WEALTR INTELLECT CHARACTER

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 759, 8 September 1922, Page 3

WEALTR INTELLECT CHARACTER

THKEE ABHTRAqr CONCEPTiONH TREIR SEPARATE MERITS DISCUSSED.

POWERH FOR GOOD AND EVIL. ‘iThese are all abstract conceptions,” said Mr W. A. Leonard in introducing his remarks, on “Wealth” at 'the Papatoetoe Literary and Debating Hociety’s meeting last .Tuesday week, rhe subject being : “Which is the great influence, Wealth, Intellect or Character ?” Re went on to lay down certain 'theoretical principles sep ivting wealth into its component ptrts : Material gods possessing echange value, services, the> right to control the labour of other people, and the brains, manual skill and working capacities of a nation. “Men are' all striving to, various ends, but there are one hypotheses that are fundamental. Wefelth is the means life ; the only way to preserve hu-

man existence is by the acquisition of wealth. {The daily toil of the working man is his ' most common habit; th at is, his striving to acquire wealth. The great- majority of men’s habits have to do with the production, exchange*, distribution or or consumption of wealth. Intellect and character are the resulyts of civilisation—-of progress. No progress is possible without civilisation —no civilisation without wealth The (foundation principle of human existence is a struggle, and in this struggle the acquisition of wealth admits at once of the most selfish and most .unselfish motives.” Row the Intellect is Developed, Mr R. 11. And few,’ supporting: Intellect*, very aptly informed his learned audience ithat in order to judge of the case he put before them hey would jrequire to use their inteliecta. All great issues in matters temporal had to be decided in that way. Intellect showed primitive man how to provide, himself with a covering of skins to keep him warm, and with food to nourish his body. As man’s intellect increased so did his wealth. When Francis Gacon gave the death blow to the! medieval idea of the sacredness of existing institutions and set up in its place hi's theory of free and unrestricted scientific investigation in all of knowledge, the result af the adoption of his philosophy—of the development of intellect —was to increase wealth in a like proportion. Modern invention—the application of a highly developedl intellect to aid human endeavour —Wfcs able to do better than that and increase wealth in a greater proportion in return' for the expenditure cf enqrgy entailed.

“Intellect without wealth still abides. Wealth without intellect is quickly dissipated, Intelleqt produces character. Man’s eternal destiny is not money-gHubblng. Man consists of -four . parts : physical body, piindy moral faculty and soul. The first three depend on one another. In the beginning the body developes; then the mind is set in mqtion—slowly at first but) quicker and quicke'r; the moral faculty is still very weak and is developing slowly. Primitive man had no moral- faculty, but bis intelligence—his intllect—soon taught him that men could pot live together without laws, and ithere was the beginning of morality—the exercise of discipline.” WHa is Character ? * The Rev. J. A. Roskingj, advancing thq argument that character has a greater influence over a m|an than either wealth or intellect, said : “Character is what he; is ; reputation is what people believe him to be Oharacter is built up by all the thoughts and actions af man, It is the habitual practice of eve'ry virtue in him. In searching for wealth men are liable to losq or weaken some of the other qualities with which their physical bodies have been endowed. The acquisition of wealth arouses enmity.” Then to show that a good character is quite distinguishfble from a good intellect, the speaker instanced Goerthe, Carlyle* and George Eliot, all cf whom were great intellects, but were exceedingly 1 lacking in morid stamina. If they had exerted a wide influence by their writings it. was because they had set before the world in spite of their •own hypocrisy, characters that were ideals. The example of Byron was sufficient in itself to show that the only hope of social 'regeneration was in developing the morals. I sßt'e Millenium Closer?

Mr N. R. Law, who presided, then said that if intellect was the greatest power the wiset men should be the greatest saints. But, as a matter of fact, intellect produced evil as well as good, Only nobility of putting to evil any oowers which character coaid prevent a noun from he possessed. If wealth was the grev e.-f power vby was it that all the werdth aecumulai-m ir, t ie world apparently brought the mihenium no closer.

Mr Leonard rose again to say that many great movements in the world were due entirely to the fact that they were good business. They paid. The acquisition o{f wealth was not, an end. {The end was concerned with the consumption of wealth more than wh‘h its production. Mr Andrew : “Character is the result ovf a completely developed intellect. Emotions dre parti of the intellect. jThat is what you fell with. Will power translates what you see is good, into conduct, which is character. If you are perfectly developed from within you will know that you are a part of the universe. There can be no progress in body, mind or soil unless you live in conformity with the laws of the, universe, and those only a perfect in. tellect can, point out.” Mr Hosking: “When you get to the topmost height attainable by intellect there is something inexplainable, and that is character. Wealth andj intellect are themselves means to the attainment of character. The

Hght U se df wealth Is only a means to the end)., The? whole, which is character is therefore greater than its parfy which is wealth/’ A v.ote was then taken, which resulted in aj win for Character by a majority of 9 votes .from Intellect. Ajt the beginning of the meeting the assembly joined in community singing, Mr Firth leading and Miss Henderson playing the accompanimenfe.