RELIGION AND BUSINESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1926, Page 22

RELIGION AND BUSINESS.

R. H. Tawney's "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism" (Murray, London), comes to, tbe public at an appropriate time, for the world is much in need of wisdom and guidance. Mr. Tawney, in a series of lectures, quotes from over 200 authorities and sets forth the opinions and teaching of those qualified to speak regarding the relationship between religion and business, spiritual life and commerce. We commend this volume to Rotary, to 'politicians, and to thinking and studious members of all churches. The revelation of the results of the teaching of Luther, Calvin, Cromwell, and others, as seen to this day, is remarkable; the duties of the capitalist, employer, and banker, the comments upon money-lending; the responsibilities of labour; the effect of commerce upon character, and the relationship of religion to politics, and social and economic; problems afljprd ample material for exhaustive study. It is by a knowledge of the past that a reasonable guess may be made as to the future, and without obviously advising, Mr. Tawney shows a path to the solution to many difficulties which disturb the world, chiefly those arising from the common misunderstanding of laws affecting supply and demand, and those left untouched by the churches, because they fail to agree as to the limit to which they may extend their teaching in the financial field. "There are four main attitudes, which religious opinion may adopt towards economic relation*. It may regard them as the sphere of unrighteousness, from which men may escape. . . . which they can' only conquer by flight. It may take them for granted and ignore them, as a matter of indifference with which religion has no concern. it may agitate for some particular reform. It may accept, tolerate, amend, and welcome as the squalid scaffolding from wh:ch the spirit must rise, and insist th»»t this (business) also is the material Kingdom of God. Each of these attitudes meets us today. The tectum on "Puritane" are especially good. . r

The stuff that endures is to be found within the covers of "Beasts, Men and Gods," by Ferdinand Ossendowaki. First published in 1922, the book has run to 29 editions, and now a cheaper reprint is put on the market by the Cornstalk Publishing Company, of Sydney. The story is a marvellous one of personal adventure, but the author is no Munchausen, and though some of the adventures through which he passed seem incredible and over-coloured, their accuracy is now accepted. The writer has had long experience as author, investigator and scientist, and the reliability of his absorbing chronicle renders it doubly valuable. When the Bolsheviks overran Siberia, Dr. Ossendowski, who was stationed in a small town on the Yenisei, took to , the' woods, and in a flight, which lasted for 16 months, he went through a series of perils and adventures which the most intrepid of explorers could scarcely excel. In a lifetime Death was his constant companion, but he cheated the pale horseman, and lived to write one of the most fascinating and thrilling works ever published. In "Darkest London" (Stanley Paul), Mrs. Cecil Chesterton has written with purpose, to reach the hearts and pockets of wealthy men and women. Mrs. Chesterton's "Outcast Woman" is not, however, a new problem, and she has not cotne into being, as the authoress says, and "been forced into this mode of life through the tragic scarcity of housing and the fall in the purchasing power of the shilling," following the war. There may be —there is—a new type of outcast woman, but she has been with us, in one form or another, since London was first a city. Mrs. Chesterton's acceptance of the illegitimate child, and her exceedingly gentle, almost approving, attitude towards the "little prostitute," whose smartness aqd brightness, whose courage and endurance she eulogies, seems to us to be Christian forgiveness and affection carried to a point which too readily tolerates and almost boldly states that there is no sin—only error, calling for sympathetic tears. Mrs. Chesterton clamours for more comforts for outcast women. Unlike George R. Sims, the author of "Tho Bitter Cry of Outcast London," who went into city Blums as an observer, Mrs. Chesterton went as an actual participant — penniless and badly clothed—in the hardships of the fallen (a word she desires to abolish in this connection) and sleeping in doss houses, common lodging houses and Salvation Army shelters, gained information at first hand, and by actual experience. A noble action certainly, and the resulting story is of incalculable value and a revelation to most readers. But—

Edgar Wallace must go close to the world's literary record from the point of view of mass production. Novels, short stories, sporting yams, magazine articles and newspaper features flow from his pen with bewildering rapidity. In his latest venture he has returned to a style which brought him much fame in hia early days of novel-writing, and " The Three Just Men," are " The Pour Just Men" and " The Just Men of Cordova " all over again. Sensational and highly melodramatic the etory of the three wealthy men who sought oat big game among the criminals for the thrill they got out of it and because of their love of justice, rushes along with a speed that carries the reader on its resistless tide, even though he realises that he is living in an impossible world of trickery, plot, and grotesquerie. The problem facing the three just men is to discover the perpetrators of a series of murders which has terrorised London. When the gang entraps Mirabelle Leicester, a beautiful girl, who is heiress to a mountain of gold in Africa, about which she knows nothing and the murderers everything, the just men get on the trail, and adventures crowd upon each other's heels until Oberzohn, a Swedish doctor who leads the gang, is finally laid by the heels after a thrilling eiege of his home. Exciting and full of incident, the book will be enjoyed by the lover of adventure stories.. Hodder and Stoughton are the publishers.

Theories of defence and fiction are no ordinary bedfellows, but E. F. Spanner, a retired officer of the Corps of Naval Instruction, has yoked them in " The Broken Trident," (Williams and Norgate). The result is a novel of frank propaganda, which certainly presents the author's theory in any interesting, if not quite convincing way. He dates his etory five years ahead, conceiving that by 1931, Germany would be ready and strong enough to invade England as promptly as she did Belgium in 1914. It is from the air that the invasion comes, Germany having secretly built up a huge air fleet, while Britain still relies upon her sea-borne navy. The invasion is -well described. The first action practically wipes out the Royal Air Force, and during the succeeding days, the- food depots are destroyed, the roads are bombted, the fleet cannot operate, and the whole of the nation's activities are at a standstill. But this regenerated Germany does not attack civilians, it warns them by wireless of the first attack, and keeps strictly to the destruction of military objectives. Within four days the programme is complete, and within three weeks Britain surrenders to a Germany which does not seek anything father than her rehabilitation as a world power, and the long reign of peace begins. There are some curious propositions in the book, but the author keeps clear of jingoism and must be held to have succeeded in his mission.

PUBLICATIONS MOIIVID THIS WHK. Argonaut* of the South. By Frank Hurley. (Putnam.) Mm Call It Lovo. By Helen Sevrez. (Putnam.) Tho Olio. Hy L. H. Myers. (Putnam.) Simonotta Parklna. By L. P. Hartley. (Putnam.) Ollmmerlckt. By S. J. A. Wltberspoon. (Putnam.) The Oharwoman'a Shadow. By Lord Dunsany. (Putnam.) (These through A. J. Harding', Ltd.) ■ugenio Reform. By Major Leonard Darwin. (John Murray.) Tho Unlvoralty of Hard Knooka. By Ralpn Panette. (Cornstalk Publishing , Co.) Breaker, on tho Beach. By Leigh Bell. (Cornstalk Publishing Co.) Jacob Uuhir. By Naomi Jacob. (Cornstalk CO.) Drifting Day*. By Stanley Ford. (Ctaatto and Windus.) Bally Warner. By Florence M. Irby. (Cornstalk Co.) National Review for April. (L. J. Maxse.) Empire Review. (Macminan and Co.) Science Progress. (John Murray.) Nineteenth Century and After. (Constable and Co.) •ridge Hand, Somo InUrwrtlnfl Oarda. By iofui Hart, (Gerald Duckwortt aod Co.X

Some write a neighbour's name to lash. Some write — vain thought — for needful cash, Some write to please the country clash And raise a din; For mc, an aim I never fash, I write for fun. The sale by auction in London last week of a book of sketches painted by Augustus Earle attracted a big crowd, and the book raised £1800. Any book of sketches should be a fine draw. An old Australian celebrated his 114 th birthday recently. It is stated that his memory goes right back to the days when England could beat Australia at cricket.

During the hearing of a case in the Greenwich Police Court, evidence was given that there were 5000 cases of sleeping sickness in England. Some of the cases were outside the Civil Service. "He Did His Best," is the heading reporting the mortgage of creditors in the bankruptcy of a returned soldier, who took up farming at Karaka. As his total deficiency was shown to be £892, it would seem that his creditors did 892 of their best as well. A big American tractor manufacturer sold the Soviet Government 10,000 tractors, 75 per cent cash down and 25 per cent on credit. The manufacturer did not explain how he could afford to give 25 per cent discount.

"Next Sunday, a day of special interest at church," says an ecclesiastical announcement. "Morning subject: 'A Drunken Church.' Anthem by a full choir." Isn't that rather over-doing the "horrible example' , idea! A new York ladies' hairdressing establishment has copyrighted the name of "The Bobbery." Speaking from sad experience and as an occasional poet, I consider it's an eminently suitable name—it rhymes so well with "robbery." Motor-bus owners are greatly concerned over the newly-gazetted motorbue regulations, and one of their chief demands is for a "blanket" policy of insurance to cover all-buses owned by one firm. The Government evidently regards the blanket idea as an attempt to "pull the wool" over the regulations, and so far is determined that any such attempt will be "sheeted" home to the offenders. If co, good-night! to the buses.

Winston Churchill got plenty of instructions as to how he should run a newspaper during the few days the "British Gazette" was the one source of news. Just the usual experience of every other editor; everyone else can tell him how to run his paper, and can snow him under with complaints and suggestions. Calls to mind the story of the youth who bailed up an editor with: "I sent you some suggestions, telling you how to make your paper more interesting. Have you carried, out any of my ideas?" "Did you meet the office-boy with the wastepaper-basket as you came upstairs?" asked the editor. "Yes, yes, I did." "Well, he was carrying out your ideas."

Fijian scientists are worrying over how far a fly can fly. Judging by some of my Sunday afternoon experiments, he begins to tire after the first fifty miles, which agrees with the scientific conclusions announced this week. But the investigation intrigues mc as being capable of indefinite expansion in the realm of nomenclature and science. For instance, it should be equally interesting to discover why does a flea flee? or what is a butterfly but a fly? or what can a cat catch, or when is a dog dogged, a cow cowed, or a horse hoarse? This is pure nature study of the highest order, and will ultimately solve the problem: "Why does a bee be?"

If there was one spot on earth which man, the brute, reckoned was safe from the invasion of the fair sex, it was the barber shop. The razor and the scissors were his sure shield against intrusion, and little did he dream of the possibility of rout. Now his flank has been turned; his last line of defence has melted away in the glance of fair femininity, and his citadel has been captured. No longer can he sit in peace on his towelled throne, his sisters, his cousins, and his' aunts have taken the right-of-way, and the "bob," the shingle, the bingle and the Eton have run the "trim" or the "short as you like" out of the back door. "Our main saloon is now given over entirely to the ladies," says an advertisement in a Southern paper. Dreadful! Now is the glory indeed departed. It's about time somebody called a mass meeting to think up reprisals. NEWS BY RADIO. During the present general strike in England, the Government announced its intention to broadcast the news of the day, to take the place of the suspended newspapers. Miners' Strike! What's that you say? Won't be any "Times" to-day I Printers Will not publish news That does not reflect their views, Or allow the Press to hint Things the miners wouldn't prinf; So whate'er we ought to know We will get through radio. "How's it work? You'll easy Give this gadget half a turn, Set this doodad —just you watch— Put this dingus on this notch, Fix up this gozooka right— You can listen-in all night. Here it comes : The speaker spells Cabalistic syllables. "Message from King Oeorge the Fifl Says that "Labour's running 'stiff' — Don't believe their communique —" Heavens! What's that awful shriek? Static ! Something in the air! Didn't give mc half a scare. Thought the King had "done his nut" Or the Empire had gone "phut." Try again. What! Cricket scores I "Gregory knocked twenty fours, M alley x rattled down the sticks —" What's that noise—a load of bricks? Did they win or did they lose? This Iβ wireless hash, not news! Stanley Baldwin says "A gleam—" Hear that high soprano scream. Winston Churchill says "Not 'arf —" Golly! What an awful laugh. "Communists from Leningrad—" Gee! These valves will drive mc mad. "Rioting in Olaegoto docks —" What's that? Thunder, or just rocks? "Pink 'Vn toy* the winning horse —" Someone's butting in with Morse— Listen! Neighbours kill a fowl— Oh ! An "oscillating howl!" "All the pubs have got to shut Brewers cay there'll be a glut —" "Where's my hat? I'll buy or cadge Something like a "special's" badge. Since I can't read what I like, I'll go out and break the strike. -rB.A-