Page:The humanizing of commerce and industry, the Joseph Fisher lecture in commerce, delivered in Adelaide, 9th May, 1919.pdf/9



SHOULD like it to be clearly understood that the views which I express to-night are my personal opinions, and that I do not speak on behalf of any of the companies to which I act as industrial adviser.

Do commerce and industry require humanizing?

Let us make a short examination of existing conditions and practices, to see whether Australia has been proceeding on the best lines. I do not propose to give a historical review of the growth of our present system of trade and commerce, its economic laws, and its industrial conditions. Our concern to-night is with the existing conditions of the lives of our people, not what brought those conditions about. We have gone through the greatest war in history, involving appalling loss of human life and uncountable destruction of the world's possessions. We have emerged victorious, with the cause of civilization saved and the road of progress standing out clearly in front of us. While we are still dazed with the noise and tumult of Armageddon, our jarred senses and tired nerves have been shocked horribly by a great outburst of social and political revolution. We have now become indifferent to the fact that almost each day, in some disturbed part of the world, a new social system is created by a band of rebels, who throw down the rulers of the previous day, and are in turn displaced before there is any clear understanding of what they stand for. All through the world a mighty ferment is working. Our old sense of peace, tranquillity, and security is gone. The old order changeth. Where will it end? We wearily admit, "We know not."

Now this attitude of folding our hands helplessly in our laps, of waiting with humility to see what is going to happen is traitorous