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Problems of Humanity - Chapter III - The Problem of Capital, Labor and Employment
Certain questions arise. In the answering of these questions, humanity will solve its problems or, if they remain unsolved, the human race will come to an end. Is the capitalistic system to remain in power? Is it entirely evil? Are not capitalists human beings? [79] Will labor itself, through its unions and its growing power, vested in its leaders, become a tyranny? Can labor and capital form a working agreement or amalgamation? Do we face another type of war between these two groups? In what way can the Law of Supply and Demand be implemented so that there is justice for all and plenty for all? Must some form of totalitarian control be adopted by the various world governments in order to meet the requirements of supply and demand? Must we legislate for material ends and comfort? What standard of living will - in the New Age - seem essential to man? Shall we have a purely materialistic civilization or shall we have a spiritual world trend? What must be done to prevent the monied interests from again mobilizing for the exploitation of the world? What really lies at the very heart of the modern materialistic difficulty? This last question can be answered in the well known words: "The love of money is the root of all evil". This throws us back on the fundamental weakness of humanity - the quality of desire. Of this, money is the result and the symbol. From the simple process of barter and exchange (as practiced by the primeval savage) to the intricate and formidable financial and economic structure of the modern world, desire is the underlying cause. It demands the satisfaction of sensed need, the desire for goods and possessions, the desire for material comfort, for the acquisition and the accumulation of things, the desire for power and the supremacy which money alone can give. This desire controls and dominates human thinking; it is the keynote of our modern civilization; it is also the octopus which is slowly strangling human [80] life, enterprise, and decency; it is the millstone around the neck of mankind. To own, to possess, and to compete with other men for supremacy has been the keynote of the average human being - man against man, householder against householder, business against business, organization against organization, party against party, nation against nation, labor against capital - so that today it is recognized that the problem of peace and happiness is primarily related to the world's resources and to the ownership of those resources. The dominating words in our newspapers, over our radios, and in all our discussions are based upon the financial structure of human economy: banking interests, salaries, national debts, reparations, cartels and trusts, finance, taxation - these are the words which control our planning, arouse our jealousies, feed our hatreds or our dislike of other nations, and set us one against the other. The love of money is the root of all evil. There are, however, large numbers of people whose lives are not dominated by the love of money and who can normally think in terms of the higher values. They are the hope of the future but are individually imprisoned in the system which, spiritually, must end. Though they do not love money they need it and must have it; the tentacles of the business world surround them; they too must work and earn the wherewithal to live; the work they seek to do to aid humanity cannot be done without the required funds; the churches are materialistic in their mode of work and - after caring for the organizational aspect of their work - there is little left for Christ's work, for simple spiritual living. The task facing the men and women of goodwill in every land today seems too heavy and the problems to be solved seem well-nigh insoluble. Men and women of goodwill are now asking the question: Can the [81] conflict between capital and labor be ended and a new world be thereby reborn? Can living conditions be so potently changed that right human relations can be permanently established? These relationships can be established, and for the following reasons: Humanity has suffered so terribly during the past two hundred years that it is possible to bring about the needed changes, provided that the correct steps are taken before the pain and agony are forgotten and their effects have passed out of man's consciousness. These steps must be taken at once whilst patent evidences of the past are still present, and the aftermath of world war is before our eyes. The release of the energy of the atom is definitely the inauguration of the New Age; it will so completely alter our way of life that much of the planning at present being done will be found to be of an interim nature; it will simply help humanity to make a great transition out of the materialistic system now dominating into one in which right human relations will be the basic characteristic. This new and better way of life will be developed for two main reasons: The purely spiritual reasons of human brotherhood, of peaceful cooperative enterprise and the constantly unfolding principle of the Christ consciousness in the hearts of men. This may be deemed a mystical and visionary reason; it is already more controlling in its effects than is believed. The frankly selfish motive of self-preservation. The release of atomic energy has not only put into human hands a potent force which will inevitably bring in a new and better way of life, but also a terrible weapon, capable of wiping the human family off the face of the earth. [82] The steady and selfless work of the men and women of goodwill in every land. This work is non-spectacular but surely founded on right principles and it is one of the main agencies for peace. On account of this energy discovery capital and labor are each faced with a problem, and both these problems will reach a point of crisis in the next few years.
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