ECONOMY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 179, 2 June 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

ECONOMY.

The demand for retrenchment in public and private expenditure is widespread. The cry for economy is being continually raised in the press and ou the platform. Especially is this tho case in the Motherland. So far it is certainly not apparent that the demand for private frugality has had any marked effect in reducing individual outlay on luxuries or dispensable personal lavishnesß, such as in ordinary times may be tolerated, if not excused. An English writer, Francis Stopford, tells im that while ho and others were recently discussing a public meeting that had just been held, the question "What is economy?" was suddenly hurled at him across the table. Tho only answer he could g : ve was to stammer forth feebly, "A blessed word." Another of the company observed son-tc-ntiously. "Economy i-s a reproach >.f thy neighbour, and a laudation of thy. self." Other replies svon more nebulous and unsatisfactory were attempted. "What is economy?" Could the eloquent speakers on this topic who occupy nowadays so many platforms and pulpit* give off-hand a more satisfactory answer? One is inclined to doubt it, seeing that they never attempt a definition, but content themselves with vague advice, so that- c u seme obscure way or other tho private. c't zen is to .mow flooce more quickly and more thickly that it shall be ready for the Government shear,-; when the day of taxation arrives Mr Stopford adds that while thus ruminating, there came to mind the thought of a book read years ago. entitled 'Tnto Th's Last." The author. John Pitkin, was, as most people know, esteemed one of the giants of the Victorian era. But giants have a way of shrinking in the eyes of the Immediately succeeding generations; and how little Buskin is regarded to-day may be judged from the fact that no public man has thought it worth while to recommend a reading or re-reading of this short work, though it throws a flood of light on the very question which they esteem to lie so urgent at the moment. The writer, looking it up, recalls Ruskin's definition of "economy''' as "house-law": Political economy (the economy of a State or of citizens) consists simply in the production, preservation, and distribution, at fitting time and place, of useful and pleasurable things. The farmer who cuts his hay at the right time, the shipwright who drives his bolts well home in sound wood, the builder who lays good bricks in well-tempered mortar, the housewife who takes care of her furniture 'n the parlour and guards against ail waste in her kitchen, and the singer who rightly disciplines and never over-strains her voice, aro ill political economists in the true and final sense : adding cont nual'y to the riches and well-being of the nation to which they belong. No one will deny that tho object -if economy as it is preached to-day ; s "to add to the riches and woll-he'ng of the nation," but many may exclaim

•How on earth tan this he done, in the manner hero suggested: : Ye I Francis Stopford believes that hone t and intelligent labour, both in the simplest and in the highest tasks, as here defined, is at the root of all true economy, for the obverse of the old Greek saying, ''What is got over the devil's back is spent under his be'ly.'" is in the main true, and the good workman is rarely a spendthrift, but brings to t»c spending of his wages the same good qualities which have gone to the earning of them. The whole argument in Ruskin's fifty-year-old pamphlet (for It ;s little more tban tins) is so closely woven that it is well-nigh impossible to quote brief passage.-, without loss u meaning, but Stopford strongly recommends a perusal of it at this time, when it is the duly of every c'tizen, male and female, to organise so strictly their conduct of life that it may help, not hinder, the nation in these months of trial. Argument, he says, will he found here which at this stage of thought may seem foolish or futile, but the general tenor of the writing hears so closely on present perpl 'Xitios that one rise-, refreshed from the reading of it. "My principles oi' political economy," says Buskin, "were all summed in a single :-enteii-e. • Government and co-operation are in all tilings the laws of l : fe; anareiiy and competition the laws of death.''' "Government and co-op. ration ! Could anyone devise a finer or more inspiring rallying-cryr Is it not tiie burden of every public i-.peoch, the of every exhortation which has been delivered on this question of economy!- ''hi all buying, consider f:r.-t what condition o: exit-'ii:e you cau : e in the pvedueers of what you buy. - ' Three other considerations for the buyer are also enumerated, but. if tho-e do not appear altogether possible, one-.should undoubtedly lie a ru'e of life for every one who would pracii-c ecoiiomy. No small part of our trade troubles has ari-on through the blindness or callousness with which we have b;nig!it in the past, with not a thought for the producers. The Hun ha, pandered to our mail desire for cheapness, and ttritish industries have been destroyed, British workers ruined, sinip'y because British buyers would not take the trouble to consider the condition of existence they caus.d in the producers of what they bought, ("mil the i.u'.bl::' mind v. !i shake off dull .huh and awaken to the truth that the bedrock of trade Is the buyer, if is lolly t:> I'mie for any permanent- !<np:ovi meiit i:; ririiisli in<lit-<-lrit-.s er :igricii'tun\ Here is a final eltaiioii ■ perhaps the w:s-*t of them all. '• All inie e.-oisieov is ' law of the leuise.' Strive to make that law strict, s'mpV. Mi,.,,.,..,,,..,-. VV ;is.c K . nothing and Trudge nothing." True i-ononiy ha, ii'irhiiig in ciniiiih.il with iee;::ine-s. It arises from a geiieroiK -pirit v, hirh fir.-t deprive-, iise'l' before cjilin; on oiliers ' for delineation. 1,;!,,, any other v:iiiie. i! (ail (.uI.V be |-l;-.lnly tniedll by j ■■■• im: '■■: v -,■•!- w irhoot as U-, in-i ■<<! of f.irlh- ring it. ieml 10 Heck or do- I flroy if, i'-j).'w:i!!y ;!' in er-erty !.e j