Committee on Social Questions.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume III, Issue 6, 1 December 1912, Page 81

Committee on Social Questions.

Archdeacon Williams, Archdeacon Tisdall, Rev. F. Chatterton, Rev. F. W. Martin, Rev. M. W. Butterfield, Messrs. J. Thornton and R. Gardiner. A Plea for the Higher Socialism. There is an interesting article m the Hibbert Journal of October, 1912, by A. J. Fraser Blair of which I would like to give an outline. Many respectable and prosperous people imagine Socialism is nothing but a violent expropriation of the Haves for the benefit of the Havenots. Probably a number of Socialists have the same idea and are influenced by it. But that does not commend itself to thoughtful Socialists, and such a programme ought not, and never will, be carried out. The day of violence is not over, but it is distrusted more than it was as a remedy for domestic or international evils. The aim then of a thoughtful Socialist is to reach his ideal of a more equitable distribution of wealth by other means than by legislative or popular confiscation. He would educate both the Haves and the Havenots. He must open the eyes of the Haves to the injustice of which they are the victims equally with the Havenots. The social conscience must be so awakened that, for example, a millionaire will come to feel as much ashamed of himself as a' man who has been warned off the turf. The attitude of thoughtful Socialists towards the wealthy ought to be one of perfect friendliness. Whether they have inherited their riches, or come by them partly as the result of their own efforts, they are as much the effect as the cause of the present evil and unjust conditions. Wrong ideas about social problems, economic problems, moral problems, have been born and drilled into their very being. In

a sense, the rich have no better chance than the poor. If we have no desire to tax great fortunes out of existence, yet it is right that the very rich shoud pay more, m proportion, to the State which, mounts guard over their possessions than the very poor and the moderately rich. But even this principle— now embodied m recent financial legislation — need not be pushed to extremes. Let the rich keep their wealth, if it does them any good, if they feel no qualms of conscience, if they prefer it to the goodwill of their fellow-men. The last is the final and most searching test of all. If there are men and women — and undoubtedly there are — who. love money to such an extent that nothing else matters, why money they will have m spite of everything. But the pressure of social opinion should make this exceptional. Most people are human enough to desire the good opinion of their fellows. But if it is increasingly borne m upon them that they can not, as m the past, be wealthy and well thought of, they will prefer the latter alternative. When it becomes as disreputable to be very wealthy as to be known to have robbed a bank, the main attraction of immense wealth will have disappeared. , Naturally the creation of such an atmosphere is a matter of some difficulty. But such an atmosphere has begun to form. The rich are showing signs of uneasiness, not merely from fear that they may be despoiled, but from a dim consciousness that there is no moral excuse for the position they occupy. It is admitted that the majority remain untroubled by any such qualms. So. far as they are concerned it will be necessary to focus public opinion on them till they shrink as under a burning glass. That means that the general public must be educated as well as the small body of the plutocrats. This is probably the harder task of the two, Plutocracy, like other con-

ditions, exists by general consent. There are hundreds of thousands of people who are not well off themselves, but who have a vague idea that the cause of law and order, peace, security, and even religion itself, is bound up with the maintenance of a system under which a whole nation can be exploited for increasing the possessions of the fabulously rich. It is a queer kind of altruism, but there it is. < ! . . At the root of the evil of the system lies a mistaken conception of wealth which is the result of false ideas implanted m the minds of the young. The child of the. rich has a better chance of escaping this than the child of the poor. Accustomed as he is to the incidents of wealth he is m a position to appraise them at their true value which is next to nothing. The child of poverty chafes under the petty miseries of his lot, and eagerly clutches at the hope of some day escaping from these by grabbing for his own share a larger portion of the world's wealth than his parents succeeded m doing. The first thing we have to get rid of m the minds of the young is the idea that the world is a gigantic bran pie, and that their duty is to struggle for the biggest possible drawing from it. This is all wrong. Ninety-nine out of the hundred parents who instil this poison into young minds know m their hearts that " getting on " making money is dust and ashes m the mouth compared with love, health, and the stern joys of service. They should be instructed to consecrate their energies to the commonweal when they have secured enough to support themselves. They must be taught to look upon luxury, extravagance, and wealth as a social cancer, brought about by conditions defiant of natural laws, and leading to decay m the body politic from two causes — hypertrophy m certain of its members, atrophy m others. Drive that thought home to the minds and consciences of the rising

generation, and you will create an atmosphere m which, the plutocrat will find it impossible to live. With or without Christianity, education is the true alternative to spoliation as a remedy for the gigantic evil which we call our existing society. The writer finishes with a fine appeal. The idea may be regarded as a semi-religious one, and its realisation must depend largely on the general attitude of civilized humanity towards the Cross. If the attitude is to evade that phenomenon, or trifle with it, and if there is no reason to hope for any change m this respect, then doubtless all these aspirations are a dream. But if — as I firmly believe — the dynamic of Christianity is more persuasive and irresistible to-day than ever it was before — if its moral atmosphere permeates the scheme of things to such an extent as to render it almost impossible for any human being to escape its influence — is the hope so fantastic as it may seem ? F. W. Martin.