The grave economic significance of the anthropomorphic habit of
mind and of the addiction to devout observances must serve as
apology for speaking further on a topic which it can not but be
distasteful to discuss at all as an economic phenomenon in a
community so devout as ours. Devout observances are of economic
importance as an index of a concomitant variation of temperament,
accompanying the predatory habit of mind and so indicating the
presence of industrially disserviceable traits. They indicate the
presence of a mental attitude which has a certain economic value
of its own by virtue of its influence upon the industrial
serviceability of the individual. But they are also of importance
more directly, in modifying the economic activities of the
community, especially as regards the distribution and consumption
of goods.
The most obvious economic bearing of these observances is seen in
the devout consumption of goods and services. The
consumption of ceremonial paraphernalia required by any cult, in
the way of shrines, temples, churches, vestments, sacrifices,
sacraments, holiday attire, etc., serves no immediate material
end. All this material apparatus may, therefore, without implying
deprecation, be broadly characterized as items of conspicuous
waste.
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