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POTENTIALITIES
Speaking at a luncheon given
him by the Melbourne Scots, the
Federal Attorney-General, Mr.
Latham, said' that propaganda
ablut Australia being a vast un
developed land of great poten
t-alities was doing incalculable
harm in the East. This journal
has protested against, that phrase
time and again, and we are not
surprised that Mr. Latham found
it was doing harm. Professor
Griffith Taylor, ten years ago or
more, was 'the first 'tas voice the
protest against "potentialities.'
When Mr. Latham says that a
large proportion of Australia is
arid and semi-arid, he is getting
down to tintacks, but it is time
that we Australians realised that
Australia is not the most fertile
country on earth simply waiting
to 'be scratched to pour its wealth
into our waiting hands. A great'
deal of our present day trouble is
due to our belief in this visionary
Australia. 'It has led to the crea
tion in the minds of many that all
we have to do is t3 work for a few
years and we will all be rich. It
has led to an inefficiency in the
preparation and t'he delivery of
our goods. It would be unfair to
say 'that this is the case every
where, but there is undoubtedly
good reason for the oanplaint
voiced by Mr. Lathani that Aus
tralian goods are not up to stand
ard, are badly packed, and unat
tractively, labelled! ' "I find that
in the East, 'as in Europe, a.per
fectly wonderful market is being.
spoiled by inefficiency." The two
things are closely related-this
gulling ourselves as to the wonder
ful country we have and this re
fusal to do the best we can. It is
a refusal 'to look 'facts in the face.
"Any old thing will do," is the
attitude of mind which is the out
come. It may do for the first
sale, but it will not hold the cus
tomer. It is all born of the idea
hat we in Australia are particu
larly fortunate, and that life is an
easy thing to negotiate. The men
tal attitude is wrong. Our tropical
territory, as Mr. Latham reminds
us, does not compare in fertility
with the lands of Japan and
China. If we are to justify ,our
selves and a higher standard of
living we must use more energy,
and there must be a greater ap
plication of intelligence. In other
words, we nust take advantage of
every scientific advance made.
We must apply it with a full
realisation that while .we have
many advantages in this 'lands of
ours, there are also many disad
vantages. This talk of our "poten
tialities" has tended t, make us
to looc upon, life as easy,
whereas it is nothing of the kind.
We want a little more disciplin
ing of our souls so that we will
see things a little more clearly.
Our lives then will not be so fre
quently marked by disappoint
ment. We d' not urge, for a
moment, that we should go to the
o'ther extreme and "run down"
our country and its possibilities.
Such a line of thought and action
is just as contemptible as the other
is foolish. Let us take the path of
common sense so that we will not
live, on the one hand with our
heads in a country of foolish imag
inings, or on the other in the land
of inferiority complex.
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