The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1920. "ASNEARLY AS POSSIBLE"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 224, 16 June 1920, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1920. "ASNEARLY AS POSSIBLE"

When the claims of tho Post and Telegraph Department' employees were submitted to tho Prime Minister on Monday, one of their spokesmen contended that "the members of tho service had the right to the same degree of comfort a a they enjoyed beforo the cost of living began to rise." Mil. Massey at this point interjected: "As nearly as possible," and though these words were echoed by the delegate in question, thero is nothing in what he said subsequently to show that he regarded them as raising any issue of serious importance. Yet it is plain enough that in the brief phrase he used the Piume Minister raised a distinction of capital importance—a distinction, in fact, between fair and equitable claims and olaims of a very different order. The importance of the distinction, of course, is in the fact that the country as a whole has to meet heavy additional calls upon its resources as a result of the war, and that any section of the community which demands without qualification the same degree of comfort as it enjoyed five years ago is arguing in effect that it ought not to be expected to carry its fair share, or any share, of these national burdens—in other words, that it is entitled to shoulder its share on to the rest of the community. On tho other hand, wage and salary earners have every right to ask that pre-war standards shall be maintained "as nearly as possible"—that is to' say, with due regard to the national burdens imposed by_ the war. No reasonable person will for a moment deny that public servants have as good a right to an adjustment in these term? ns any other section of the community. It is a matter of ordinary justice, also, to recognise that the 'Post and Telegraph officers and other members of the Public Service now pressing forincrcased payment have been hard hit by the widespread inflation of wages,and prices during the war period, and that in their present somewhat belligerent attitude they are simply following the lead of organised Labour, throughout the Dominion. Public servants and other sections of the community, however, need only look at the facts to perceive that an immediate or early increaso in wagos and salaries which would restore their prewar purchasing power is a mathematical impossibility. The only reservation _ necessary, if it can be so called, is that any section which obtains or has obtained such an increase, is dishonestly evading its fair share of the national war burdens and placing it on other people's slipulders. No amount of effective organisation in pressing demands will get over tho simple fact that tho war has for the time being seriously reduced the resources out of which the Dominion supports its pomilation, and that pre-war standards will not and cannot be restored until useful production has overtaken and made good these inroads, It conspicuously illustrates the existing state of affairs that expenditure by the Government under all heads has doubled since 1913-14, and that, permanent appropriations nlono (chiefly debt and pension charges) increased by nearly seven millions in the last five years, and absorbed last year sin amount short by less than a million of the total revenue raised in 1913-14. Tho possibility of irn-, proving wages and salaries is, of courso, governed by other important factors, notably the serious disloca-

tion and disorganisation of industry which is' everywhere in evidence, and the enormous increase in shipping freights and in the prico of all imported goods. Some of tho Post and Telegraph delegates who interviewed tho Prime Minister are apparently of opinion that there is a great body of "war wealth" in the country which might be levied or subjected to penal taxation, but this view of the matter will hardly bear examination. It is. of course, true that universal inflation has greatly increased the value on paper of.land and other forms of wealth, but it has done nothing to assist or increase the useful production on which all prosperity is based. On the contrary, the increase in paper values goes hand in hand sometimes with an actual fall In production. The actual nature of a large proportion of what is called "war wealth" is aptly summed up in an illustration employed while, tho capital levy proposal—now abandoned after exhaustive investigation—was i under discussion in Great Britain: A man owns furniture which before the war was valued at £1000, and is now valued at £2000. Here is "war wealth" to the amount of £1000, but in what resneet is the owner really bettor off 1 One of tho Post and_ Telegraph delegates stated that during tho last five years the unimproved value of land in the Dominion had increased by 48 millions sterling, and suggested that it would be fair to tax this increase to such an extent as would provide, for increases in Public Service salaries. Apart from its injustice, the proposal is based on a misunderstanding of the actual position. With such conditions of ovev«oa marketing as are in prospect, the amount that has been added on paper to the unimproved value of land is liable to vanish as speedily as it has appeared. Meantime, the increased unimproved value and high price of land simply reflect the general increase in prices, and have added nothing to its productivity, A farmer who sells his farm to-day obviously must pay out the ruling high rates for any new holding he acquires, At the same time, if he turns his money to any other purpose, he will still find its purchasing power reduced in accordance with the prevailing inflation. The actual effect of any further substantial impost on land values would be to .cripple and dislocate primary industries, with results which might easily prove disastrous to the whole community, and similar effects on industry in general must follow if tho existing burden of taxation is made much heavier than at present, These are facts which public servants ajid other sections of the community intent on securing wage and salary adjustments would bo wise to consider dispassionately on their merits. The basic fact which admits of no dispute is that nothing but increased production can re-estab' lish wages and salaries at their prowar purchasing power. Thero is only one source from which tho concessions about to be made to public servants can bo drawn. They will be paid for by all other sections ol the community, and tho effect, in imposing new charges on industry and raising tho cost of living, will be anything but negligible. This, of course, docs not mean that public servants are not entitled. to have their legitimate grievances redressed. They have had to pay their share of the concessions made to al) classes of organised Labour, and organised Labour, with other sections "of the community, will have to pay its share of tho cost of bringing public servants into line. But'it ought to be clear to all bodies which are demanding wage and salary increases that they would cut the ground from under their own- feet in pressing these demands too far. An equitable adjustment as between different sections of the community will assist economic recovery. Attempts to ignore tho hard facts of the existing situation and press unreasonable demands for wages of pre-war purchasing power are directly calculated to compel wholesale retrenchment in the Public Service and occasion such a disastrous dislocation of industry as would entail widespread unemployment and distress.