Our moral standards


THE CATHOLIC HOUR

OUR MORAL STANDARDS
BY

NEIL MacNEIL
Assistant Managing Editor of The New York Times

The eighth in a series of addresses by prominent Catholic laymen
entitled, ^'The Road Ahead,'' delivered in the Catholic Hour on July 28,
1946, by Neil MacNeil, Assistant Managing Editor of The New York
Times.

After the series has been concluded on the radio, it will be made
available in one pamphlet.

National Council of Catholic Men
Washington, D. C.



OUR MORAL STANDARDS
Open-minded observers of the

American scene are deeply con-

cerned over the steady decline in

moral standards, especially in

recent years. They see alarming

evidence of this decline in most

phases of American life and of

American culture. Nor does

there seem to be any improve-

ment in prospect; on the con-

trary the decline has indications

of accelerating its pace.

Let us take a quick glance at

some of this evidence.

At this very moment the
nation is in the grip of a crime

wave. Crimes committed in 1945

exceeded those in 1944 by 12.4%,

the largest increase in fifteen

years. On July 6th, J. Edgar
Hoover, head of the F.B.I., re-

ported the nation facing a po-

tential army of 6,000,000 crimi-
nals, ten times the number of
students in our colleges and

universities.

Particularly distressing is the

steady rise in juvenile delin-

quency. Since 1939 the arrests

of girls under 18 years of age

rose 198%. The figures for boys
under 18 show an increase of

48% for homicide; 70% for sex
offenses; 72% for assault; 101%
for drunkenness and drunken

driving. There is, of course, no

record for such matters as filthy

language, gang terrorism, de-

generacy and abortions. In the

war years, juvenile delinquency

rose more than 100% and is still
rising.

Meanwhile the figures for ve-

nereal diseases are equally bad.

In some parts of the country

they were almost epidemic.

In 1940, the last year for

which figures are available for

the United States, there were

264,000 divorces, more than

double the rate per thousand of

population in 1913, with each

year's figures showing a steady

increase. This rise has con-

tinued. In 1945 new highs were

reached in all the large cities for

which figures are available. Reno

had 8,590; New York 8,301;
Philadelphia 5,286; Boston 2,-

265.

Alcoholism is also increasing

steadily. Two experts writing in
the Journal of the American

Medical Association in October

declared that there are 600,000

alcoholic addicts in the United

States, 2,000,000 heavy drinkers,

and 38,000,000 so-called social

drinkers. They considered it a

serious national health problem.

In 1945 Americans spent $7,800,-

000,000 for alcoholic liquors, a

rise of 9% over 1944, and an



average of $56 for every man,

woman and child in the country.
I have not the time here to go

into such matters as commercial-

ized vice, abortion mills, and the

various other rackets and forms

of degeneracy. Figures are not

available for them; but it is a

fact known to those familiar
with each that they are flourish-

ing as they never flourished be-

fore, and that little is being done

about them. Perhaps we have
dropped so low morally that we
are below the point of shock in

such matters.

'All of us are familiar with the

operations of the black markets,

for we helped to make them. But
how many of us have stopped to
consider the moral implications.

The structure of rationing and

price control was set up by the

Government to assure fair dis-

tribution at fair prices of goods

in short supply, so that our own
poorer people might not suffer

and to ease the tragedy of the

starving millions of Europe and

Asia. Yef most of us set our own
selfish greed above those noble

purposes—^our greed for dirty
money and our greed for goods
that we could do without and
which would save our dying

brothers abroad.

We showed respect neither for
our own laws nor for the laws of
God. We wanted what we want-

ed when we wanted it; and we
did not consider the consequen-

ces. We thought only of our-
selves. The black marketeer

thought only of his extra, illegal

profit, and the rest of only that

extra pound of butter or that

pair of nylons.

Evidence of moral decline is

manifest in most aspects of

business and government. The

average American views most

things from what is in it for

him. If he can get away with it,

that is all that matters. He does
not think of moral standards.

Tax evasion is a good example of

this. Few of us observe the
traffic laws on our highways and

streets when we can get away
with it. And so it goes. The lack
of respect for our own govern-

ment and for law enforcement is

more general than ever before.

Finally, take a look at the

moral standards of our stage,

our motion pictures, our litera-

ture. No one could call these
standards high. Many a Broad-
way producer- uses the spice of

vice and indecency to assure the

financial success- of his play,

knowing full well that that is

what most of his potential cus-

tomers want and not clean,

wholesome entertainment. It

takes the Legion of Decency to

hold Hollywood in check; and at

that it goes as far in salacious-



ness as it dares without risking

retribution at the box-office. The

same is true of many of our
leading authors of books. Efforts

by civic authorities to halt the

sale of a novel for indecency as-

sures a rush to buy it while it is

available and stimulates sales

elsewhere. Too often the makers

of plays, motion pictures and

books consider only the cash in

their pockets and not the moral

consequences. How many of
them stop to consider the boys

and girls they might corrupt or

the decent men and women they
might disgust?

From all this it seems clear

that a great many Americans

are more intent on cultivating

the seven deadly sins than in

practicing the four cardinal vir-

tues. It is easy to blame this

condition on the war. But is it

right? It seems to me that two
world wars in our generation are

proof of our moral decline and

not the cause of it. True these

two wars did bring great dis-

ruptions in our national and

home life. True the boys and the

girls in the services saw terrible

things and had soul-searing ex-

periences. True the people at

home also had drastic changes in

their life and work and plenty of

worry. True millions of women

left the home to work in facto-

ries, with the resulting neglect

of the home and the children.
Yet this moral decline has been

with us for a long time. It goes

back before the turn of the cen-

tury. Many of us, for instance,
cannot recall the prohibition era

without a shock to our con-

sciences. The figures for divorce,

crime, vice, intemperance and all

kinds of indecency were bad be-

fore the war and growing stead-

ily worse. They merely were ac-

celerated by World War II. We
must go elsewhere for the

causes.

Let us take a look at the three

institutions that should teach

good morals to our youth—^the
home, the school and the church

—for if the child gets a good
moral foundation it should stay

with him through life.

Let me hasten to say that I do
not think that the fault is with

the churches. All churches, Pro-

testant, Catholic, and Jewish,

are striving to correct the con-

ditions of which we are com-

plaining. Thousands of religious

men and women of all creeds,

who have devoted their lives to

God, are doing all they can. They

give their time and energy and

prayers. They are more numer-

ous than ever before; they have

more knowledge of the human

soul; and better physical equip-

ment in churches and recreation

halls
;

but they are simply



swamped. Their task is like try-

ing to sweep back the waters of

the sea.

This takes us to the home. We
all know that the average Amer-

ican home is not what it used to

be—a haven of rest and peace
from the stress and turmoil of

the world, where a loving mother

taught the Christian virtues and

a dignified father maintained

Christian discipline. Too often

it is a few dirty and noisy rooms

in the slums. Too often it is a

suite in a hotel or an apartment

house. Too often there is no

provision, or little provision, for

children. Too often they are not

wanted at all. Too often those

that come are treated as nuis-

ances. Selfishness takes the

place of love
; and the will of God

is thwarted. The men and
women who should be the in-
struments of God in the creation

of other men and women are in-
stead irritable, greedy, money-

grabbers with dubious morals

and shriveled souls, forever seek-

ing pleasures that forever elude

them or turn to poison in their

hands.

Many children, the majority in
fact, show little or no respect

for their parents and their eld-

ers
; and in truth these elders do

not always deserve respect. The

unloved and undisciplined chil-

dren are in turn selfish and wil-

ful. They are hard to control in

the home and in the school, and
sometimes revolt against life it-

self. And when they respect not
their homes and their parents,

their school and their teachers,

their church and its pastors,

they can scarcely be expected to

respect the law of the land and

the law of God. Moreover they

have an evil infiuence on the

children of the truly Christian

home when they come in contact

with them in the school and at

play in the streets and the parks.

Now let us visit the American
school. The first thing we note
is the splendid buildings and

equipment, and next the well-

trained teachers. We have not
spared money or effort to make
our schools good. We are proud
of them, and we have stressed
education as probably no other

people has. We have concen-
trated on knowledge however,

and we have neglected character

building, and knowledge without

chai'acter can be dangerous to

the individual and to the com-

munity.

And in some of our schools of
higher learning, God has been

excluded and with Him His
moral code. True God and the

moral law are still stressed in

the Church schools; but these

schools are only a part of Amer-

ican education.



The breakdown of the Amer-

ican home and the failure of the

American school have imposed

a task on the church alone which

should be shared by all three,

and the Church alone cannot do

it.

However, I do not think this

is the full answer to the prob-

lem. I feel that the causes are

largely inherent in the kind of

civilization we have built for
ourselves in the United States.

Ours is basically an industrial

civilization. We stress the phys-
ical and not the spiritual. We
measure success in dollars. We
are the makers of machines,

beautiful and efficient machines;

but they have no soul. We live
with machines; we work with
machines

;
we fight with ma-

chines
;
but we have not dared to

deal realistically with the impact

of machines on human beings.
We have seen filthy slums spread
in our cities, as thousands

crowded into them to work in

our machine shops. We have
seen our men and women stupi-
fied by the monotony of their

work in factories or cast aside as

useless in the prime of life be-

cause they could not keep pace

with the assembly line or match

the precision of some mechani-

cal monster. We have seen hun-
ger and disease and crime enter

the American home because it is
now dependent on the steady
flow of cash wages and must

weather long periods of cruel in-

dustrial and business depres-

sions. In thousands of cases the

machine which was to be the

slave of man has become his
master

;
and we have a class of

economic slaves; and hunger in

the midst of plenty.

The change within the Amer-

ican home has been as great as

the change in our work. The

modern home is also full of wires

and gadgets. As it shrinks into

fewer and fewer rooms the ma-

chines multiply. We do the
housework with machines. We
get the news over the radio ma-

chine; and we listen to program

after program. The noise is in-

cessant and nerve-wracking. We
leave the home only to go to the

movies and have another ma-

chine entertain us, and seldom

is the entertainment elevating.

Then we go dashing through the

streets in noisy subways and

street cars and about ' the

countryside in other machines;

and we maim and kill hundreds
of thousands of our neighbors

yearly in our mad passion for
speed. We fly through the skies
and over continents and oceans

in other machines. We pride our-
selves on our conquest of time

and space; and yet we have less



time for leisure and contempla-

tion than had our ancestors.

The tempo and the rhythm of

our lives are terrific as we strive

to keep pace with our machines.

We build hospitals for the re-
sulting nervous wrecks, but we

cannot build them fast enough.

Our insane asylums have more

tenants than ever before despite

the progress made in the care

and cure of mental diseases.

More men and women die of
heart diseases than ever before.

Medical science battles success-

fully to prolong life; and then

we lead the life that ^ kills. It

does not make sense.

We have the most successful
mechanized civilization in all

history and we love to empha-

size the good things it brings us.

It does produce a flood of ma-

chine-made goods, for we have

mastered mass production and to

a less degree mass distribution;

but as we have gained in ma-
terial things we have lost in

spiritual values. We have world-
ly wealth and low moral stand-

ards. This is our tragedy.

Less and less, Americans take

time for meditation on anything

outside the routine of their par-

ticular business. Less and less,

they take time for contemplation

of the eternal verities. In the

rush of life and the making of

money little time is given to God.

At first after abandoning God

and his moral code, Americans

turned to the Golden rule, but

more and more that also is being

forgotten. Our national philo-

sophy now is a debased prag-
matism. ''What is in it for me?’'

has replaced the old American

motto "In God We Trust.” "Can
I get away with it?” is the new

code of national honor. Is it any

wonder that our moral standards

are dropping lower and lower?

At the same time there is a

world-wide campaign by the

enemies of God to discredit the

Churches, U supplant His moral
code by material expediency, and

to extricate love of Him from
the hearts of men. This cam-

paign takes advantage of the

chaos and uncertainties of our

times. The enemies of God are

on the offensive. They scoff at

all religion. They try to turn one

good against another. They be-

little and ridicule the faithful

and exalt the godless. They

make material success the ulti-

mate principle of life. And they
have a large measure of success,

here in the United States as else-

where.

What is the remedy? Obvi-
ously it is a return to God, a re-

turn to His moral code as ex-

presssed in the Ten Command-

ments and the Sermon on the

Mount. These are the principles



on which the United States was

founded and which helped to

make us a great people and a

great nation. We undermine our
greatness when we abandon

them. Historians record the

fact that all great nations have

been built on high moral stand-

ards—in other words a hardy
people living a life of simple

virtue — and that nations fall
when the people forsake these

standards for soft-living and

vice. This was true in the case

of Rome. It will be true with us,

for it never fails.

The American home is the
place to seek the redemption of

America. The family is still the
%

basic unit of our State as it is

of our civilization. We should
safeguard it. It needs tranquility

and security just as the State

needs peace and order. And God
should be welcomed into it. His

precepts should be taught and

enforced by our mothers and

fathers and accepted by the chil-

dren. The family that reads the

Bible or says the Rosary will not

stray far from the paths of

virtue. That is the kind of

family that America needs and

must have if she is to fulfill her

responsibilities in the confused

world of today.