TRUST MENACE SPREADING.

Taihape Daily Times, 12 July 1919, Page 4

TRUST MENACE SPREADING.

lTrust and combine sin is no longer l the 30.16 privilege of British, American, ‘Mid Geflllan commercialism, it has l spread to every European country, and {it is being scientifically practised in iOriental as well as" among South lAmerican and African peoples." A Japanese Trust has seized upon the WoTl<l’s camphor pr-oduction, getting possession of the 1-only sources of supPly in China, Japan, Formosa, and ‘Cochin China, and those adept students of commercialismhave, without doubt, hobbled the little supply that com-es from the West Indies. We shall probably have early experience of Japanese capabilities in extortion, and we shall be given an opportunity to compare Japanese trust greed and crime with that we have ample experience of in the operations of Brit.ish and American ‘trusts. We ~'_have had the bogey of‘ - German culture paraded to death, displayed and proclaimed for all it was worth; but German kultur is insignificant, negligible, not worthy of menl’E'ioll in the same breath with Culture ‘of Commereialism. Governments have lfallen victims to it; their courage and lhonesty is -rarely equal to the pressure icomnrercialist combines can bring to bear, ‘and so it is they Shift their responsibilit.ics to Boards of ‘Trade and lsueh—like. They ‘allow huge profits to ‘be exacted, some .amounting to four and five hundred per cent. On the imere word, without looking for evidence, they eonsent, in face of huge -sugar profits, as disclosed by balancesheets, sugar prices ;to be still further increased by about another halfa million t.o ‘be drawn from New Zealand users_of sugar. They not only ‘encourage the hobbling of necessary food and clothing supplies, but they give open sesame for land commerciallists to accumulate such huge areas of land that\it is impossible for them lto take the needed volume of production from. The present Government has olfcred every inducement for men to become land speculators rather than ‘farmers, for many pf, the hol\..il’lgS per’mitted, it is impossible for the holders to "farm; this district need_s”iio furtlle'r ‘evidence ithan th -flirr_'r_ishe.s.‘_ ‘—"‘dcp‘artments lard.’ raking infiitlib dol'lars from what’ ‘they regard aspan uns'us’p'cctin-g'peoplle. We‘ may’ mentidn an“ iinsftance "that dis"astrously affects" nevvspapers. "The Minister of Posts and Telegraphs brags about the enormous increase of, Erevenue, despitc:.:the lavish volume of *GovernmentWyval' messages, for which lthere is no payf b'ut-L‘-there is scarcely a [day that ti’le”(‘£o'v‘<i"l°il'rneiit has not { caused a» mes"szfg"e. about peace celebra- . tions t.o be sent to‘ newspapers, for the ltransmission of which newspapers are E made to pay; every day amcssage, and : every day a different story,‘ right up to l this '-week; but tholatest, most astound-?irrggof"'all-‘Government’ proposals is, 3 that 't.own-'<liv‘élle"r's' shall’ bear the whole I-cost, and becoiriibe sole'ly‘lre‘s‘pons'ible‘ for solving 'the“l‘lo'using‘problem.?‘ ‘The doz-I lreiii-?"or' proviaéhr 'iv'6l"kers in Taihape lharc‘ to be taxela rs‘ p’rovid‘e' l'l‘ouscl'e’ss jipeople with houses, while‘ ‘nl'en,-"near Taihape, holding land of greater value * than the whole of the Borough, are not lto contribute a penny towards the llrousing disgrace. It will be seen that lit is a widespread, comprehensive‘! lmultiple system of profiteering that is E nefariously in openation to enslave the ‘people, to make the poor poorer, and the rich richer. At the present mo’ment it is fairly plain that there can lbe no reduction in the cost of living, lbut that a further increase is inevitlahle. unless the great army of suffer-_ lers take a. more determined part in | securing and building up a. more equitable future. The ala,illling unrest in [every civilised country of the world limlicates that commercialism has ‘reached the limit of what. the world ’s lpatience will stand, and the rumblings ‘of the masses makes it vtolerably eeritain that the break is near.