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THE STANDARD OF LIVING

Sir,—Tour article, "A Deadlock and a Possible Remedy," in Tuesday's issue is a' laudable attempt to solve a problem most intimately connected with the proverbial cussedness , of human nature. \Ve all desire ardently "less work and more money," and we all want it very quickly. Of course we do not really want .more .money, but more or better quality necessaries, -more comforts, and, most emphatically, more luxuries. We have been steadily raising, wages for a generation, but the discontent is greater than ever. All reasonable people of any experience must admit that the standard of living has risen enormously during the last thirty years-that all classes, including unskilled-labour, enjoy to-day comforts and luxuries that were-then only a dream. Indeed, 60 great has been tho advance that one would think to go right on in- the same way wag found common sense. - Now, sir, what is tho cause of the great prosperity throughout New Zealand? I venture to assert that it does not result from legislation, the Arbitration Court -or anything of the kind. These things may help a-little, tnt only in a very.minor degree. The inventors of the freezing processes for earning our mutton, -beef, butter oheese to the hungry millions of Great Britain, the business men who put this export on ft sound common-sense commercial ■ basis, and ■ the pcoplo who put their savings into tho then untried and risky venture are the builders of New Zealand's fortune. The .New, Zealand farmer instead of bi'ilmg down his fflieep for tallow found his income inoreased and was able to spend.his surplus, largely on tho prnduots of the proteoted town industries, to the> boneht of town workers generally. * llt freezing industry was established the cry of the unemployed was beard very lcn'lly in New Zealand towns. The point that is generally missed is that taoneh you raise wages to 6ome ridiculous ajnountj say, fifty pounds a week, that will, not produce -another loaf of bread or pair of boot®, or house to live In, or theatre to be entertained in. Commodities, the things we really want, are just where thetfwere before, ton may it. Sir, old Solomon knew wU ii 9 said, 1( It is the hand of I tho diligent that maketh rich, not the band of him that knocks off work evM7 other week on some ridiculous or othor, There seems to be a va?ue minds of Labour's spokesmen ttat thfie are heaps of every »Ue commodity In the country, and all that is wanted A some system of higher wages or better distribution to mako everybody happ) and contente;!. This, aa Euclid remarks, is absurd. If these gontlemen were as good at arithmetic as they, are at oratory tliey would easily ascertain if nil the yearly income of capital were confiscated and divided up among workers it would best amount to but n. few shillings a week per head, and that is assuming that such a thing could_ be done without reducing the inoome. Such an Assumption is, of courso, ffbsnrd, as all man operating with their own capital woraaTn soon ta evpnt as confiscation, oeaas to e*erolse their skill, etperienoe, aid «Srlefanarwe, ftrtiesm eto.,

work shorter hours, and a good deal slower than their . grandfathers _ did. Their manual dexterity is also distinctly inferior.' they enjoy an income in commodities that would absorb all that capital got 50 years ago ten timers oyer.

Who or what is responsible for this enormous flood of goo.'is that (war apart) has made a .poor man in some ways richer than a nobleman was some centuries ago. In one .word, the producing capitalist, this much-abused individual, is the modern miracle-worker. Give him a fair chance, encourage him, and he will make his own. fortune, his employee's fortunate, and the whole people's fortune. Arihoy him, harass him, worry him, make him afraid to develop_ those productivo activities that aro already in being by the introduction of fresh capital or to start new ventures for fear tho capital will be lost, and you-out off the stream of wealth at its source. Increased production by ■ bettor methods, scientific research, resulting in wasto products being utilised; these are the only possible ways in which a rising standard of living ca.u be maintained. Now, tho whole of the. Labour agitation is in the direction of- checking 'production—a strike stops it and a "go-slow" policy checks it.. If we were all in "one big union'' and all-struck at once we would ..all .be dead in; a week. • Production is the lump of solid meat in the dog's mouth, better-distribution is the aliadow in the water. . Let Labour beware how it drops the substance for the shadow.—l am, etc., PRODUCER. February 26.- -

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19190301.2.21

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
786

THE STANDARD OF LIVING Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 3

THE STANDARD OF LIVING Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 3

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