The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1921. THE WORLD’S PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1921, Page 4

The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1921. THE WORLD’S PROBLEM.

Amid all the troubles and difficulties facing the civilised nations at the present time it may seem impossible to find any single problem the solution of which would overcome the obstacles to remedial action and act as a foundation for a new and better era. The inquiry is me that Illis hitherto engaged, the serious attention of the foremost statesmen, financiers, industrialists and political economists of the day, but all have alike been baffled by one or more dead ends that blocked the way to Success. Nominally, the outstanding factors arising out of the war are disorganised finance, as exhibited in the scarcity and dearness of money and the chaotic condition of foreign exchanges, unemployment, high wages and industrial unrest. Besides these, however, must be. reckoned the general feeling off unsettlement, trade depression, hankering after large profits, and the effect of the immense burden of war debts and inflated currency. May it not be fairly claimed that the one great need of the world is stability? If this is admitted —and we think it must be—Mt is merely the starting point at which the problem is attacked. All military undertakings depend for their success on the use of the’ most effective taetics, the most consummate generalship, and the highest form of strategy, but, above all, on the loyalty and resourcefulness of the rank and file, their unity and determination to win through, and their confidence not only in their officers, but in the amplitude and efficiency of their equipment. Unity is their keynote and courage their dominant feature, enabling them to face and overcome all opposition and emerge as conquerors. The present struggle for national and international stability can only be won in the same way. There must be unity of effort by all classes in every nation; there must be expert leadership by statesmen, financiers and captains of industry possessing strategic and tactical skill in eliminating unrest and gaining the confidence of the workers, retaining it by fair and just treatment, while keeping the wheels of industry continually revolving, and theneby providing work for all who are able and willing. Industrial- peace and progress ean only be built, up on a foundation of stability. Even so there must be whole-hearted cooperation by the rank and file, and a deaf ear turned to the blandishments of traitors and wreckers. It will not suffice for any one nation to recover from the present chaotic conditions; - there must be a world-wide move in that direction. A recent cablegram from London states that the Home Cabinet has already encountered obstacles to remedial action, owing to world-wide conditions which are depressing trade, and the Government is embarrassed by the problem of international exchange. On the London Stock Exchange, the extraordinary slump in the German mark appears to have overshadowed all other movements in the foreign exchange market, the fact being that the distrust in the mark is so thorough that almost any depreciation seems possible. At the same time the great German industrialist. (Herr Stinnes) is said to be organising a vast trust for controlling every 'industry, including the railways, post office and other public services, so as to place them on a paying basis. Much as we may be inclined to view such a - step unfavorably, there can be no question that it is just .what Germany, needs, and it

is an object lesson in facing a difficulty that should not be lost on other nations. The organisation and method necessary for such a vast undertaking are equally vital for the recovery of the rest of Europe—and beyond. Germany has not been paralysed by her defeat. Rather has she been galvanised into action, and appears to be aiming at a stability* that the great fall in the value of the mark is unable to arrest. America is suffering from a plethora of gold, and a consequent adverse exchange as regards other countries, and especially Germany, yet, because the railway executive there is making a ten per cent, cut in the workers’ wages, industry in the United States is threatened with a stoppage consequent on a possible railway strike on an organised plan. Unemployment in America may be the final straw, the breaking of which may force that country into making a joint effort with other nations to reach stability. Speaking at Edinburgh, Mr. Arthur Henderson, who is a leading authority on labor matters, declared there could, be no effective solution to unemployment until the international situation is faced boldly. The argument is irrefutable, for without stability there must, be a. succession of troubles that bar the way to regaining normality. In view of the great importance attaching to the reduction of war debts as a factor in restoring the parity of exchange, it is gratifying to learn that the British Chancellor of the Exchequer has a surplus of one hundred and seventy-seven millions, from which eighty millions is to be taken for debt reduction —a truly creditable achievement. The adjustment of the financial situation is urgent, but what is of equal importance is that all classes shall unite to siilk differences and concentrate in a united effort to secure stability, and thereon to build up a future of progress and prosperity.