UNEMPLOYMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 285, 30 October 1934, Page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT

VIEWS OF COUNCIL OF CONGREGATIONS.

REPORT BY COMMITTEE.

Several months ago the Palmerston North Council of Christian Congregations set up a committee to explore the problem of unemployment as it affects the sphere of the Church and the community in general. This committee consisted of Rev. H. L. Richards (chairman), Rev. J. Hubbard, Rev. D. J. Davies, and Mr D. W. Low, and at the quarterly meeting last evening of the council Mr Richards presented this report, the text of which is published below.

The committee has met a number of times during the past month or two and has striven to the bfcst of its ability to discharge the duties assigned to it, but on account of the far-reach-ing nature of the task and the difficulties involved in investigating the problem, our work has been slow and our findings not so complete and final as we would like them to be. Nevertheless, wo have pleasure in submitting to you this report of what we have done, both because we believe it will tend to clear the way for further research and because we have been emboldened by the goodwill and sympathy of the members of the council in our efforts to achieve the purpose of the Commission. I.—AT THE CROSS ROADS.

And the first thing we wish to remark upon is that, in our judgment, humanity is once more at the crossroads_ in the matter of its social, industrial and economic organisation. Before our eyes old things are passing away and new ones are coming forth to take their place. The rapid mechanisation of industry is not only affecting in a far-reaching fashion the human factor in production, but is also hastening in a new—and let us hope—a better era for the whole of humanity. If the benefits accruing from this mechanisation are wisely handled and are duly passed on to man, as undoubtedly 'they should be, then liis future life on tnis planet is destined to become more leisureful, and more colourful, possessed of a rarer opportunity for culture and selfrealisation than anything he has ever before known. But a warning should be added at this point. If the generations yet to be are not taught how properly to handle that leisure, and how to appropriate its blessings, it can easily become a ruinous possession. The devi' j s not slow to find something for idle hands to do, nor will lie be. As to just what forms either in industry or in social structure these new orderings will assume, either tentatively or in the ultimate, no one is able to say. All that one can hear, and it is to be heard on every side, is that we are witnessing in these days a colossal movement of readjustment and that such a readjustment is necessary if the, world is to hold together in peace and goodwill. The old order may not bo wholly dead, it is not; neither is the new one fully bora, but both processes are in operation and we are privileged to be witnesses of the dual happening. It is only to be expected that in such a mighty transition there should be present, bewilderment, confusion, suspicion and danger, and we confess to feeling sometimes a grave concern in our hearts as to what may take place, if we are not careful. But we would suggest that in two respects our faith may bo stayed in these days and such clutchings at the heart as we may experience may be checked: First, by recalling to mind the fact that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.” This is God’s world and no movement within it, no matter how farreaching its nature or how wide its scope, can take Him by surprise. AVe know we are not puppets in His hands; we are free beings capable of rational and free action, but underneath, above, and beyond the sweep of our free choice is His sure and sovereign control. This thought duly dwelt upon will reinforce our faith and will greatly help to hold us fast in the day of misgiving. Secondly.—This is not the first time that humanity has had to face up to a changing world order. In days past and gone there have been crises, and there will be crises again in the days that are to be. For our world is not a static world; it is for ever on the move. Change and decay are written over the face of everything upon it, including our habits, our customs and our institutions. And this’, we think, is its appointed order. It was built with an urge for “upwardness” at the heart of it, and it is this “urge” which is responsible for such changes, seeking to bring to pass such adaptations in the organised life of man as shall make that life more harmonious with its own inner sense of rightness and betterment. In doing this it is but fulfilling its destiny. The human family has successively passed through, in its more advanced members, the stages of annihilation, slavery, serfdom and feudalism, and now capitalism has to stand at the bar and answer for itself. Each of these was an improvement on what went before, but we are perfectly convinced in our own minds that no one of them possessed sufficient merit to be regarded as a permanent institution in human affairs. They were but passing phases in an unfolding drama. Similarly it requires more credulity than we can command to believe that our present system either in industry or commerce, so destructively competitive in nature, so ruthlessly selfish at heart, can so justify itself in the eyes of men as to become such a permanent institution. It is far too much out of alignment with the Sermon on the Mount for us Christians to be comfortable about. Consequently, with that demand for a change in these matters, a demand which we hear articulated on every side, we find ourselves in complete accord. lI.—THE NATURE OF THE CHANGE.

But the question emerges: Which of the many schemes that are being advanced, advocated and propounded to replace or improve upon our present “order” do we find ourselves in agreement with? Is there any one to which we can give our unanimous adherence? -Let us turn for a minute or two to this aspect of our enquiry. (a) In the first place we feel we can give no conscientious support to the proposals of Communism, for to us they seem to be defective in that they are contrary to Nature nij<l aie materialistic in outlook and aim. Fioni our point of view all humanity cannot be reduced to the level of a common denominator. Distinctions m the human family there must be because the units of that family are not all equally endowed with gifts and powers. Some are born to rule, others of us are not, and we who are not included in the* category pt leaders must be content to serve m a lesser and humbler capacity. Ail the same there is this truth in Communism that we do accept and commend: we deprecate that distinction of class which is rooted in inherited privilege and tradition and does not rest upon merit and natural equipment. , , But we find ourselves at variance with Communism on another count. It is far too materialistic in its outlook and aim for our liking. It seems yj place no value upon those great

spiritual ideals which to us are the very breath of life. We are more than persuaded that man cannot live by bread alone, and Vthat it is futile for him to try to do so. His true well-being cannot lie in the direction of a negation of those primary spiritual instincts which are part of him and which urge him to seek amid the changing scenes of his mortal life the fellowship of the Infinite. From our point of view any suggested way out of our present unhappy state which finds no place for, or reduces to the level of a negligible factor, or denies the existence of an objective satisfaction for these spiritual cravings of man is doomed to failure. We acknowledge that man cannot live without bread, that he must have bread, but to say that he needs nought else but bread leaves us cold and uninspired. For these reasons therefore we turn' from Communism.

(b) In the next place we find ourselves at variance with those whose suggested solutions when closely examined resolve themselves into mere palliatives of our disorders. From all those proposals which involve an extensive borrowing of money for the stimulating of industry or the setting to work of the unemployed we turn away in despair, for at best such proposals are but amelioratives destitute of any really curative property. Consider the position. Here in New Zealand we have a soaring national debt of £300,000,000 or more. The interest burden of this is crushing the life out of the people, and the only way out of our present impasse according to these proposals is to add a further weight to that burden. For this reason we have rejected as unsound every proposal which in the last analysis resolves itself into this. (c) Neither do we think the depression is a natural phenomenon due to the operation of the fixed laws of Nature. So-called “economic laws” are not to be confounded with the fixed and orderly processes of natural action. They are as different from one another as Magna Charta is from gravitation. In the presence of an untoward event we may employ the expression and say it was “an act of God,” meaning, thereby that it was a natural occurrence beyond the power or wit of man either to mitigate or resist, but to suggest that our present economic distress may be explained in like fashion is to come perilously near to, if not actually to walk right into, the zone of blasphemy. AVe are convinced the trouble is manmade and can be ’man-cured. In view of these things, therefore, we pass on to remark that it is useless for us to sit idly by, Micawber-like, waiting for something to turn up. Mere acquiescent passivity will not emancipate us from our troubles. AVe must bo up and doing, and let it be said with measured accents, immediately be up and doing, for we fear there is peril in delay. IV.—CERTAIN FACTS.

In passing over from the negative to the positive side of our enquiry we were impressed by the following body of facts:—

(a) First, this world is not an impoverished world. There is plenty of food, plenty of raiment, and plenty of shelter to meet and more than meet the requirements of the human family. AVhatever may be the cause of our troubles a scarcity of goods is not that cause. Mother Earth is able to supply the needs of her 1,000,000,000 children with no very great difficulty. It is computed that our industrial machinery—our mills and manufacturing plants—are well under 50 per cent, effective; that is to say they do not work as long or as speedily as they could by one-half. In Australia they are said to be only 25 per cent, effective. From this, together with the well-known instances of surplus supplies of coffee, cotton, wheat, and other commodities bping deliberately destroyed, Ave feel we are making an incontrovertible statement when we say that our problem, whatever elso it may be, is not one of under-produc-tion. Neither can it be one of overproduction. How can it be when there are no less than 100,000,000 humans in dire need of those very things that are being destroyed? Hence we feel that all those schemes of “planning” and of “quotas” that we hear so much about, all notions of “rationing” production, i.e., of limiting production to the capacity of the effective consumption market, are definitely on wrong lines. AVe are of the opinion that what is needed is not the shrinking of production to equate it with the effective consumption market, but the expansion of the consumption market that it may be equated with the world’s productive capacity.

(b) AVe likewise dissociate ourselves entirely from those who make bold to affirm that what we have to face in these dnys is the fact that a large percentage of those now unemployed do not wish to work and have no intention of so doing. There may be some such in our midst but, for ourselves, we can only say that we have yet to meet with an unemployed man who, if offered a situation at a remuneration that would not demean his self-respect, would not take it with alacrity and rejoice over hie good fortune, but, of course, no man wants to work for,another at a beggarly rate —be- he unemployed or otherwise 1

(c) This then is the position: There is enough for all, enough and to spare, yet there are 100,000,000 of people in want. AVliy is this ? There is but one answer to thfs question as far as we can see —the machinery of distribution has broken down, or, if n.ot broken down, has demonstrated its inability to do what is expected of it in this age. But what do we mean by the machinery of distribution? Upon what does it depend ? These are questions that, take us right to the heart of the matter, and the answer to them is not far to seek. Undoubtedly, the machinery of distribution is the money-system, and it is our opinion that our troubles are centred in that zone. Either this system is in itself fundamentally defective, or is being manipulated by powerful interests to the hurt of millions of our fellow beings. Perhaps both causes are in operation. But be that as it may, we are persuaded that the root and core of our unhappy plight is centred there, and not until that has been grappled with shall we be delivered from that plight.

It would take us too far away from the purpose of this report to enter upon an examination of that system. Members may acquaint themselves with this by means of the abundance of literature which is now available at a small cost. Sufficient will it be for us to say that, in our opinion, anything which has the well-being and happiness of the people so much at its disposal as the money-system unquestionably has should not be left in the hands of private individuals, who have big financial interests and who trade in money as a commodity, but should be administered by the State through a money board which shall be electively appointed and shall be removed absolutely from the manipulating influences of financiers and from the dangers of political intrigue. AVe fail to see why our money system could not be as effectively administered as is our Judiciary system. Until this is done we feel our problem will remain unsolved, and the process of discontent and embitterment which is spreading in the country, due to the hardships the people are compelled to suffer will grow apace with no little dis-

tress to us all and much peril to the State. DISCUSSION OF REPORT. The presentation of the report was greeted with applause. Mr Hubbard paid a tribute to the; grace of language and passion of thought on the part of the chairman of the committee. He felt the report cleared the ground whereby some way might be found out of the difficulty. “If we adopt this report we put ourselves on record as demanding that the powers that be look into the problem by examining the monetary system,” Rev. A. N. Scotter, the chairman of the meeting, commented. Mr Low said he did not favour the raising of loans as a cure for unemployment, though he thought a palliative would there be found. This would however, be no permanent solution of the question. The principle in the report was not only to look on their own burdens, but those of others, applying Christianity to finance and business. In this way the needs of industry would be considered, not merely those of the banks. Mr H. G. Grinstead referred to the tremendous waste that was at present taking place, _ stating tha,t a settlement of this subject was needed. Mr C. Hubbard, a visitor, as “an old Church of England man,’’ said lie keenly appreciated the sincerity of the report. He thought only true Christian teaching and practical work would avoid more serious difficulties. Mr G. H. Bennett said the report was deserving of serious consideration and he had felt for some time that the way out lay in the direction suggested. He thought no other system was likely to achieve anything. _lt seemed absurd —there was something radically wrong with a system permitting it—that in this country, with a population of only 1,500.000, so many should be on the borderline of starvation. . , ~ .. Mr Scotter raised the question or dealing with our own monetary system when other countries had tariff barriers. He added that the spirit of human nature could stultify any system. ..Mr Richards said he was pleased with the way in which the report had been received. H© emphasised that borrowing was not curative, only palliative. He would not suggest that this reform in the monetary sphere would obviate the need for moralising and spiritualising, but a bad economic system could have a serious effect on the work of the Church. “A tremendous task lies ahead of the Christian Church and we shall have to come in with constructive planning,” Mr Richards said. The report was adopted unanimously by the council. .