THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23302, 12 April 1941, Page 10

THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY

ECONOMIC SYSTEM CRITICISED ARCHBISHOP REFERS TO RECENT CONFERENCE “People are anxious to hear something also about financial and social programmes in,view of the very definite principles set out by Nazis and Communists,” states Archbishop WestWatson in the Archbishop’s letter in the "Church News.” The letter deals with social and economic problems, and draws attention to the resolution of the Anglican conference held at Malvern, England, last January. The letter refers to statements by the English archbishops, Cardinal Hinsley, and the Moderator of the Free Church Federal Council. “In their view,” it is stated, “if a ‘new order’ is to be Christian it must provide for the abolition of the extreme inequality in wealth and possession, it must see that every child has an equal opportunity for educational facilities, it must safeguard the family, it must regard daily work as a Divine vocation. and it must see that the resources of the earth are not exploited for any sectional interest or without regard to the future. Judged by these general principles, I am afraid that our present brand of democracy is found guilty on every count.” * The opening paragraph of the resolution of the Malvern conference, which was presided over by the Archbishop of York (the Most Rev. Dr. William Temple), was as follows: “The war is not to be regarded as an isolated evil detached from the general condition of Western civilisation during the last period. Rather it is to be seen as one symptom of a widespread disease and maladjustment resulting from loss of conviction concerning the reality and character of God, and the true nature and destiny of man." Present Industrial Methods Other parts of the resolution were: “To a largei extent production is carried on not to supply the consumer with goods, but to bring profits to the producer, and the producer, in turn, is often subordinated to the purely financial ends of those who own the capital plant or supply the credit to erect or work it. “This method of ordinary industry, which tends to treat human work and human satisfaction alike as means to a false end—namely, monetary gain—becomes a source of unemployment at home and dangerous competition for markets abroad. We have seen the unemployment of Germany cured by an armament programme, whether adopted primarily for this purpose or not, and have cured our own, though (even so) not completely, by the same means. The system under which we have lived has been a predisposing cause of war even though those who direct and profit by it have desired peace. “This system also tends to recklessness and sacrilege in the treatment of natural resources. It has led to the impoverishment of the agricultural community and is largely responsible for the problem of the ‘mass man, who is conscious of no status, spiritual or sociaL who is a mere item in the machinery of production, and who easily develops the herd psychology which is automatically responsive to skilful propaganda."