EASY OPTIMISM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 30, 19 February 1937, Page 3

EASY OPTIMISM

-Own Correapondent.)

Churchman on World . Situation SOCIAL SECURITY UM1TS

(By Teletrraph-

/AUCKBAiND, xhis uay. "To have passed through the international crises and alarms of recent monthSj avoiding a general clash, js matter for thankfuln'ess, and gives hope that the "will to peace'' will ultimately prevail against_ the unreason which would plunge mankind once again into , fractricidal at^ife;,' stated the Rev. F. Copeland, the newly-eiected president of the JVlethodist Church of New Zealand, in hjs inaugural address last night at the opening of the annual conference of the . church, .."Yet ;the situation challenges any easy ogtimism," the speaker continued. "With the resurgence of fierce and narrow. uationalisms, with the widespread promulgation of antagonistic . idqals of statesmanship frankly accepting the use oi force, not reason, to attain natjonal ends, with as great a nujnber of men under arms 'in 1937 as in 1914, and .with 'olive branches springing from bayonets,' (to use Mussolini's phrase), many even the most pacific-nlinded, including our own New Zealand Government, baVe accepted the necessity of re-arma-ment oh a scale that a couple of years ago would have seemed inicredible. And it would appear that dhe end* is not yet/ What all' this' impb'es • for the Christian ' Church we have yet fully to explore. .That we must continue to do with ;courage and ^ith' patience.V > Frtends of Foapo Afixjoiis. The happenings of the past 'year,,said Mr Copeland, -4iad been such as to fill with' anxiety the minds of all men and women of gpodwill and eatueBt .jgurgose. Yet it might well'he that these only formed ■ part of what I^essing called "God}s education of the hhman race." When the Leagup of ' Nafions caine to birth it looked, bo many people thougHt, as if men at 'long last had le'arned the utter futility and wickedness ' of war a» a means ol-'settling internatidnal difficultieSj or' of preshoting the ascent of the' race. Here was, in the words of General Smuts, "a xontrete expression of the ,'moral and spirithal " unity of mankind." Alas for their hopes ! ' An instrument' of -peace had indeed 'been forged, buf it' would ! seem' as 'if BOme deeper change' was needed in'the 'heart of jnan bef ore that instrument' could be effective. The-events of the past'year had Badly discredited the League as an effective" means of collective. security-'-witness the battered, poisoned body of Abyssinia,' so treated'by a fellow-mem-ber of the ' League l • Doubtless this peace weapon needed to be re-forged; God grant that its re^forging might not require the fierce furnace • of another world conflacation. A Bolt From tho Blue. In a brief reference to the recent British constitutional crisis, which he said came like a bolt frqm the blue upon the Empire, the president- observed that it at least disqovered the heart of the Empire, when laid bare, to be 'ihorally sonnd. With amazing unanimity the nation was.pr.epared to'lose a beloved monarch rather than comprpmise on an isRUe which was feltito'affect.so vitally the very foundations of Christian moral standards, and the sanctity of treasured home and family life. . f . Touching upon ecdriomic; conditions, tho speaker ' said these revealed worjdwide impr ovement, though some would be found ready to-'suggesfc that this was due almost entirely to the present feverish expenditure on the implements of war,. and not td the application 'oi those basic - principles ' ' that • niaEde for the permanent solution- of the problems causing such acute distrees during the present decade: In any event. ' there was evident to-rday. a. more widespread insistence than ever before in iiuman history that society,. ,whatever -its form might be#' must be organisedion; a mpre geuuinely Christian. basis than.hitherto, Hopes of Social Legislation. Helped by world conditiops, our New Zealand Government . was putting into operation a programme of social and industrial legislation whjch all, whatever their puhtjcal , colour, must surely hope would be of permanent benefit to out whole citixenship. . . On© - of the elementary functions of a»y government was the provision of some measur© of social security0 for its people. . In our modern world, with. its wealth of • natural resources . readily available, coupled with man's. highly develpped scientific and technical skill, any social and economic order failing to meet the fundamental hecds of meh, women,- and children for food, sholter and clothing, must stand sejf-condemp-ed befdre the conscience of mankind. Old things were passing away, and they were wjtnessing a growing application of social idealisin that was .surely inspired by the spirit. of Christ, the Saviour and Friend of the down-t'rbdden and disinherited, No Substituts for Initittive; It must becrecognised, howetbr," that in a dynamic world; as ev'e'it • ija a reasonably static one, 'ther© were ' limits to the degree of 'social security that was good- for any normal, able-twdied citizen. Men who were unwilling to adupt themselvea to a! cliangibg world' would probably of necessity go down to',defeat. In such days 'as. theise, despit© all the provisions of governments and' ppivate benefactors, nothing would " take the place of the spirit of. daring and' iiii.tfative jn the hearts of the indiv'idual components of society. .While there must be no stinting of public and private effort to meet the-needs of the times, let it also be frankly recognised that there were definite limits' to the degree of social Becurity conductive to the growth of strong and viril© character. "Security 'may be the source' of an abundant life of grateful service," said Mr Copeland in. concluding this portion of his address, 4,it may also be a source of moral and spiritual disinteeratjom We must never lose sight rif the need of adventure and oourage 'n thc face of the nnknown, and we *'Tf'v Zoalnnders must learn- to live as "ved the- pioneers of this, country — »'iv*.itunisly and daringly." [ cerm eaty aninfath KjsobY^