The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1935. STATE INTERVENTION

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 113, 6 February 1935, Page 8

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1935. STATE INTERVENTION

From time to time, as circumstances demand, the responsibility devolves upon the modern . State to institute on behalf of the citizens measures for the settlement of grievances, the amelioration of distress or hardship, and the promotion of their material well-being, lhe sanction from which it derives its powers of initiative in these and cognate matters is the spirit of humanitarianism which animates democracies conscious of their sovereign power to determine their own destinies and conditions of living. But though this power may be of immense value as a source of benefit to mankind, it may a iso be a danger if, with the best intentions, measures ape adopted without due regard to their psychological effect upon the people. That, briefly, is the case for and against paternalism in Government. Unless its tendencies are carefully studied from the point of view of their psychological reactions as well as their material results a nation may become effete and irresponsible. The tendency everywhere in modern democracies is to shift the burden of responsibility from the individual to the Government, especially in times of stress and difficulty. It has to be admitted, of course, that circumstances often arise in the complicated world of to-day that the individual is powerless to deal with. These circumstances, while pnmari y affecting the welfare of the individual, may in their development and in the multiplication of the individuals concerned affect the welfare of the nation as a whole. Here the nitervention of the State .is manifestly necessrpy, sound .jin principle, and likely to be more efficacious by the comprehensiveness of its action. That is not to say that its action should be beyond criticism. A principle sound in itse.t may be vitiated by the measures adopted to bring it into action. Thio is especially true of State intervention in the affairs of individual or group enterprises. The private individual, left to hipiself, conducts his affairs with due regard to prevailing conditions and his estimate of future prospects. In the past he has been able to assume that these conditions will not be interfered with by any external circumstances beyond those risks which must be allowed for in the sound management of his affairs. , With the development of State paternalism in recent years, however, he has found that his calculations are likely to be thrown out of gear by acts of the Legislature which he could not have foreseen, acts in some instances which have affected contracts entered into with others in all good faith and with every confidence that their obligations would be discharged. It may be, as has been the case, that circumstances arise which make the due fulfilment of these contracts a matter of great difficulty and hardship, and their rigorous enforcement an action to be deprecated on humanitarian grounds. And if the trouble extends over a wide area, affecting large numbers of individuals, it becomes then a question whether adjustments should be left to the parties themselves, or to State intervention.. In the latter resort '' the aim should be to assure the desired measure of relief while at the same time, asserting and vindicating the inviolability of contracts. Thus equilibrium is restored while confidence remains unshaken. ( One danger of such a recourse for relief is that the measures provided may lend themselves to exploitation by people who have no material claim, and certainly no moral justification, to their benefits. It is well established that legislation provided for the relief of small debtors has greatly increased the difficulty of collecting accounts. The tendency on the part of “bad payers” is to exploit the indulgence of the courts, and public sentimentalism, in every possible way. Ana there is a still greater danger that the same tendency may develop, in regard to the fulfilment of contracts between individuals in connection with purchase agreements, mortgages, and so on. The psychological result must inevitably be the growth of an unhealthy morale in the business of life. If we are to preserve the integrity of business, and strengthen confidence in the contracts made between individuals., a strong effort must be made to return to that standard of dealing under which “a man’s word is as good as his bond.”