PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20907, 12 September 1939, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents whose letters ere welcome, but for whoee vlewe we have no reeponelblllty. Correspondents are requested to write In Ink. It le eeeentlel thet anonymous writers eneloee their proper names as a guarantee of good faith. Unless this rule Is compiled with, their letters will not appear. STANDARD OF LIVING (To the Editor) Sir,—ln a recent letter a correspondent, Mr Douglas Seymour, under the heading "Conacriptlon Advocated," says, Inter alia, "Our standard of living (the height of which has been the major cause of much weakening of our moral and national fibre) could very well stand, without detriment, the detachment of a substantial section every year for the purpose of military train dig." While not wishing to enter In any way upon a controversy affecting military affairs, i .link Mr Seymour, If he is really conversant with the living standard of the average worker (by this 1 mean a person contributing to the national welfare by day by day labour), cannot sustain b.e argument that the standard "has been the major cause of much weakening of our moral and national fibre." He is harking hack to the rather thin argument often advanced against blether wages that tbe men do lot know what to do with the money—an implication, of course, that employers pay low wages for the employee s moral good. Mr Seymour would no doubt like to have us brek "in the good old days" when men iibe \ eel majority) worked from dawn till dark for little more than sustenance Unless Mr Seymour wants to make a complete denial of the processes of evolution he must reauzc lust as man finds better ways of do.ng his deny work, so should thai work becomo easier and lime for o.her <han "bread alone" activities he ertei.'ded. Manv of the moral weaknesses which Mr Seymour no doubt has in view can be >4*l directly at the inability i f a great nu.... her of people to take pait io these very activities. Our standard of living It not so high that children who shoe'o be at school have often to work to augment a family income, or that a full education is available to all who want it. Inability to make the best use of a decent standard of living is no argument against reasonable wages but an indictment of the environment in Which many people of the pm ant genera lion have been brought up, and tm< system under which all still live.—l am, etc., Li LEADLINE Hamilton, Sept. 10.