CANADA STIRRED

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1935, Page 11

CANADA STIRRED

LEFTIST DOCTRINE

PREMIER'S ADMISSION

ATTACK ON WEALTH

(From "Th 6 Post's" Representativa.) VANCOUVER, January 17.

All Canada is astir at the pronouncement of the first Leftist doctrine heard' from the lips of the Prime Minister .of Canada throughout his career. Mr. Bennett, for many years, was a capitalist. An aged woman who followed his progress . closely presented him with a large number of shares in a match corporation; and as a result he becamey a millionaire. As the time approached when he would become Prime Minister, he was reported to have, disposed of his interests for four million dollars in cash. When, a year ago, a peerage was suggested for' him, at the restoration of titles in Canada on his recommendation, his critics, referred to him as: the prospective "Lord ' Matchbox." He also disposed of reputedly large holdings of Canadian Pacific Railway . shares before assuming control of the : Treasury benches, and Xa?. at pains -to announce that 'fact ,in any discussion concern-, ing that railway and the Canadian National system, which., is Governmentowned. Opponents consistently dubbed him the mouthpiece of wealth, vested interests, and capitalism generally.

Judge, therefore, of the amazement caused by a series of radio addresses delivered, by Mr. Bennett since the New Year, in which he attacked wealth in the major plank of the platform he proposes to submit to the electors when his term of office expires next summer. He was frank enough to admit that, in past years, he had praised the capitalistic system. Now he found it had many defects. The same Prime Minister who has been assuring us, during the past two years, since the low point of the depression was reached, that Canada was emerging .faster than any other country, now tells us bluntly that her system is all wrong, and must be corrected forthwith. "There must be an end," he said, "to-the reckless trafficking in the health and happiness of Canadian citizens." TEST OF EMPLOYMENT. "What is the best test we can apply to determine whether the system we have all supported steadfastly is operating with 100 per cent, efficiency?" he asked. "It is the test of employment, for if the system is functioning as it should, why are there so many out of work? The fact that the machine has replaced manual labour does not answer the question. Compare the low scale of wages with taxes, interest, ■ and other.elements in the cost of living. Compare wages with profits. Consider our public and private debt. Tremendous and still mounting. Can, we honestly say we are making satisfactory headway towards correcting these conditions, and lightening our burdens? I fear not." Mr. Bennett's immediate remedies are higher taxation on wealth that is non-producing, Government control of business and finance, a Federal minimum wage law, unemployment and health insurance. "The income of the non-producer is derived from his investments," he said.' "He may have earned it, or it may have been given to him. That makes no difference to its earning power. Nor has it any fixed relationship to wages or salaries or prices. Nor does it automatically adjust itself to them. Nor can busi? ness: fairly or effectively adjust it. The most effective method of adjustment that I know of is taxation." • THE STEVENS COMMISSION. Reading closely Mr. Bennett's five radio addresses in the light of recent events, it is not difficult'tb reconcile his sudden condemnation of the capitalistic system with the revelations that have been made' before the Royal Commission on Mass Buying and Price Spreads. The Commission has been sitting for a year. Appointed at the instance of the Hon. H. H. Stevens," who', presided over it, and whose examination of witnesses brought out these unsavoury disclosures, it became known right across Canada as the Stevens Commission. Yet, when Mr. Stevens,' in public speeches, made the same forecast of Government action to redress these wrongs as the Prime Minister is making now, he was adjudged by the Cabinet guilty of forestalling the findings of the Commission, and was deprived of his portfolio and of the chairmanship. The country was profoundly stirred by the Government's action. Liberal and Labour critics charged that Mr. .Stevens was being muzzled. They asked, with appropriate satire, if the Prime Minister and his colleagues were so embarrassed. politically that they disowned him. Mr. Stevens, a very astute politician, encouraged, by,.applause from Halifax to Vancouver, continued to wrest from the heads of large corporations admissions of having paid sweat-shop wages while drawing huge profits, even during the depression. With these revelations daily ringing in his ears, the Prime Minister, without warning, "out of a blue sky" has gone further than his former Minister of Trade and Commerce, and told the country of his considered, judgment that the present system is wrong—such judgment being obviously inspired by the unethical business practices condemned by Mr. Stevens.