PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21176, 27 July 1940, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

JAs expressed by correspondents | whose letters are welcome, but for j whose views we have no responJ sibility. Correspondents are rej quested to write r; ink. It is j essential that an; lymous writers j enclose their proper names as a guarantee of good faith. Unless I this rule is complied with, their I letters will not appear. INCREASED BACON EXPORTS (To the Editor) Sir. Having seen a good deal of comment of the shortage of bacon ' for export to the Home country, I j beg to propose the following as a I remedy to meet the case: That the j whole of the people in New Zealand j cease to eat bacon, which would easily cover the additional quantity required for export. To offset this, use mutton and deer hams. Mutton ham is quite as good as ! pork. Deer ham if properly preI pared, is equal, if not superior to, I any other ham, but should be smoked | after the application of the salt, saltpetre and spices. The consumption of the two above-mentioned products would certainly do us all more good than pork ham.—l am, etc., ; BILL THE BRAND CLOTTER, j Hamilton, July 26.

e PUBLIC CREDIT s 1 (To the Editor) e Sir,—The letter from Mr C. F. - Tuck throws no further light upon o the position with regard to “public 0 credit,” and in my opinion is the rel. suit of a misapprehension. In the sense in which it is used in this debate, “public credit” does not mean e the whole of the currency available e for the use of the people, but the r public assets owned by the State, -j usable by it as security for the raise ing of loans. The governmental bort rowings not thus secured are raised _ not upon public credit, but on the 3 security of the private property of _ x the citizens, and the State’s power 2 of confiscating part of that property s By taxation. I think every one will s admit these facts, and, if so, “public credit” disappears. * Mr Tuck’s monetary system does , not agree with the facts. During the \ last four years the currency availj able for the use of our people has j been nearly doubled. Can Mr Tuck t say that the property of the country j has also been nearly doubled? Dur- ‘ ing these four years the volume of ' our production has fallen steadily, al- ; though price rises have given higher [ monetary results. Consequently, j there has been no increase in produc--5 Hon requiring an increase in cur- , rency, and the increase in populaj tion is negligible. Economic reason- , ing should be based on facts, not on ' opinions.—l am, etc., TINT AX, Ngaruawahia, July 24.

NATURAL PUBLIC CREDIT (To the Editor) Sir, —It is seldom that I comment upon an anonymous letter, but I noted two things about “Spot Cash.” the one that he seemed to be sincerely seeking the truth, and the other that he did not indulge in the cowardly and objectionable practice of waxing sarcastic at the expense of men who sign their names, while he used a pen name. His letter of July 19 at foot is in keeping. “Spot Cash” admits that, to him, the whole position is confusing. Believe me, he will be confused to the end of his days if he dtoes not secure an infallible guide. Where is he to get it? There is only one thing infallible, and that is not human, even though the interpretation of it must be human as far as we are concerned, and that is the natural law pertaining to economics, or the inevitable, infallible, unchanging sequence of economic causes and effects naturally. At the end of his letter, “Spot Cash” is still bushed, saying, “I am inclined to the view of Mr Warburton that it is founded upon the individual efforts of New Zealand citizens”—“it” meaning public credit But does that really enlighten one? Mr Abel Warburton is a welleducated man, a classical scholar, and one who uses words deftly, with a nice sense of their true meanings, i and their idiomatic English connotations. He will, therefore, take no exception when I point out that the word “individual,” used above as from him, does not mean merely a ■ single person, but “a member of an • association” (“Modern English ; Usage,” by Fowler). A hermit is 1 a single person, but not an individual. ! The individuals Mr Warburton refers to are all members of an association, commonly called the community. Let a given hermit work harder i than a man ever worked before, and he will not call forth a single pennyi worth of site or social value, this . being a purely social, or people’s : value. The value in exchange of

■ the work dione by each of the true 2 individuals to which Mr Warburton - refers is, under free conditions—■ 2 which we have to suppose for the sake of the argument—measured exr actly by the volume of goods and J services they will exchange for in ■ the marketplace. As single persons they create no other value. As members of a community, however, they together, not separately, call forth a . very different kind of value. Moses ■ called this value the “tithe,” or the ’ “profit of the earth,” which was “for | all”; Henry George and other leaders before and after him called it < “land value”; Major Douglas used the expressions “increment of asso- , ciation,” and “cultural heritage,” the economic implications of which are the same. In other words, it is the economic value of the social environment. , Let the farmers work as hard and efficiently as possible, and produce more. Under free and fair conditions, that extra production may for ; a time yield them a larger return; j but later it is likely to glut tho ! market, cause a reduction in prices, | and in the end they may get less i return for a higher output. Yet they j have really produced more value. but do not get it. What happens? I That increased and cheaper volume of raw materials of many kinds enables all others to live and produce in secondary industries more cheapI ly. Towns and manufacturing in- | dustries grow apace in suitable | localities, and up goes the site value i where the demand takes place? for j sites for houacs, shops, factories.

Competition for the best sites ensures this rise in social values. At the same time, social values attach- : ing to farm land will go down—after many farmers have mortgaged ’ themselves to get farms during the 3 rise in produce, prices! Stop farming tomorrow, and what ' would happen to Hamilton next l week? That social value, which tends more and more to leave farming land, 3 except for a small differential as 3 between various farming sites and j differing natural fertility, amounts 3 to about half a million pounds per acre in Auckland city; £7OO per foot frontage in Palmerston North, acL . cording to Mr A. E. Jull, M.P., and l probably to several hundreds of . pounds per foot frontage in Hamil--3 ton, after allowance has been made

3 for all existing rates and taxes. £ Basically, that site value is due to 3 successful farming, and, of course, J added to where those raw materials _ are fashioned into finished articles. , That, I repeat, is the true and natural I public credit, rising and falling auio--1 matically with the growth of popu--1 lation, and all forms of progress. 3 Collect the full annual value for . public revenue today, and abolish T an equivalent of taxation, and that i social value will automatically rise. ; Before long, it would be ample for > all necessary public services, elii minating the need for robber taxa- . tion. It is the wages of society, I- the natural social salary, or—public 1 credit, and the only true and natural public credit. —I am, etc., , T. E. McMILLAN. j Matamata, July 20.