ECONOMIC DISTRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 157, 6 July 1931, Page 3

ECONOMIC DISTRESS.

"RETURN TO RELIGION."

END SOCIAL INJUSTICE.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS' PASTORAL.

A pastoral address issued by the Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of New Zealand, dealing with the causes of the present economic distress, and urging the practical application of Christian teaching as the only solution to the problem, k published in the current issue of the Auckland Catholic journal, "The Month." The statement is signed by Archbishop Redwood, Archbishop O'Shea (Wellington), Bishop Liston (Auckland), Bishop Brodie (Christchureh) and Biehop Whyte (Dunedin).

"We are living in difficult times. A wave of financial depression is passing over the world," states the address. "Business is stagnant: unemployment is the lot of millions, and there are millions who have little between them and starvation. Happily, thank God, our own Dominion is not affected to the same extent as other places. All this is going on in the wealthiest countries which have in their boundaries immense resources, abundant supplies of food, of material for clothing and housing, and of all things necessary or useful to support life for their people, not only in comfort, but even in luxury, were they being properly utilised.

"What is the reason for such a state of affairs to-day? It would eeein that the industrial economic system, like the great machine that it is, has got beyond the control of those who guide it. There can be no i„,.,.,,,,,.,,,.,,.,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,,,*< question but that it has failed and failed miserably in our times to promote a fair and equitable distribution of wealth, or even to ensure regular and constant employment for all those willing and anxious to work. It is at the best like all

things human, an imperfect and faulty

system. But its worst feature is that it leaves itself open to manipulation by selfish and crafty men against the interests of the people. "The world-wide trouble of to-day is not due entirely to a faulty machine. Such depressions have been recurring in the wealthier countries with greater frequency during the last half century. They do not cause themselves. Behind every one of them is a human act, or rather a series of human acts.

A certain policy, or might wo call it a philosophy of life? has for years past controlled the businesa world. It has been proclaimed by its followers and votaries as a heaven-sent system, which would make for the real progress and betterment of humanity. But, examined in the light of facts, it is a system which has made the wage-earner a part-time worker on an insufficient wage, while it has allowed the sources of wealth to flow into the hands of a gradually diminishing minority of the people. "Greed and Injustice." It has proved itself a system which, to be frank, is built on greed and injustice, so that, in the words of the great Pope Leo XIIL, "a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the labouring poor a yoke little less than that of slavery itself." And the evil has been further intensified by the fact that not only the great and powerful, but the masses of men, have to a large extent turned away from God and neglected His law. There has been a weakening of the religious fibre in almost every country. Yet the root of our present economic and industrial difficulties is a moral one, and unless men face this fact all the remedies that are being suggested in the Press and on the platform will turn out to be mere palliatives—a putting off of the evil day—and the next world depression will be a more frightful one than the present. "You cannot divorce economics from the moral law, and still continue to have prosperity, peace and happiness amongst the nations. Return to Religion Needed. "Now the Christian religion is the custodian and interpreter of the moral law, and in its teachings will be found the only remedies for the evils which afflict us to-day. There must be a change of heart, not only amongst those who control the destinies of nations, but amongst the people themselves. All must acknowledge their mistake in seeking elsewhere than in God and the observance of the Christian precepts their real prosperity and true happiness in life.

"Governments should check by wise la"#s the exploitation of the people by the great and powerful. They should aim at bringing about a better distribution of wealth, for instance, by developing the land, which contains the real riches of the country, and by encouraging the private ownership of email businesses and industries. And, above all, let rulers and people agree to bring back God and religious training into the schools wherein the young are trained, and from which they are at present banished. For you cannot have a religious people without Christian education. Employers and Employees. "Employers must endeavour to show every consideration to their employees at the present time. Let them remember that the latter are not mere machines or commodities, but human beings like themselves, and deserve to be treated as such. Those higher up must share in the sacrifices that will be necessary. Employees are not to forget that they have duties and serious obligations to those who employ them. But if both Fides are prepared to give and take and strive to act towards each other with justice and charity, more harmony and good fellowship will prevail, and these things are invaluable helps in every crisis. "We desire that, our parishes and religious institutions should put in hand even sooner than had been intended any ; building schemes in contemplation, provided such works are justified by the needs of the place, and that the financing of them is within their power. In this way a useful contribution can be made towards solving the evil of unemployment. all classes and sections of the community should be convinced of their obligation to do their part in bringing about an improvement in the conditions of the country, not only material, but spiritual. Let all resolve to work unitedly for the greater good of the Dominion. In union there is strength, and perhaps never before in our history has united effort been more [ neeessarv." . ',