SHAW’S REMEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 5 July 1930, Page 8

SHAW’S REMEDY

NATIONALISE BANKS. “FINANCIERS MASTERS” HUMBUG (IN' BUSINESS. “Nationalise tfic banks,” said Mr Bernard Shaw, an an address to a pottery manufacturers at Buxton. Mr Shaw had been staying at Buxton and. accepted an invitation to hear an address to the conference by Mr H. N. Casson, an efficiency expert, says the “Manchester Guardian.” ‘Rtf has been an extraordinary piece of luck for me to be at this hotel when you are holding your conference,” said Mr Shaw. .“1 attended the opening session this morning and followed the proceedings with great interest. Now, if it had been a literary or artistic conference, wild horses would not have driven me to it. And yet when I came, I found literature and art (breaking in. 1 had the pleasure of listening to Mr Casson’s address on salesmanship, and I waited for that because I thought: Now I ,ani going to hear a man of business speaking to men of business. 1 never in my life heard a. more flagrantly artistic piece of entertainment. “Mr Casson gave you a particular piece of advice. He said that in advertising there were two impossible articles To get a\vlay with, because -.hey were so dull. One was bricks and the other was books. I at once discovered be hadn’t read any of my books. ‘How do I sell my books? I make hem attractive. I take care to have what is called an attractive jacket. ?or my last large work I went to a very distinguished artist and got him to make me a special design. The hook was' albont political economy and Thugs 'of that sort, (but there was no political economy on the jacket. On the jacket there was a very attractive young lady, and the jacket was a great success.

LOOKING FOR SALESMEN. i ’ ■ 4 1 “If I were in. the clay industry uul required a salesman I should try ; L o get a salesman like Mr Casson. Where,ishould I look for him? Frank•V; hot in the day business. I should jbarefuliy go round all the variety theatres in this country, and when 1 L ’ound a man who really was a great artist at patter, making a proper joke ■it the right moment, raising a laugh, r would say to that man, ‘Go into Te clay industry.’ “My general feeling toward you, us toward most of the industries iu this country, is this: I see that everybody is exhorting you to study, to rationalise, to become efficient. This is all very well. I myself have alI vavs contended that the business men pf this country should not, according to the old idea, come behind the professional men. lam a disciple of Karl Marx, whom, by the way, yon ill ought very carefully to read. Karl Marx would have said: “I don’t want •;.<■> read the ordinary history books. If you will show me a single article made by the potters of any pa.rticuhar period, and also the tool with which it was made; from that article and that tool I will tell you what the, religion of that time was, what were its politics, its literature, art, and social customs. Because they all stand on that economic basis—on the basis of practical industry.” “I can see that' the reorganisation of industry has got to he the foundation of our social structure. I also hold the startling and revolutionary theory that on the whole, the people who conduct an industry are the people who should benefit by it. But apparently you are not of that opin•mi, because you look on industry in in extraordinary self-sacrificing 1 nian•'Pr, You study and work, so far as i can make out, not for our own benefit, lmt for the . benefit to some ■xtent of the landlord and to a large >xtent of the financier.

“BIG BUSINESS.” “Jn my .father’s time a business man could find his own ■ capital, or ake a single partner in a nice small •Vav, and ho was master of the situation. Nowadays I don’t know any industry in which the men who con'•’ct it are the masters of the sitation. If a man wants £20,000 to extend his business, and goes to the City to get it, ndbody will look at him. Get away! It’s not worth our while to bother with people who want £20,000. But if you want £200,000, then they begin to take a iaint interest, and eventually they tell you they will 'find you £150,000 if you will call it £200,000 and pay at that rate for it. “\lthonsh they practically control all the industries there men never go down a mine oi inside a factory or «ee a kiln. Why should they, after all? When you make all the money for them they haven’t got to go into these hard-working places. “Now I suggest that the object ot your conference should be not only to exchange scientific ideas. As a professional man I consider myself on the scientific level. I would like to say, entirely l>etween ourselves, that although, as you are aware, there Is a certain amount of humbug in business, and even ,in advertising, it is just nothing to the amount of humbug .that there is in science and in all the professions*

“OUT OF DATE.” “All the industries have got to combine, "and I suggest to you that, as a preliminary step, you should put a proposal before the Government. It doesn’t matter what Government; you needn’t worry about- that. People try to frighten you about Labour and Conservatives and that kind of thing. If you want to check the activities of any party in this country put them into office. They’re done I It’s as much as they can do to carry on the Government with a machinery that is 500 years out of date. “When you have made yourselves quite independent of party politics and simply determined to put all the pressure you can on whatever Government may be iii office; make a start by making them’ nationalise the banks. (A voice: “No!”) There is a gentleman who is going to work in with the financiers all the way. : Of course these obvious things are the things you . never think of doing. Very ■' well then. Don’t nationalise the banks. And pay exliorbitant sums for the capital you have to get from the financier. The Government can g|et it on much easier and more suitable terms, and they have an interest in the man who can. work with a small capital. “I see that with that remark J have made myself very unpopular. 1 have made a very ,poor return for vour hospitality.” '(Loud and prolonged applause.)