The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil

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, labour 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 radios and television,

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;

and they too must work and earn the wherewithal to live.

Only one dominant concept can today save the world from a looming economic fight to the death,

can prevent the uprising again of the materialistic systems of the past,

can stop the re-emerging of the old ideas and concepts and can bring to an end

the subtle control by the financial interests and the violent discontent of the masses.

A belief in human unity must be endorsed.

This unity must be grasped as something worth fighting and dying for;

it must constitute the new foundation for all our political, religious and social reorganization

and must provide the theme for our educational systems.

Human unity, human understanding, human relationships, human fair play

and the essential oneness of all men—these are the only concepts upon which to construct the new world,

through which to abolish competition and to bring to an end the exploitation of one section of humanity by another

and the hitherto unfair possession of the earth’s wealth.

As long as there are extremes of riches and poverty men are falling short of their high destiny.