THE MORAL LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 144, 19 June 1936, Page 14

THE MORAL LAW

PLACE OF ECONOMICS

CONFORMITY WITH ETHICS

Continuing his course of lectures, delivered every Wednesday evening, the Rev. Father J. A. Htegins, S.M., director for Archbishop OShea, S.M., of social science in the Archdiocese ot Wellington, said that the Christian law demanded the practical acknowledgment of the fundamental truth that nothing is truly economic unless it is truly human and in harmony with the common good of the -people. The lecturer quoted the present, Pope Pius XI: "Though economic science and moral discipline are guided each by its own principles each in its own sphere, it is false that the two orders are so distinct and alien that the former in no way depends on the "No reasons of economy in any sphere of life," said Father Higgins, "can be valid against the principal duty of a Government, the duty, namely, to provide the conditions of society in which the common good may flourish. And the genuine common good of a people, when all is said and done, lies in the sound and healthy family life of a nation. Mark well, that to aim at this true common good is first and foremost a Government's duty, its responsibility, its moral obligation: and any consideration of economics must be subservient to this supreme duty of the State.

MORAL ISSUE SUPERIOR. "That is, since the moral is always superior to the economic issue, economic science must conform to ethics. I cannot make too plain the principle: where the two considerations meet, the economic is good only inasmuch as it is in agreement with the moral. Or to say the same thing in other words, the only sound economy is that which is morally good. Nor does this teaching mean that the moralists are to interfere with matters not their! own and belonging to technical experts but it does mean, and the Church is very clear in her insistence on the point, that the! experts are in duty bound to respect the moral law,.and are in consequence bound to do their work in harmony it, ' , "If we admit that the conclusions ox economic science can'at one and the same time be true and at variance with the moral law, we either assert that man's economic welfare may be that which is morally evil or else deny the truth of moral laws. Now, either truth is the object of the economist's work or it is not; if not we shall be wise to have done with economists. But, of course, not even the most grossly material of the economists will admit indifference to the truth. The problem is, then, Ho.w. is the economist to serve the truth? Clearly not by adopting the attitude that he, will tell us the findings and conclusions of .his work, and then will leave us to do what we may with them even if they are against the moral law. The truth is, in the end, one,- and is not manifold, and the only sane attitude for the economist to adopt is that he has the grave obligation to iest all his work by the truths of morality. Let him take any other means he desires to weigh and measure his work; the moral test is all-import-ant. . And if he finds that he is not, in agreement with morality it is his seriour duty to acknowledge the fact that somewhere in his work he has gone astray.

HARMONY WITH CHRISTIANITY. "Economists have the right to complain if they are laden with too much responsibility for human ■ welfare, but they can have just objection to the Catholic teaching that part and parcel of their office and duty is to respect, even in their scientific work, the moral laws upon which man's social good depends. In the face of the truths of Christianity economists cannot object to the assertion that part of their duty is to proclaim that no economy is true economy unless it is in real harmony with Christian teaching.

"Because of the failure of economic science to work in keeping with the moral law, many practices of modern social and business life are unfit for Christians. Men have been taught that it is not sound economy to be truly Christian, and the apostasy of economics from Christian teaching has been disastrous for society.

"Fortunately, there are serious signs that outside • the Church as well as within her ranks there is an increasing demand to force economic science to admit its dependence on ethics and thus to compel economists to teach in distinctly practical way that not only is it not bad economy to be Christian, but that it is very false economy not to keep the commandments of God. "Among the scholars of the Church, Father J. Husslein, S.J,, has stated the position quite distinctly. In the Christian Social Manifesto he says: 'Again let us insist that the principles of Christianity apply to the economic and industrial relations of men not a whit less than to any other phase of human life. The fact that this has been ignored is precisely the root cause of all our misery, unhappiness, and social discontent.'

"Outside the Church, men such as R. H. Tawney and Professor J. M. Rees support the Christian teaching concerning the dependence of economics on the moral law. Tawney said that what is to be proved is not claim that social problems should be regarded as within the province of Christian guidance, but the comparatively recent teaching that they should not. Professor Rees states: 'Man is a social animal. Individual and social conduct cannot therefore be separated. We cannot judge a society by its economic results regardless of its bases or an individual on his morals. The spirit which divorces economic activity from religious considerations is therefore un-Christian.' ("Christianity and the "Crisis," page 391.)

REASONS FOR FAILURE. j "Man's economic conduct is to be weighed not by the gauge of material gain or profit, but by the moral test of man's duty to God. Because this truth has been denied, not only in theory but also in practice, the economic order has failed, and untold hardship and misery have been inflicted upon millions of human beings. Therefore, Pope Leo XIII declared that the great need was 'to adjust this economic regime to the standards of the true order.' And therefore the Catholic Church declares that men must decide their social values not on the merely economic scale, but in -keeping with the real order of human affairs, the truths of Christianity. Until this be done, there can be no hope that any Government will be able to rule for the true common good of the people. For a nation needs sound economy; of that there can be no question. But sound economy is Christian economy and none other—it is the economy whicn will lead to the justice that God commands shall reign among men, and will be the genuine guarantee for the common good. True economy will give the people that which the Christian law demands for them, sound, solid, and healthy family life."