RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 46, 23 February 1929, Page 2

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY OUTLOOK. (Contributed.) A FIRST PEACE. STRAIGHT TALK BY AX EMPLOYER. The series of " Peace in Industry " lectures for men in Coventry Cathedral created great interest. The third and last lecture was given by Mr. W. L. Hiehens, chairman of Cammell, Laird, and Co., who dealt with the subject from the point of view of the employer. Before Mr. Hiehens entered the pulpit, the su'o-dean (Canon Holland) asked:—"Are these lectures just going to be hot air or are they going to fead°to definite and practical results? I very much hope that definite and practical results will come. I am in a position to say that representatives of both parties of industry have expressed their desire not to let the matter diop, and their willingness meet and endeavour to put into action some of the constructive suggestions that have been made in these lectures. I think that this ie a matter for congratulation." There was as large a congregation to hear Mr. Hiehens as there had been to listen to Mr. Frank Hodges and the Master of Balliol (Dr. Lindsay) at the two previous lectures. The mayor and the deputy-mayor were again present, and the representative attendance included prominent employers in the city and leading figures in the Labour party. What Do We Mean? Mr. Hiehens said: "We have to think what we mean by peace, because most of us are rather apt. to talk glifdy about peace in industry without analysing what we mean by that phrase. Is the kind of peace we want the consolidation of our own position by force? Do we mean the kind of peace enforced by might, based 011 the theory that might is right? Is it that, or a peace which is based on justice, truth, and loving kindness, the conditions of which would be freely accepted by everybody and cheerfully adhered to. That is the only kind of peace that is really worth having. Wo want a just peace which will be fair to everybody and which everybody can accept wholeheartedly. Judged by our actions, I am not sure that we are pursuing that particular kind of peace. We may want it when talking about it on Sundays, but what are wo doing during the week to ensure such a peace? Are we quite sure that we are not following the wrong road? Story of the Caithness Road. " There is a story told of an Englishman taking a walking tour in Scotland. His destination was Caithness. As he was walking along in the evening, he met a Highlander, and said, 'I say, is this the Caithness Road?' 'Yes,' said the Highlander. 'Thank you,' said the Englishman, and walked on. He went some way further, and then met another Highlander. 'Is this the Caithness Road?'-asked the Englishman. 'Yes,' as the reply. The Englishman was urrying away when the Highlander louted, ' But ye are gangin' awa' from aithness!' I am not sure that we are ot 'gangin' awa' from Caithness' in ir relations to industrial peace. We ive divided ourselves into two hostile Labour and Capital. We think in terms of our own organisations, seldom otherwise. We adopt the nomenclature of war. We both of us talk as if we were organising ourselves for an ultimate fight. Each party works out its own programme to suit and further its own interests. Each party probably reads its own newspapers, thinks its own thoughts, and probably does not worry about what the other fellow i 3 thinking, except in order to find some argument to catch him out. Organise for Peace, "If we are to organise ourselves for war, quite inevitably there will be war. That is. true nationally and internationally as well as in the industrial sphere. The real truth is that if you want a true peace you must organise yourself for peace. I do not mean that those rival organisations, the trade unions and the employers' organisations, should be abolished. I recognise that the trade unions have done services of very great value to this country, because they have taught us a great deal about the problems of industry, and have done much to raise the standard of labour in this country. I do not want to abolish them at all, but I urged that the rival organisations should not be considered as opposing armies, but as two battalions of one great army fighting under one common banner, with the inscription taken from Lord Bacon, 'To the glory of God and for the better ordering of man's estate.' "That is the real object of industry in this country and in the world over. That is something which, all united, we can seek to further, which does not involve hostile camps. Is it entirely visionary? To those who say 'Yes,' I can only reply that the vision of to-day is very often the reality of to-morrow. For my own part, I do not believe for one minute that it is visionary. Co-operation. "A new spirit is abroad, grov'ag up in industrial relations. I 0 r <iot say that it is apparent I do not say it is easy to trace in all places, but I do say that it is working quietly and silently. I feel it can work best in the earlier stages in quiet and informal gatherings of employers and employed, such as I hope you are likely to start. The seed must be sown and grow slowly, and co-operation on a small scale at first may expand until it covers the earth, with great results. There must be continuity and consistency in our lives. We cannot talk about each other as brothers on Sundays and treat each other as machines during the week without being hypocrites. We have to recognise that, if there is inconsistency between moral law and economics, then it is the moral law which must prevail. That is the supreme arbiter, and any other so-called law must give way if there is any inconsistency between the two. Business must be regarded primarily as a public servant to the comunity, that .it is not something into hieh we enter in order to .become rich • quickly as we can. It is not someing in which w.e give as little as we n and take as much as we can. It is duty which we owe to the community virtue of our own membership. When the End is in Sight. muS; civili6e • a wm ; and paramount tl>o 1 ? XOI % ,n, P oltant the part Of" 1V n, U V' ° f Service on begin to <ioar,h for whatYsnf^ 6 " to themselves, the begf n > L° h '!' sight, and that £°how Li 1 civilised communities have ,nto dust - K is for us to consiKS

we shall do. If we choose that this highly organised community of Great Britain is to be continued, it can only be because we realise that our business is a form of public service which we owe to "he community, to whom we have to give our best and give cheerfully. It involves no restriction of output, no ca'canny. I know that employers restrict'output just as much as workers. That is wrong. There must be 110 attempt to give as little and to take as much as possible. There must be no idle rich, living upon their dividends, and quite happy to do so. They are not carrying out their duty to the community. There must be 110 purposely idle poor. One of the tragedies of today is so much enforced unemployment, which we cannot help for the time being because the forces of nature are too much for us. It is a tragedy, because quite inevitably a certain moral degradation is involved in being unable to serve the community. Political Ecenomy and the Moral Law. "It is the primary business of the employer to consider the welfare of those under him. Ido not mean merely in small matters, I mean it is an employer's duty to pay as high wages as he can and not as low wages as he can. We shall be told that this is entirely contrary to the laws of political economy. The laws of oldfashioned political economy prescribed: ' Sell in the highest market and buy in the lowest,' that wages shall be governed by the higgling of the market place. If we really believe that the moral law is paramount, we have got to send that other law to blazes. I might have talked about nationalisation, socialism, guild socialism, rationalisation, but these are of compara-"' tively minor importance, because it is the spirit that matters, not the outside of the cup and platter. A bad organisation worked by good men is very much better than a.good organisation worked by bad men. The first thing is to make up our minds that we really do intend to carry out these principles. Talk about and around the problems which concern you in the light of the New Testament, and then ft is perfectly certain that you will do something to establish the industrial organisation of this country on a far better basis than ever before."