FUTURE SOCIAL SYSTEM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5028, 17 September 1926, Page 4

FUTURE SOCIAL SYSTEM.

REFORMED CAPITALISM BEST. HUMAN NATURE UNALTERABLE. That a reconstructed capitalism would be the best social system was the opinion expressed by Professor B. E. Murphy, of Victoria University College, Wellington, in a lecture: to the Workers’ Educational Asociation on “The Worker in the Past, Present, and Future.” After tracing the. evolution of the present system and pointing out that Marxism Was; a natural reaction, but an unsound theory because it presumed a pervading altruism, the lecturer said that the! line of advance that appeared most promising for the workers at the moment was to build a, bettex order within the framework of the existing system, which, after all, did its job pretty well, and was not so> black as, it was painted.

“Capitalism supplies motivation and industrial energy, secures accumulation, and avoids excessive, bureaucratic interventions,” he said. ‘‘lf the politician gets the control of industry he will ruin it and plunge the c< mmunity into want; if the industrial magnate gets control of politics he will be stronger than ever. It is preferable to keep the two functions a,path The insecurity of capitalism can easily be remedied by systems of social insurance, which are now past the experimental stage. If the) workers are granted security against illness, old age, invalidity, 'Occident, and unemployment, and good conditions of work and a share in industrial control, the useful elefments of the present system would be conserved and its worst features eliminated. “Co-operation and profit-sharing, though antecedently attractive, have not proved of much value as a solvent of social ills.. Co-operation has failed through not attracting able industrial leaders, though on the distributive side its record is wonderfully good. It has not made any impression on production, arid profit-sharing fails in motivation. A ! reversal of the, common point of view might easily make profit-sharing a real solvent. It 'fits in with the tendency towards vertical alignment' instead of horizontal divisions, and the class war, a,nd it might lead to a guild, organisation of society in the future. No system will make all men leaders or will change very greatly or rapidly the self-regarding motives. Men are highly altruistic outside economic affairs, hilt highly selfish within. A man w’ill risk his life to save a stranger from a burning building, but would not 1 riS|k a. five pound note to keep the same, stranger frofm bankruptcy. Society could easily be destroyed, but would take long to build, and growth from within seems preferable to any social reconstruction involving imposition from without. Human motives in the economic sphere will remain much as they are for* as. long as concerns us, and it is idle to build a social system oh the presupposition of the operation of unselfish motives, which we well know do not exist. ‘A 1 reformed capitalism seems the best hope for the future. The probability of socialist, reconstruction in any delibrate manner is small. While .most working-class leaders are class' conscious and lick their lip's in anticipation of the spoils of victory, in a show-down they would be divided and beaten, while the rank a ; nd file, simply don’t care. Most men are beer-conscious, football-conscious, or 'racehorse-conscious' —only a few are class-conscious.”