In a still more tangible sense I mean a reasonable economic security. A
man can hardly have a good spirit if he feels that the ground is unsure
beneath his feet, that his social world may disown and forget him
to-morrow. There is scarcely anything more appalling to the human spirit
than this feeling, or more destructive of all generous impulses. It is
an old observation that fear shrinks the soul; and there is no fear like
this. The soldier who knows that he may be killed at any moment may yet
be perfectly secure in a psychological sense; secure of his duty and of
the sympathy of his fellows, his mind quite at peace; but this treachery
of the ground we stand on is like a bad dream. As one will shrink from
attaching himself in love and service to a person whom he feels he
cannot trust, so he will from giving his loyalty to an insecure
position. It is impossible that such tenure of function as now chiefly
prevails in the industrial world should not induce selfishness,
restlessness, and a service only mercenary.
The member of a professional group or of a labor-union gets security
largely from his standing in the group, which insures that if he is
unjustly ousted from one position he can rely upon getting another. It
is natural, however, that where this is the case his loyalty will be to
the group rather than to the employer. If the latter treats men as
machines he will get mechanical service. Moreover, it is not to be
expected that a man will give his full loyalty and service to an
employer merely as such, as the source of his pay. To enlist his higher
spirit he must feel that the work itself is honorable, that he is
serving his country, humanity, and God.
A nation can hardly preserve that interest and loyalty which makes it
truly strong unless it can so order things that the individual feels the
nation’s care for him, its eye upon his virtues and failings, its
appreciation of what he has done, and readiness to stand by him in
undeserved trouble. Well-devised systems of education, assistance in
finding work, protection against injustice, advice and temporary relief
in difficulties, insurance against sickness, accident, and old
age—measures of this kind, supplementing, but not supplanting, his own
efforts, will go far to make him a real patriot. An intricate society
calls for many helps which would formerly have been thought paternal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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