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Hokitika Guardian, 5 January 1924, Page 2

It is interesting, with Lord l.everloilme here in our own country, says the Christchurch I’n-s. to have his considered o| itiiou on tin l social and indusiiud system of which lie is so picturesque a member. Everyone who lias read without prejudice what lie lias elieadv said in New /calami must have been struck bv the fact that wlml lie has to sav he .says very clearly, and that bis <>; iiiiotis are refreshingly his own. It happens, too. that bis spoket opinions on one very important sub-je'-i the cennomie justification of the millionaire-, a,,, supported and elahori.ted in a recent admirable article in the ‘‘is| c-ciat-.u ." Lord Licverliithne concedes at once that a great obstaelo ti, good comradeship in industry, and so to efficiency, is the laet that a workman aim receives ,92 in (;:! a wivk t annot kelp brriodiug on I In* liu-t that his <*mj love: o 1 lei ry Kind, say may receive anything up to bundieds of thousands of pounds a week, as far iit tie workman can see without making nnv greater effort to obtain it than lie himself puts forth foi bis paltry pound or two. Lord Gcverliiilinc admits t! ,s obstacle so fully and frankly flint' hi- subsequent attack on its tolly cann*t lie attributed to ill-will. Hut lie dues attack it and be exposes so completely the blunder <>’ the “ca’canny" tactics to which it gives rise. that even V 11. \V. Ms Gingham. who states the case for ‘’The Other Side’ in tile next issue ol tile ‘“Spectator 1 . does not question that part of the argil meid.

la,an I EVtiuiri.iui asks why it is that Labour, which dees nut grudge the earnings cl' the artist, the musician, t>,e actor, tin- author, and the poet, >liould he jealous of the rewards of ihe genius of a Henry Forth Whistler used precisely the same materials as the man whose canvases bring next to nothing. The motor-ear maker likewise will lias to go out of business has, or oi.ee had, access to the same machines. Hie same workmen, the same raw materials, and the same patent-laws as the man whose income is between lwe hundred and four hundred thousand , omuls sterling every week; and il the leeuliar faculty for combining paints profitably cams its reward without (post ion. Lard l.everhiilme asks why ilia' oilier just as distinctive faculty ,oi combi nation which is Henry .Ford’s should lie counted, not only unworthy of its reward, hut a pest and a men-

ace to society. Of course, no convincing answer can he given, anil no air.wcr of any kind that is an honest, and intelligent, deduction from the facts. Henry Ford makes between ten and twenty millions sterling Vveiy vein liecalise 110 is an industrial genius, ami from no otter cause at all, and he should he prevented from making so much only ii the world would he hi tler without, the services lie renders, or ii his services could si ill lie as wonderful without their wonderful icward. .

l.oitn Lkvhuim'i.mk has no difficulty in showing that while Henry lord makes ten millions sterling for liimseli, he makes less- on each ear than, perhaps any. other manufacturer ill the world, provides an article that costs the consumer from £59 to £IOO less than the same article fiotn another manufacturer—or the whole body of Ford ear purchasers from one, hundred to two hundred millions loss each year- and all the time is providing work for millions :,f artisans at considerably higher wages lor six hours than the 1 rados Union, award would give them for eight. No one will deny that if Henry Ford were iiitei'foffed •.with by the Unions or by the Government he would I>j less efficient; to suppose, otherwise is to suppose that there are numeious Henry Fords among Government officials and Trades Union bosses, and to suppose in addition that they would all work harmoniously under Lovcrnmotit regulation. No one of normal intelligence- can suppose anything of the kind, and although it may be conceded at once that a man like Fen! works as he does not merely for money, but for pleasum. power, freedom. and all the other tariffs that achievement beings, the sure way to prevent him from working is to crib, cabin and confine him with stupidity.