THE WORLD AT A STANDSTILL.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 June 1924, Page 4

THE WORLD AT A STANDSTILL.

.SOCIAL BKTTKItAIKXT AND HOW IT .MAY BE OBTAINED.

(iiy Sir Ernest Ecnn.)

in mi age which seems to he exceptiomilly lull of difficulty. uncertainty Mini iinorst, one bright gleam is observable. Kverybody wants to put the world right; and this widespread desire t« end chaotic conditions and turmoil and get back to order and tranquility is the really hopeful factor in the situation. If the ills that beset its to-day are regarded as an undesirable legacy of the war, the European upheaval can at least, be credited with having opened up a store of enthusiasm for social betterment. One of the big problems now confronting us. and one upon which we need to concentrate, is how to too the fund of enthusiasm for so 3 rial amelioration that is available fin good. II the comiiioudiihlo ambition to sol the world right, which is held by people in all walks of life, can bo turned in a constructive direction and fortified by practical experience, then we cannot fail to attain belter conditions.

The business man who takes a .survey e.f the situation as a wlmle is inclined to experience a sense of hopelessness and despondency which is understandable, perhaps, hut which is nevertheless regrettable. What does he see f A world full of wants which we know how to supply—wo have a productive capacity equal to providing everybody with their reasonable requirements—vet, for some reason that nobody is quite able to dehue, the world and the people ii it are standing still. There is no forward movement, no progression. Indeed during the past lew years there has been a tendency in the opposite direction. \\ c spent the last century, a period commonly called the industrial revolution, in finding out how to do things, and v.c have spent the lirstquartcr of the present century in preventing those things being done by •setting up innumerable barriers an:, rest riot inns and controls.

Politics were regarded 25 years ago as a pastime for one’s leisure hours. There were no politics in business; it was an offence against good manners to talk polities with business associates. In those days politics were concerned almost exclusively with questions iike education, religions instruction, the franchise, the development of the Empire. the abolition of slavery or the organisation of that perlc< I dcmocratii scheme of (lovernm.oit which we now enjoy. To-day. politics are nothing but business. The politician spends his time in discussing wages, employment. housing, war debts, national iiuance and mitiunuli-aliuii of industry, and bis every word is concerned with supplying our material needs.

THE “TWO I'LACKS” POLICY The ruling principle of politics may lie described as “the policy of the twr blacks.” |he theory being apparently that two blacks made a white. Tin public will support a strike, will vote, for a rate of unemployment pay. or will settle some other great economic question in any sort of haphazard manner, iusifyiltg their action on the ground that, some evil exists which must be balanced. Thus the tyranny of a trade union is always justified, and otter rightly so. by the tyranny of a countervailing trust or combine. On those lilies we are simply going downhill, purely the way to deal with an evil is not tn put up another evil to balance it. hut to remove the evil. The thing is so obvious and so elementary tbal it is a mystery how “the policy of the two blacks” ever came to be tolerated. It is certain that such a policy will never lead to the improved coiidiiious of life that are so much desired.

Twenty-two million electors is a pretty unwieldly mas-, and it is not all easy matter to get them to settle a business proposition on business lines. The work of the next few generations will be to educate the pcop'e in economic and business matters to the point w licit they can lie trusted to make wi-c decisions through the ballot-box. liei ter conditions for the workers, or lot any other class, will never be obtained until we get better thinking, and let ter thinking is a matt w of education. The edit-at ion that I have in m is'

must he given to the people try the business men of the country. In so far as the business classes have refrained from informing the r ■ •]:!:• genera!i.: u: besino-s problem-, limy arc re •, i:'* • for any error:, that have ii vn am !e by

the public in settling quo.-i n-ns. Take. a- mi illustration. I 1 ,!'. ivici.l tram strike in I nmimi. 'I ho tir.vav l;st v ii iiske I far certain admittil:,; that. there v.civ 111 luni- mil ni l.’ltifTi there V. ages coll'd I n j::li .'• ?J•.•;:li 1:1 ;• t!i■ \- ceased work. It was !':• r ton Inin lit tlnit sup' St:' •{ 11 ,i i!;• 11• • about 0.-i.iinmic tin.tits. All that the p.i'ilii-if.ux could do ns- !.» liil -min' I::: -is of agreement. however lllll'enson:d>!e it might In*, wide i Would pit till’ I;:i■ I• back to work nn'l ; f i*i til” titans running e..iiiin. A p n-'n- which lanevor paid tiny wages. and which dnclitiL |)fct<• c,i| ;,i ’.:i:i-,v M'in-r * wages i mill' from simply cnii'iot --i 1 ti -irlc on mi ecmmniic lit 1 ,-:,-.. Thai lot d n’n cults' v. ill continue with u- until we reach i' higher level in general education and tlnni no -uc!i strike will take hltu-e. Tiii’.wKAt'i.T '>!•' nit: first ( O.UMi'MTf. There are a number of simple economic lines', inns on v.'iliell T i hiuU the pnMie iniiul a- a ivliole i~ in need o! enlightenment. I do not Mama cither t!:e public or the | diticiaic; I'.r igmv flea oil t'leso ((lie-line i I l-laii.e iput; definitely tlm bu uica; < .unmir.ll v. who dinging la the tradition that luMties.- ; and pnliii: -■ are limps iipmt. have refrained from taking ilicir jv.-oper slinn in the discussi: ;’l of piditictil pile - lions. I want to make it perfectly plain that I am not ill:lud^rin?.r in any nnti-.Social-ist “stunt." nor am I dealing with any parly-nolitical quo-tiou. 1 am rc.ll'ci up-against tile purely political mind, in mailer !u uliet parly it is attache:! the type that may perhaps lie de-ri-iibcd a- the •‘ninepenee-for-foiir-pe:u e" mind, the mind that holds the idea that one can pet anythin’' by filling j>u- it. polities ol ail panics nave degenerated io recenL years into a sort of auction, line party pan toiwar.l a policy winch i; advertised as providin'.'. two juti lor one man: anuthei oilers bouse-, and v.e are within nieasuarble distance of tile lime. when, io order to net elected to Ikirliamcnt. it wiil he necessary tor the | onuea.l candidates io throw in nintur-cars! Io shun. tile whole trend ot ivceiu events has been in the direction m inducing the public to ieati o.i the Idovcimmciu and to place reliance on tin ability of tin- politicians io provide In the material needs of the electors. ’l’iie future prosperity of our industries—the industries up.in which tin business men of the country, the workers, and indeed the whole nation depend—is by no means, however, at the mercy solely of the politicians. The churches, the Women's Citizens’ Association. (lie Workers’ Kduration Association. debutino societies everywhere, and a host of organisations of one sort or another, are all engaged in discussion industrial and economic questions. That- discussion, in luy view, is extremely dangerous unless it ha.s lieliind it sound economic theory, f am. therefore, proposing to deal in nine or ten articles with a number of simple economic problems that present ditiieulty to the public to-day. Tiie under-! lying idea is to indicate the sort ot work that business men .should do inside any political party to which they happen to be attached .

TEX I’OrULAIt- FALI-ACTES. Hero ai'o ton fallacies which will fiml acceptance not only unionist Socialist , but among the grea t bulk of our people:— 1. —That the industrial revolution moved people out of eonifort on ti c land and reduced them to worse conditions in slums. 2. —That the incentive of gam is the basis of commerce and industry. 3. —That wealth is commonly made at the expense of others.

4.—That profits conic out of wages, or wages out of profits-. o. —That profits nro immoral and ought to ho discouraged. <>.—That the middle mail is useless and ought to be abolished. 7.—That there exists some light to maintenance.

B.—That the cost of living is a sound basis for wage settlements. o.—The cost of production is the prime factor in fixing selling prices. If).—The housing folly—t-lmt one can schedule requirements, advertise them to the world, then hope to buy at reasonable prices, or iirrleed to buy at all. Those propositions are widely held in dill'ereut schools of thought. Every one of them I believe to be utterly untrue. Tlioro is not one that is not fraught with the- gravest danger, and not one that dues not bring trouble and destruction in its train, it is the acceptance of ideas like these—plausible a- they appear to be at lisrt sight which provides the explanation of tlio impasse into which we have drifted. I shall take these fallacies one at a time ami examine and expose them. This will not be done with the object >.f defeating the legitimate aspirations of large sections ol the people; it will be done in the belief that only by a proper understanding of fuudanicutals can anv real progress he made.