PLAYING BOGEY MEN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 689, 15 November 1933, Page 4

PLAYING BOGEY MEN

Reducing it to essentials, the main co'ntention made by Mr. Harry Atmore, M.P., in the two addresses whieh he delivered in Rotorua on Monday, was that while world production continues to increase, the machinery of distribution has broken down. In other words, there is no shortage of the world's goods, but there is a shortage of the wherewithal to buy them. It is from this condition of affairs that the slogan "poverty in the midst of plenty" — which has become one of the popular catch cries of the moment — has proceeded. It is probable that so far as the malady is concerned, the symptoms have been more or less diagnosed, but there is no sort of agreement as to the remedies which should be employed to correct them. Mr. Atmore apparently attributes the condition of the world's .internal economy to the sinister machinations of the banks. Even the Ottawa Conference, he claims, was stage managed by the bogey man, Sir Otto Niemeyer, and the world to-day is being ruthlessly crushed, bound to the charriot wheels of the Money Barons (another popular phrase in the Jehad which Mr. Atmore and those of his persuasion are preaching). There is something just a little melodramatic in the insistence with which the currency crusaders (if we may be permitted a little coining on our own account) , attribute all the ills to which flesh is heir to the balef ul and malevolent influence of the banks. It is almost reminiscent of the attitude which London nursemaids engendered toward the police force by painting the horrors which would befall their small charges if a policemah got them. "When in doubt blame the banks" is undoubtedly the catchcry of the moment, and like very many popular catch-cries it is likely to lead us into extravagances. When the Government proves inadequate, it is of course pleasant to have someone to blame, but it is a little difficult, while retaining a sense of humour, to subscribe unreservedly to the sinister reputation which Mr. .Atmore casts round the banks. These institutions, like any other commercial undertaking are probably no better and no worse than they should be, but it is a little like playing at bogey men to attribute to them the malevolent influences of an unholy secret alliance working for the ruin and subjugation of mankind. As, for instance, Mr. Atmore when he claimed: That the Ottawa Conference had never been intended to be a success. The conference had not diseussed the things which mattered. The banks had controlled the conference and despite the promises of the Coalition candidates during the last election in New Zealand, that if they were placed in power men would be enabled to retain their work, the party had later sacked 9000 men and reduced the old age pensions by Is 8d a week. This had been done because Sir Otto Niemeyer had told the Government that it was spending too much on social services, and had dictated the financial policy of the Government. Statements of this description rather suggest the melodramatic absurdity of literature which I has been circulated in connection with some currency reform

movements in New Zealand. Under the title of "the Chronicles of the Learned Elders of Zion," a document is presented which is represented as the text of a secret policy of the elders of the Jewish faith in which, by most subtle and devious machinations, they set about the enslavement and subjugation of the Gentiles. Every development and catastrophe in world affairs is attribiited with delightful ingenuity to the secret diplomacy of these farseeing gentlemen — the world war was their latest and grandest gesture and Sir Niemeyer is their arch priest in this present century. A long time ago (as they say in the fairy tal'es) these learned elders gohtheir venerahle : heads together and conco'cted a fiendish scheme to restore the empire of Zion. Through centuries their policy has been handed down and carried forward until

to-day they are- on the threshhold of achievement with their money bags controlling the temporal power of the world. All this has been most luridly (and most indisereetly) set down in their "Chronicles," but this momentous document has apparently been captured in time .and is being distributed to warn the Christian world. According to the "Chronicles" the banks are one of the chief instruments of Semitie influence and are being ruthlessly manipulated at the order of the learned elders for the subjugation of all Gentiles I *and the glory of God and of Zion. For those who enjoy med-r ieval mystery, this literature is entertaining reading, but it is a little too much to expect it to be taken seriously. But there is a relationship between this antiSemitic propaganda and the atmosphere of an unholy secret alliance which some currency reformers are endeavouring to throw around the banks. There is undoubtedly room for currency reform, but it will not be secured by melodrama. It is unnecessary to defend the banks because they are quite possibly able to take care of themselves, but it should be pointed out that they, like everybody else, are in the grip of economic f orces set in motion by worl war on a gigantic scale and by man's remorseless progress along the path of progress. According to the. '^Chronicles" of course, all this' was planned for their especial benefit by the learned elders of Zion, but giving these aged gentlemen every credit for their omniscience, it would still better advance the cause of currency reform, if Mr. Atmore and its^ other prophets would eliminate melodramatic propaganda from their utteranees.