The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, JULY 14, 1919. FRENZIED PROFIT MAKING.

Taihape Daily Times, 14 July 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, JULY 14, 1919 . FRENZIED PROFIT MAKING.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post; and Waimarino News.”

It has been stated within the last feW days by men that must be regarded‘ as authorities On the Subject, that butter will shortly go up to h3lf'a‘ crown ‘a pound. We SEW: how‘ ever, that should that predicted price for ' butter materialise it will continue for a very Short d“l'3' tion of time. It is, of course, Well‘ known that herds have been depleted, and in some instances Wipe-(1 right out of existence‘ in hitherto dairying countries and localities, but we are convinced that if prices igo 110 Such an i extreme they will-have been the result } of‘ marketing’ manipulations, and. not lthe result of a. natural demand. We {are further convinced that the half-a-‘crown a pound for butter prophepy is ,more dependent upon the land-boom-,ing section of our little community thanupon any just reading, Of the future marketing prospects, We, with {every other business concern, ; are pleased to see this country’s industrifiggvifi the van7,ot?-“similar industries ea, the world, but we cannot see how it is going to benefit the dairy- ? farmer for us, or anyone else, to metaTphorically throw up our hats and go |on shouting butter at half-a-crown a. ‘pound, We want, tq -.mpre_‘s’s upon dairy _farmers, and. in _f__act, all _small !farmers, that no section of a commun|it_y feels half so severely the burst of 'a land boom as small farmers. Those l'who,renlember well.’ were on the spot, |and gathered at first hand What took ;place in connection with the ‘Austra--1113.11 land boom; how it commenced, 'how it progressed, how it burst, and ';what its aftermath revealed, will '5 shudder at the very thought of a land gboom in New Zealand. It may also be mentioned that this country has sufgfered. from undue inflation of land iiralues, with all the resultant failures of small, and also of many large farlmers, VWl)’ are people generally so, much more ccincerned about the stab~ !ility of the farming industry, than ‘about any other? It is becmfe of the fact that farming is ‘fire base of all [that is needed to keep the ,State in [health and v existence; farming is the iship, all other industries, are mere top-llamper. What becomes "of the tophamper if the ship should sink or belcomo v disastroiisly disabled? SomeEthing similar alWays_happens to the country in which’ farming fails or has iany severe set-back. We know that ;there is to be an effort to keep up {prices of food that is neither $31.granted or in accord with the laws of }supply and demand: we realise‘ that gthosewho handle our farm produce iarc being led into the trust trap like ltame dogs The bait is taken, and lwhen they ‘see prices moving against !them they will find fliemselvse help§lcss. It is no guess to say that trusts :are becoming more mighty than ever Ithey hoped to become and it is be[cause they find the leaders of the {people in producing countries more jknavish, farmers more confiding and workers more unsophisticated or careless than, in their highest hopes__ they expected to find them. Lancl-boomm-S are pointing their victims to the rocket-like movement of "form 5351 wool prices engineered instantly the ‘lmperial requisition was remoVed' and from the gleeful quoting of ages; high prices by small farmers it seems evident they have not been made aware that Government control has Stellpcd in ‘CO prevent this trading robs bcry continuing. aha, as a result, prices are being increasingly brought under controlling machinery_ The unthinking sportsman will shoot 31. though he is assured that his shot means the extinction of whatfis desirable, and essential to S]'_|()}-L; 3'3-id that about represents the measure. of thought and action, and result. of ‘Vhat is. hapllcfling to New Zealand primary industries through the actions of men who control our land policy Throughout our little land there is E; woeiul want Of Some degree of training in. economic science. our education system does nothing to assist our PeoDle'in warding off dangers that should be foreseeable, but are not, we will sell today at half-a.cl-own if that involves our selling next week at six. pence, We are, in our ignorance of of economics. sla.ves to our hopes, which are kept bright b) Janaboomm-5

schemes have matured, and then

*comes the burst and the enlightenment. Young men havé no experience Of the dodgery, manipulation and enigineering that produced the great {burst of the Melbourne land boom,

with its Widespread‘ disaster to farmers; neither do they remember how land bflught at what appeared quite justifiable prices in New Zealand not Very many years ago, but which by 311 -‘~dV9TSe turn in the price screw, bl‘o‘-Ight ruin to hundreds of farmers, their land falling into the possession of banks and other rnortgagees, their life ’s work gone in a day. We wonder whether farmers really believe that the the huge iugglery in prices of products can continue? Whether “bulling” and “bearing” operations can unright--6011-sly be applied to the food of the peoples of the world with safety? W119!-l1e1"‘such operations will not disastrously develop two factions of a Wo‘-ld-Wide character, one consisting of the trusts and their minions, and the other of the masses of the people? Do farmers bC.*i€,Vo that buffer at half-:1-crown a pound is something they can speculate upon with safety, a gamble in which they are sure to win? Is-it not rather a casein which the (111136 is allowed to Win ffntil his destruction and ruin becomes assured? VVhile Mills’ precept to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearcstunay be. and is, justifiable and safe, the engineering of cheap -narkets at the producing end, and dear markets‘ at the consuming end, is f:-;.ught with certain"dlraster to everybody, not excepting‘ the engineers t‘-semselves. Are we not wanting in wisdom by thinking that the engineers of high prices have any love for New Zealand farmers, that they should work to earn half—a-crown a pound for their butter? .Are‘ we sogulliblc that we should remain content to let the market manipulators run our country by controlling its production, and finally become its 'posscssol'sk? Many farmers to-day‘ do not remember Melbourne Land Booms and the New _,eZealVa_n‘\d_ :_Assets Realisa—tion Board," and eohs¢‘i;uénly, they will not he’cd‘thé wariiings’ of Sir v Robert Stout, an able "economist and aman of u_nsul-passed, experience,~"whom every‘body can. trust." Dairy"-farmers are yet to become educated to‘the‘”fact that the insidious, insinuating destructive, influnces that have their tentacles fast upon our freezing works, and our meat industry, areigetting just as tight a grip upon butter, cheese and dried milk. ‘Politicians told meat-growers that no trust should ever get a footing in this country; are not dairy-farmers being enthused withtho same fateful twaddle? So_ frenzied have ‘our pro(luccrg been rendered“ by high price promises , and A. “boll-weather-” _paylncntS,‘ that ~tlley,i._V‘_li9lve no room for serious ‘thought or calculation, and‘. in only a short time they will regain normal thought to realise that the dairyingindusti-y, as well as meat-growing and p the .freezing industry are slaves of, the trusts. , There is :1 last solution, and it seems that solhtion will be taken, dreadful as it must prove, for it is contrary to natural laws for such far» roaching and intensive robbery as that Which is the ultimate of trustdom to be of a lasting stable cha‘ract'ér. Men do not fully realise what is happening outside the little profitcering circle they revolve in”