SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 246, 11 July 1919, Page 10

SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION

ADDRESS BY ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA. ■ In the course of an address to the Wellington Diocesan Council of the Cathoho Federation, "His Grace Archbishop O'Shea made special reference to Ihe True Remedy for Social Reconstruction." "We, as well as other sections of the community," ho said, "have been indulging in a good deal of criticisin of the present state of nfiairs-and God knows there is plenty of room for criticism of Governments and of men in high places to-day-but criticism is only a part of a pariotic citizen's duty, and by no means tho most important part. Wo must. destroy what is bad nnd harmful in the social system, but at the samo time we should he prepared to put something in its place. Tho proposals, or schemes, of sooial order or social reform before tho world are gcneraUy restricted to two extremes. You havo on the one hand tho forces of reaction unscrupulously using a powerful Press, and seekin" to perpetuate and strengthen the doctrine of lifo that what is left oyer is good enough for the crowd: and you havo the other cxtreme-wluch, for the want'of a better name, is now called Bolshcvism-which thinks that it can remedy the present social mjustico by setting class against class, by committing other iniquities, and by trampling on and violating tho principles of Christianity. Social Justice.

"Tho remedies for tho great evils that afflict society to-day aro certainly not to be restricted to those put forward 1 y reactionary Capitalism, on tho one hand, or radical revolutionary Socialism on Ihe other. There is a third remedy, and I say without hesitation that it is Catholicism, becauso Catholicism alone has collected and co-ordinated the trueprinciples that rolato to social justice in a logical and coherent system. This may seem a bold statement to those whoso acquaintance with the history and literature of the past two thousand years is confined to unreliable, hostile authorities or to the writings of visionary theorists who know very little about real human naturc-in fact, aro completely out of touch with it-bufc to any one who knows the true history of the past, it appears as the only real solution of 'tho troubles that, afflict the world. It has beon .tried, and under it men were happier, oven if (ho few did not become millionaires, as they do nowadays, and even if trade and industrialism did not ivnch the gigantic proportions they attained after it was set aside for modern commercialism. Under it tho price of commodities and the scale of wages were fixed, not after the Capitalism had determined the margin of profit it mustfirst of all make, but in favour of tho ordinary people. Their claims were considered first, and the big merchant or dealer had to bo content with the more modest profit that was left over. Of course, it will bo retorted that commercialism, as wo understand it nowadays, would suffer,' and the volume of trade would be decreased. But, even if this were so. would it be such a loss to the world as imagined? Aro human beings and their comfort and happiness in life to he sacrificed to the God of Mammon or materialism? There ought to be no hesitation about tho answer to this question. I know that we cannot reproduce the conditions that, existed in the past in the social world, and that therefore the remedies' I speak of must be. adjusted to modern times and modem conditions, but the great underlying principles are ever the same, nnd must be insisted on, if, we are to havo true reform "