Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JANUARY 9th, 1920. LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 January 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JANUARY 9th, 1920. LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE.

The signs of the returning tide of prosperity increase daily in the Mother Country, and may be taken, says the Dunedin Star, as symptomatic of the conditions prevalent in other countries that are living under settled government. Those whose business •it is tp read the signs of the times declare that if a visitor from one of the planets dropped upon British soil he “would come to the conclusion that there was a great deal of human nature in current; economies as well as economics in human nature. He would be amused by the spectacle of everybody demanding shorter hours for himself, while instructing his neighbour that salvation lay in increased production; that the Government who preached economy to their citizens were, in fact, the greatest spendthrifts in the country; that every class demanded higher wages to meet increased prices, and. then complained when prices rose again in conaeqnonce of increased wages,” The stellar visitor would, howeVer, find that the British had no monopoly in that kind of folly, and would jean l that the reaction from the strain of war, influenza, and a dismal winter were each potent factors in producing apparently incongruous effects. This astral or antipodean visitor would also note that British exports at the end of 1919 were greater than in 1913, the real trouble in the disturbed financial equilibrium lying in the fact that the value of imports had more than doubled. Sound economists, it would also be learncd, are with good effect, urging the Government “to reduce the output of paper money, the one form of increased production which is harmful to the .community. That will reduce prices more than anything else, and will stimulate production and* consequently help to restore the foreign exchanges, .without which industries cannot be carried oh profitably.” Tfyi adoption of sound financial methods, coupled with the exercise of a stricter check Oil Government extravftgancu, will, it is believed by expert financiers, restore, our gold currency at no distant date. A very practical proof that the new conditions facing us are being grappled with efficiently afcd intelligently is to he noticed in steps taken to meet the shortage of man power brought about by the war. The construction of tractors has brought into cultivation millions yf acres that were hitherto unproductive. By the same mechanical agency the cost of food production S’ill be appreciably lessened in the future, and their manufacture aloife will become ft fconfeo ?f employment and wealth that was non existent in nre-war days. The exigencies of the past five years have made America a maritime nation whose ships will be freight-carriers in every sea and for all nations. The construction of airships bid* fair to be so enormous in extent as to rival the qutqniobilc. “If we are gloomy at the prospect that confronts us to-day,” writes the editor of the New York weekly, “Commerce and Finance,” “let us look to our mental or physical health, for the fault is certainly with ourselves, and not with the facts.” There is, however, only one royal road to firing ft complete recovery from the devastation brought, about by the late war, and the way is made plain by Mr H. C. Hoover, the American Food Controller, whose words ■carry great weight. “No economic policy,” he says, “will bring fpod to those stomachs or fuel to those hearths that does nob secure the maximum production. 'There is no use of tears over rising pricesthey are, to a great degree, n visualisation of insufficient production.” These words should bo taken to heart by iff New Zealand who wish and are determined t° themselves and the community to which they belong prospering future.