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ALBERTA’S EXPERIMENT

ready for social credit * fFKOM Ovit Correspondent.] VANCOUVER, August 22.When it was recently announced that the Province of Alberta has retained Major 0. H. Douglas, author of the .Social Credit plan, to act as economic adviser, it was not expected that the developments in that part of Canada . would result in such a sweeping change politically as occurred when the social Credit Party in Alberta accomplished the astounding feat of capturing 58 out of a total of 63 seats in the 1 rovmcial Legislature. This was not regarded .as a victory, but rather as a landslide, transforming Alberta overnight into a laboratory for one of the most significant experiments of years in the held of economics. Naturally, it would be a mere waste of .time to designate the Alberta experiment in advance as either “good ’ or . “ bad,” but in a world torn by economic dislocations, the Alberta venture is hailed as one that' should be studied realistically and without passion, as a chemist studies a reaction in a test tube. ; That, at least, is how the striking situation is being viewed by the rest of the North American continent. If Social Credit is unworkable, it will collapse in answer to its own weigh?, just as the Non-partisan League collapsed in North Dakota, but if it works, then the world has something to learn, and perhaps something to gain. To the question: “ What is Social Credit?” Major Douglas and his folbwers first of all emphasise the contention that the real Wealth of a nation is goods and productive capacity. Money to them is merely “ tickets,” issued not against a reserve of gold in vaults, but against the stun total of national production. Most economists agree with that_ “ in principle,” and Social Credit sets it up as a fundamental tenet. MUST KEEP IN STEP. Therefore, they say, money must keep in step with “ real wealth,” increase as production increases, decrease' when production falls off... Government 1 controls money under Social Credit. The banks would bo stripped of their power in this capacity, and money would be issued as. justified by real is to say, the nation’s total assets in goods and pro- . ductive capacity. , The experiment in Alberta will not be - classical, because the province cannot issue money. Some form of negotiable certificates must bo devised, and this necessity may precipitate insurmountable difficulties. 1 But assuming' that Alberta has authority to issue money, and that the ’ system does not break down, this is what the Social Credit groups hope will happen,: ' • .Alberta first will make an audit of her real wealth—her goods, the potentialities of her man power, the potential value of her factories, mines, and farms. That real wealth will be found large enough to warrant the _ distribution of the first “ national dividend,” to Alberta’s people—an initial distribution of perhaps 25 dollars for every individual. . This national dividend will stimulate the purchasing power of consumers, and increased demand for goods will restore employment. Fatter payrolls mean still greater buying volume and further augmented production, against which more money can be issued. MONEY—A CLAIM AGAINST COMMODITIES. Inflation? Not according to Social Credit, which insists that' money is - merely a claim against a commodity, and that abundance of commodities means an abundance of wealth against whichmoney can be printed. What if prices fall? That means there is not enough money to buy. The , retailer therefore; sella at whatever discount is necessary to permit the con-. sunier to buy, and the retailer is reimbursed from the Government’s Social Credit account. What if production drops and prices, rise? That means there is more money in circulation than goods. -The retailer increases prices, the Government takes the excess profit a« a tax, and puts it in the Social Credit fund. Such is Social Credit in its barest essentials, and it is making all America “ sit up and take notice.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19350928.2.25

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Evening Star, Issue 22146, 28 September 1935, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
645

ALBERTA’S EXPERIMENT Evening Star, Issue 22146, 28 September 1935, Page 7

ALBERTA’S EXPERIMENT Evening Star, Issue 22146, 28 September 1935, Page 7

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