Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1911. CAUSE AND EFFECT.
For most of the economic effects produced in this world of materialism, there is generally to be found a visible cause. When money is dear, it is safe to assume that there is a shortage in gold. When stocks are low,, the markets affecting them are glutted. When wheat, or other ar-. tides of foodstuffs, are scarce, living is dear. It does not always follow that the one cause produces similar effects in all cases. For instance, an abundant fall of rain and other climatic conditions may result in a prolific harvest in one country and bring devastation and ruin in another. Nature, in her inexorable decrees, has so ordained things that the equilibrium is fairly maintained in spite of the irrational interference of man. So far as States, Parliaments, and individuals are concerned, they can, at the best, exercise only a minor influence in the determining of the effects which are created by natural causes. This leads to a consideration , of the question of whether this minor influence is always exercised with wisdom. Let us'briefly analyse .the social conditions for which man is partly re-
sponsible, and endeavour to see how far they have affected the industrial equilibrium. First of all we must assume that Nature has ordained that all men .should! not be equal, in the same way as it has ordained that all stars shall not be of equal magnitude and all potatoes of equal size. How great should the distinction be between large and small, between rich and poor, and how far can human device assist in restoring the balance, if it be-uneven ? The man who plants potatoes and finds that his yield is in the proportion of one large to a dozen small tubers, feels that there is. something wrong, and looks around for a remedy. Nature could not have intended that there should be so wide a distinction in the size of the tubers, else the propagation of the species were impossible. So also with human kina. It was never intended by the Great Architect of the Universe that one should inheivS enormous wealth, and that a score should suffer from the direst poverty. The equilibrium is wrong. The balances require readjusting. But how for can the State and the individual assist in the nd-, justment without infringing the laws of Nature? This is the problem which i.he political economist is : set the task of solving. The Socialist and the Anarchist have offered their oAvn solutions. These are, however, too fearful in contemplation to warrant the supposition that they would harmonise with Nature. What, then, is the solution? There must be a cause for the industrial unrest which at present disturbs the social conditions. That cause is, in most countries, the aggrandisement of one class and the impoverishment of the other'. How can a remedy be • ; applied? The effects of the cause I are identical in all parts of the world; but the remedy provided is not necessarily the same. In New: Zealand wo have, at tTie present, time, a remedy at hand for industrial unrest which is not provided in France, or .England, or other countries. We have vast areas, of undeveloped, uncultivated land in the Dominion, and the one remedy for the evils produced by the aggregation of wealth is to place men upon the land and give them opportunities of improving their, position, The wail of-the Socialist and the agitator would be drowned*by the j voice of contentment' l if only • iriexi' j , ;gi v.e Ji•».• .the-• • .opportunity.:; which" Nature has c*early"' provided.' What are the impediments? Who are the stumbling-blocks in the way of industrial progress? The State, on the one hand, and the individual on the o.ther. The State has utterly '' failed in the duty it owes its. people., The individual, i.e., the occupier of the large areas of only partially improved land, lias been blind to hi 3 ■ own interests, and has failed to take j advantage of his opportunity of adjusting the balance. How can the I position be remedied? By returning Socialists to Parliament ? Assuredly ; not. By increasing the .Arbitration Court demands? Never. The only possible method of restoring the equilibrium is to send men to Parliament who will open iip the country for settlement by the people on the most equitable terms, and to induce private owners to co-operate in the establishment upon the soil of ■those:"who are able and willing to become industrious settlers. If the; Socialists and the Labour Unions would, abandon their hostile attitude 1 towards landowners and appeal to j their good sense and humanity, 4his very desirable solution of the social I problem in this country would be speedily consummated.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10194, 22 March 1911, Page 4
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791Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1911. CAUSE AND EFFECT. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10194, 22 March 1911, Page 4
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