SATIATED WORLD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 657, 9 October 1933, Page 2

SATIATED WORLD

1POVERTY ANP FLENTY ^ i — ii i PRODUCTION TO-DAY IS MANKINiyS BIGGEST b. PROBLEM. .' A BISHOP'S VIEW. Mjen tend, in th'eir longing for se'cprity and stahility, to confdund the' institutions ,]to which they are accustomed, with the necessary foundations of society, writes Bishop Moyes in the r Sunday Sun. It becomes therefore inxportant to insist that the financial practices of to-day have inot the authority of ul4 ' timate truth'..;-. They grew in an age' ' when 'trade and industry wei:e dominated by one particular motive. The primary purpose of industry 1 has for long been the increase of production, and financial policy developed to further this purpose. Production has increased until it is to-day a problem, not because the world, is satiated, but because it cannot buy. There is a grim humour in the twin • facts that one chiid in six in Great Britain is below the poverty line, and that many- in Au'stralia are ill-noiirished, while th'e Prijne ; Minister of ' Australia can speak of .the '"unCconomic production of wheat," and while. the world is planning to limit its production. Black Magic.j. Finance has been called the "Black Magic" of the age, because of its power, because of'its immense accomplishments, but also because its power as exerted to-day is not for ths general welf are of mankind. The motive of financiers has been to encourage saving and thus extend production instruments. In this they have been amazingly successful. Financial theory was evolved in an age of scarcity, and it is in no sense ■a. judgment carrying condemnation into that era, to say that in our age •when the problem is one of distribution, the financial theories and practices of other days must be modified. 1 to meet th'e new needs. The ideas of an age of scarcity cannot remain un"changed in a world of abundance. Obey Mlan's Will. _It cannot be affirmed too often, or 'too clearly, that money is a man-made mechanism which can only he what man d'esires and do what he wills. It began as a means, but unhappily what is a means may become in human 'thought an end, and man may be the slave of his own invention, not because the invention is powerful in itself, but because h'e has made it an idol, and in thought has invested it with power. This is literally what has happencd to money. In itself it is not a commodity, but merely a title to 'goods and services, a social instrument for their due production and distribution. Caused Suffering. In a new era, therefore, those who control financial interests find them. selves unable to see how to make the extension or diminution of credit bene fit the general community, and th'e manner of their control has been responsible for much suffering. The quantity of money fluctuates mainly through ban)cing policy and action, since the greater part of the money in use at any moment is not 'the currency issued. by Governments, but the credit issued by banks. No amount of denials that banks issue credit and create money will convlnce, in the face of facts admitted by bankers and economists, and established beyond question by the Government Commissions in England. Moreover, few will want t0 question the usefulness of th'e banks to the community in the era of scarcity, out of which man has come, and few will derogate from the importance of the work they have done. Policy Must Change. The one question to-day is whether the motive of banking policy, as hitherto conducted, will satisfy the 'needs of distribution to-day. Clearly, neither the motive fior the poljcy will 'avail. It is the duty of the Church to1 tell 'them that on Chrjstian principjes they must do so, and that their mo-

tives must include the distribution of wealth in equitable fashion, as well " as the amassing of it. Otherwise, the financial order of to-day cannot stand. ' No one can doubt that savings transformed into capital has been an immense factog in the success of modern business. It has meant industrial and. commercial act'ivity, it has made 'easy the multiplication of goods, and it has fostered certain fine character"tistics in manhood, but the association with money, pf power to produce, of power over other lives (as well as of power to buy fot use) has biassed th'e human mind, and money has domin'ated those cdricerned in its control. ^ ; It has largely enslaved the thi'nking of financiers nntil social policy has become the servant of business practice, "and men have placed mate'rial wealth above the welfare of their' fellows. Banks' Part. ' This has been the more true in the last 60 years, since the Joint Stock 'Acts have brought money t0 a pinnacle of mobility and irresponsibility.

' A monetary system shoul4 obviously distribute wealth for andividual use and consumption, but with us this purpose- has become secondary, almost inpidental. The prerogative of the issUe of money has fallen to the hanley, gnd they issue it primarily tolend, that . it' may bear interes't. The principles behind banking practice have been the increa.se of production, with consequent profit to producers and fianciers, and thus ecanomie advantage to the few, rather than. social henefit to the 0 many, has been the inspiration of financial activity. i