and misery. Just another patch to the worn-out machiue! The school books of the children, and much of our common reading, are filled with lavish but useless stories dealing with the purple gowns of kings ; with the trappings of princelings, and with tlie scarlet horrors of war made see-n-ingly just and beautiful. Forgotten, or olse dismissed, are tho records cf the poor in lieart and in spirit, ava. and in pocket also. But who wants to read about the poor,: are thev not like the profiteer, always with us? Forgotten or dismissed, the New America that has been discovered ; unkeeded or unknown the new treasure found by Cortes; blind °to it all, and yet those who have eyes to see and observe the magic oi the laboratory, and the silent mysteries that come from the drab. surroundings of the workshop. It is the new ' age that has come amongst us, so silently, yet so effectively, as a thief in -tlie night. The trouhle is that we do not move or refuse to move, with the times. We are living in a palace dressed in the rags of a tramp! We are mendicants and not masters^of the situation, as we should be. Yet what a> paradox it all it. •. With all • the wealth that this age of mackinery and power has given us, we are still poor. After many yeares of laboursaving machinery, we still work as hard as ever. Nature still holds the upper hand over us, and it wouid seem that instead of reaping some wonder'ful benefit from tlie many applianees and inventions, we are worse off than before. Why is it that. in spite of the massed production of human needs, large^ numbers of iis are shelterless and in want of proper and adequate nourishment ? Why are so many seek,ing work?#' Here is the problem before us to-day — a problem that can and must be solved and made right if we, as a community of human beings are to Iive, move and have our being on this planet, For the grown men of tq-day, many things are ho longer possible. Tbeir time has passed. From generation to generation brains

.utivt; ueeji sLarveu, imuruy xnrougn laca of opportunity, 33ut for the child of to-day, the man oi to-morrow, opportunity should be provided. It should be recognised in tbe. cdming order of society, that every child of the nation has the right to be clqjfched, fed and trained irrespective of its parents' lot. Wealth- should not be fawned npon and lowliness despised or ignored. During the war the wealthy bachelor and the spinster of advancing years took it for granted that other people's children should fight for them ; the obligation must apply both ways. No society can boast of proper^ organisation until eveiy child that is born into it skall have an opportunity in life. Success. cannot be given or guaranteed, but opportunity can and must! Society must see to it that the gifts that are laid in the child' s cradle by nature f are not obliterated, as they have been for ages past, and that its body is not stunted by lack of food. Rut how is this to he _ accomplished, when we see in our midst so many breadwinners workless and penniless? How can a State hope to survive unless it meets the liind of Sdcial claims on the _ part of tbe unemployed, the destitute, and the children? The past Great War fashibned a terrific engine called taxation, and it seems that no State can solve the pfo'blem described unless .it continues to tax society. The taxes, however, taken in this, the time of peace.-will differ from those in war time. The war finance was purely destnictive. These taxes were for national security, and for the triumph of right over wrong. But the burden of the peace finance, will, without a doubt, bring in a direct return. Surely it will be granted by all right-minded people, that for every penny,. spent on the betterment of tbe population will come back sooner. or later as two! If we, who now giye do not reap an immediate benefit, then our children assuredly will. What the needy desire is not the mere help from others, but such a help that he may be able to help himself, and so maintain his dig-

nity as a man. Help without sympathy is cold, cold charity, and it is not this sort -of charity that is desired. The , safety of society and of its general wellJbeing of the future lies in a progressive movehient of social control alleviating the miseiy it cannot yet entirely obliterate and based upon a broad general principle of equality- and opportunity. Tlie chief immediate direction of social effort should he towards the attempt to give to every human heing adequate food, clothing, education, and an opportunity in life. This will prove to be the beginning of many things that the eye has never seen, nor ear heard of.' Again apologising for intruding to such an extent unon vour snaco. — T nm. pfo

Taradale, March 11, 1930.