The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1933. A NEW VERSION.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 December 1933, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1933. A NEW VERSION.

The N.11.A. of the United States supplies a new version of “The Song of tile Shirt,” when once-upon-a-time in “poverty, hunger and dirt,” the garment was duly produced for the covering of humanity. The new version comes to us to point a moral and adorn a tale describing the advance in retail prices in New York under the code system of the President’s attempt to assist the earlier arrival of better trading times. The head of a departmental store has published an advertisement citing shirts of the same material which sold a few months ago at 89 cents and as a result of the code conditions the price rose to 125 cents, an increase of Is 6d in English money. Of the 89 cent article it is stated that the man who grew the cotton for it lost money; that the workers in the mill and the girls who made it received starvation wages, and that their employer and the retailer lost money. The conclusion arrived at was: “A bargain that threatened the very structure of the country.” Of the 125 cents shirt it was said the workers now receive a living wage, and do better work, and that “it is a sound bargain, sound for the welfare of the country and the people.” That is .a fair statement for the producers, but it is pointed out in. comment, that then •relief has been given at the expense of consumers, who, when buying shirts, have now 36 cents less to. spend on something else. The increase is therefore a movement in purchasing power and whether there is any real gam depends on several factors which are not taken into account. The roht reposition of the maker and buyer must be taken into account to determine whether the. price and the Wage* change will increase business. It fines down to a ouestion of goods and seivices, creating trade which depends upon the relations between what each person has for sale and what another wants to buy. America; has discovered —or +s. vlisoovstring —a basic 'f\mt. the maladjustment of relations in the

UusiWas world. are "••jcl.vcsn L-*n‘i ‘i',y or nu-al products on the one hand, and transportation costs a.id nrb-an products .and services on tinother. It is pointed out that farm products are considerably below the pre-war level, but costs are above. There cannot he a full volume of trade on that unequal basis. An equipoise is necessary, for it is obvious a uniform rise on the unequal levels would not assist ‘trading relations practically. An American economist thus sums up: “We do not know whether the shirt was high or low in relation to other goods, but the purchasing power of the buyer depends on the relation.- Since lexti’o goods generally have risen and farm products generally have declined since the textile codes went into effect, the reaction from the rural districts has been unfavourable.” Queries are suggested as to what further control and its scope, will Ire necessary, and above all where will it end? To that crux, there is the final question: “Cannot the required equilibrium be obtained just as well upon a basis of an abundance of all the comforts of life as upon a basis of general scarcity? “It is evident the economist has' returned to tire starting point, and he has not found his theories workable, or the answer would be obvious. The answer is obviously in the affirmative if (it is a great big “if”) we knew how to arrive at the “required equilibrium.” It is just that missing link which is disturbing world conditions to-day, and apparenty the search will be

continued. The most concrete an* swer is to be found not in America where all the experimenting is going ahead fit fover heat, hut in Great Britain where the nation is muddling through along accepted lines of sup* ply and demand, evidently the eternal rule governing our destiny,