Montana labor news., 1936-09-03
Labor Day Message Holds In
dustry is Mainly Concerned
With Human Beings and In
sists That Profit Should Not
Be the Major Motive.
By A. f. Of l.. News Service

By A. F. of L. News Service
A strong declaration that the
Christian church should support the
principle of operating industry es-
sentially as a community service.
with profit relegated to a secondary
position, features the Labor Day
Message for 1886 of the Board of
National Missions of the Presby-
terrain church in the United States
of America. The message, signed
by T. Guthrie Speers, chairman, and
John Mcdowell, secretary, was is
sued from the office of the Commit
tee on Social and Industrial Rela-
tons of the Board of New York
City.
Social Welfare Is Stressed
In discussing the present tragic
industrial situation" the message
holds that the Christian church
must have a gospel that is con-
cerned with mems bodies as well as
their souls, a gospel for this life as
well as the life to come, a gospel
that is as deep as human life itself
and as wide as human need add
ing:
There is an ardent, consuming
nassion for social welfare among
the masses today, and that passion
is essentially religious. 1t is not
mere greed for a larger share of the
wealth they help to produce which
causes the widespread social unrest
that prevails among the people OF
every land. The great social move
ments of our day for social recon-
struction, whatever we may think
of their economic and political pro
grams, are in heart and spirit deeply
religious, though perhaps uncon-
sciously so. What they need, anc
need desperately, is a spiritual IN
depreciation and the guiding motive
of the Christian spirit and the Chri
tan faith, and the Christian church
as the organ of this spirit and thi
faith ought to meet this need anc
supply this demand"
Human Interest Is Paramount
Contending that the christian
church must welcome every socia
and industrial effort which make
in any way for the development o
men, which ministers to humal
need, which gives greater scope TO
personal initiative, and which dis
covers and confirms personal ca
pacities, the message gives the fol-
lowing analysis of I'll industria
system and the position which tn
Christian church should take in re
gard to it:
Gail human relationships in If
dustry should be regulated in az
cordance with the supreme mora
principle of the Christianity {
Christ, namely, equal love to Sc
and neighbor.
at is evident that as Christian
we cannot for a moment concec
the claim which is sometimes mao
that in the economic sphere the eth
cal should be subordinated to ec'
nomic laws. Over against tn
claim the Christian church must
the name of Christ assert His SO
ereignty in the economic as in evel
other sphere of life and labor. II
church must everywhere confer
that human interest comes befo
financial, that character is more ii
portant than wealth, that whatev
INJURIES the least of Christ's brethr,
= Injuries Him.
z when we wrong men, we wrol
God; when we serve men, we ser
God; when we treat men as the CHI
dren of God we are cooperate
with God to create a new WORTH
world of justice and r~ighteousnt
and love.
"The Christian church cannot (
lieve in the stability of any soc
order, however, imposing its ec
s nomic triumphs, if it cripples t
personality of its workers or {
prives them of that control over
8 material conditions of their oy
lives, which is the essence of p,
sonal freedom.
Industry Operated As Social
Service
1.-THE Christian church should
longer hesitate to recognize that