“UNITY OR CHAOS”

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20737, 22 February 1939, Page 4

“UNITY OR CHAOS”

SECTIONAL INTERESTS UN ECO NO MIC INDUSTRIES SHEEP FARMERS’ DIFFICULTIES ('By J. If. Furnlss) Sheep farmers, especially those farming second-class land where fertilisers have become essential to replace fertility drain, and the land tends to revert to second growth, are facing slow but certain ruin. Costs in ratio to returns have, risen until it >s no longer possible for maintenance costs to be met. Large numbers of farmers on such country have battled on from year to year in the hope that "things would mend." To-day many are at the end of their resources and others soon will be. Abandonment of this class of country must result unless a remedy is speedily found. The plight of the sh'cep farmers should concern the dairy farmers as if it were their own directly, as it certainly ip indirectly, and this not from any sentimental aspect but from that of self-interest.. Have we the wit to realise that unity of effort alone can avail us; that for any section to thrive for its own apparent and immediate interest, irrespective of the

others, and to pul, political party loyalties before that of farming unity and loyalty is to deliver ourselves helpless into the hands of those interests which profit by our weakness ? Unity of effort is dependent not only upon a recognition of unity of interest; to be effective it must he based upon an understanding of the cause which underlies our troubles and the means to be adopted for their removal. Cause of Disabilities The cause of our disabilities is not hard to find. It has its roots in the policy followed by Governments for many years, and is now reaching its climax—that of supporting a host of secondary industries and activities which do not return in goods or Jn service value the draft which is made upon the community for their maintenance. It is obvious that if any section secures more from the community than it returns in goods or service value the other sections must get correspondingly less.

If we find that such other sections can and do protect themselves from such encroachment by securing proportionate increases in their own remuneration. the only exception being the exporting primary producer upon whose shoulders falls the cumulative weight of this chain of inflated costs, we find the genesis of our troubles.

The core of the evil which is threatening not only our own economic existence but that of the nation, lies in the utter absence of any equitable standard in measuring the remuneration of any section of the community relative to the service rendered. It is beyond argument that an increase in remuneration for the individual which is not balanced by a corresponding increase in the individual’s contribution in goods or service value, assuming the recipient to be physically and mentally flt, Is morally and logically as indefensible as highway robbery, its effects being the same, save that the loss Is borne collectively instead of individually. Bargaining Strength It is, however, so far from being recognised in practice as such that to-dav all Questions concerning wages, etc., are settled in accordance with the bargaining strength—the power, by reason of its numerical strength and discipline. of the organisation representing the workers in question, to coerce the general public through fear of a dislocation of industry, oi/and exert, pressure upon Governments under threat of a loss of political support. The effectiveness of this system is progressively increased as agreements are reached and amalgamation effected between the various industrial unions, whereby the weight of their combined strength can be utilised to further the demands of individual unions.

This system of industrial brigandage is apparently entering upon its final stage In concerted action between organised labour and that section of organised capital represented by the secondary industries in this country, to enforce upon the nation a policy of economic nationalism. The influence of these well-organised and now combined interests is illustrated in Ihe action which is being taken to restrict imports of manufactured goods with the avowed object of "fostering” New Zealand industries to “provide work.” The inevitable result of this development will he a greater drain upon the resources of the primary industry in increased living and production costs. Economic Civil War Obviously such a state of affairs destroys any hope of industrial cooperation and leads to a state of thinly-veiled economic civil war, in which true economic values are ignored and brigandage rules. The ultimate result must be to discourage productive effort in the concentration upon sectional organisation for predatory purposes.

The farmer’s especial concern is that he represents the only industry which is actually producing surplus value over maintenance costs. This surplus is being scrambled for by other sections and is shrinking rapidly; ultimately it will he absorbed entirely by them. Increased pressure will then be applied to force the farmer to increase his productive efficiency, probably bv a further readjustment of per acre and per cow production, and of labour unit efficiency, as was done by Mr Nash in overriding the recommendations of the advisory committee when fixing this year’s guaranteed price. By adopting such a method the price paid has little relation to the net returns r»f the farmer. since his attainment of the standard of living allegedly provided for is dependent upon his ability to increase his production per cow and per acre, and his labour output per unit to the level arbitrarily laid down by Mr Nash. Eventually the farmer, whatever his branch of farming, will become aware of the futility of his efforts insofar as any gain to himself is concerned. lie will then probably copy Ihe methods employed by other seclions and either go slow or strike, ir lie is driven to this extremity economic chaos may well result. As a sensible, businesslike people, is il wise lo proceed along lines which are fraught with such danger? Should we not. whether we live in town or country, seek lo find a solution equitable to all concerned befure it is too