ECONOMICS AND MORALITY.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18946, 16 May 1933, Page 7

ECONOMICS AND MORALITY.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—The recent letter of your correspondent Mr Marcus James is original and thought-provoldng, and doubtless will provide fuel for future profitable discussion.The present writer has no wish to either subscribe to or detract from Mr James’s arraignment of modern church usage, but begs space to refer to a phase of the question which, though fundamental, is too often entirely overlooked. To students of history and biology the knowledge is axiomatic that any current form of morality or religion has a definite economic basis. Whether the present moral and religious codes are a true reflex of the economic system that has -served us in the past will doubtless be disputed by many. Certain it is that such codes reflect no credit on their economic . parent. The writer is himself of the opinion that, faulty codes of morality or religion are directly due to a faulty ( and mistaken economic system. If ' the economic system which the vast j majority of civilised mankind have , accepted for a thousand years can be , shown to be fundamentally faulty in its mathematical foundations and in- . sanely foolish when judged .by un- ( biased standards of logic and reason , it naturally follows that the many conventions with regard to morality, religion, patriotism and so forth must j come up for an overhaul and a revision i to make them more amenable to a saner and healthier economic order. A man must physically survive and endure before he can mentally and morally t begin, so if we would speed up the ; progress of our mental development ' we must make easier instead of harder the conditions of our physical } subsistence. , Though not a churchman in the orthodox acceptance of the term, the writer lias a profound sense of and r wholesome respect for spiritual ‘ values. “This little life is rounded ’ with a sleep," and all our strivings in f this vale of tears are but the prelimi- | nary training for the fuller and in A- 1 nitely better sphere of activity awaiting us beyond the veil. , A wholesome terrestrial life, how- r

ever, is a first essential to the toiling . and submerged masses of humanity in order to give them a respite and letup from the appalling strife and anxiety imposed upon them by our •vicious economic system. When the |

ghost of unemployment and the ’ anxiety regarding household bills and so forth are Anally laid men and women will be free to give their increased leisure to a stocktaking of their mental and spiritual requirements. Then will the opportunity for the churches occur to justify their legitimate role. Already utterances on questions of economics and finance by eminent church dignitaries in Australia and Europe make encouraging reading to those whose thoughts are turning towards the overduo reforms due Jn this direction (in "The Parable of the Water-tank”) reference is made in the concluding passages to. some sincere priests of the living God who had never prophesied for the capitalists, hut had compassion on the people, etc. It is difficult for a semi-pagan to comprehend Mr .lames’s statement Hint Christ has already conquered evil. It. is conceivable In the writer that the issue may he decided already in the spiritual sphere, hut the signs all point to an impending terrible conlliel. on Ibis material plane, since l,hi' lower necessarily follows I lie | higher. If then we must again gird i ourselves let us lie at least assured I that this time the war-mongers will i lie confounded by their own devices ! and the insane social system that makes war inevitable will pass forever from the ken of an enlightened mankind. —I am,- etc., C. A. MAGNER. Te Kowhai, May 12, 1933.