MONETARY REFORM

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 68, 20 March 1936, Page 7

MONETARY REFORM

TO SAVE THE .WORLD

FINANCING PURCHASES

A graphic analysis of the world's ills was sketched by Mr. D,, M. Sherwood, a London chartered accountant, when lecturing in the Dominion Farmers' Institute last night, under the auspices of the Douglas Social Credit Movement on monetary reforms. The Hon. Sir Charles Statham, M.L.C., presided over an attendance of'about.a hundred.

There were crises all round, said Mr. Sherwood: the world was in extremis, and the tension in Europe was about at breaking point. Any decrease in unemployment that there had been was due either to the men being drafted into armies or to increased activity in armament making. Since 1929 things had been steadily getting worse. Politicians were rushing round from one remedy to another, and each re; medy had one thing in common, and that was failure. They did not know where to start or what to think. The world was faced by four paradoxes: there was poverty in the midst oC plenty; there was unemployment side by side with men working long hours; politicians were straining every nerve to find people work, whilst engineers and scientists were doing their utmost to introduce labour-saving machinery; and they were faced with war while the vast majority of people ardently desired peace. LACK OF PURCHASING POWER. In no sance society, suggested Mr. Sherwood, would :such' paradoxes be tolerated. The root cause of them all was lack ot purchasing power. , It crystallised down to one problem^-rthe lack of purchasing power by the consumer, not the lack of money generally. What was needed was sufficient money in the hands of the consumer to enable all that was produced to be purchased. If this were to be brought about one of the main economic causes of war would be abolished. In 1919 Major Douglas had prophesied, what would happen and time had proved him to be right. Many economic experts were now convinced that Major Douglas had showed the way of escape. Economic laws, it had to be remembered, were not divine; they were man-made and could be changed. It was not proposed to burn the banks or to touch the banking system. The banks.did not pretend to finance consumption, for they thought that if they financed production consumption would look after itself. But there was no logical reason why consumption should ,not be financed. To equate existing money, with existing goods wafe hot inflations The reason why there was such frap-. tic opposition to the Douglas Social Credit Scheme was because the international money monopoly was opposed to it. Money was being treated as:a commodity, and the monopoly feared that if it ceased to be this its power might vanish. But as long as money was used as a commodity no one coum gauge its value. A pound had one value one day and one another, ana it was as, if a yard measured two feet one day and four feet another. _ Just as many postage stamps were issued as there were letters to be posted, and in the same way there should bei just as many pounds in circulation as thei» were goods to be purchased. NEED OF REFORM URGENT. The need for some monetary reform was urgent, for the positionvwas desnerate. Civilisation was faced with ,a rebirth or death. As things were at present, peace could only be obtained at the cost of depression and P^sperity only at the cost of war. Surely that was sufficient to warrant a change in the monetary system. Exactly how the financing of purchasers was put into operation would ,vary, according to country and circumstances. New Zealand, he understood, was about to introduce monetary reforms, and the Government would probably have to feel its way step by step rather than introduce a cut-and-dried policy. New Zealand had once given the world a lead in social reform: she could do so now in financial reform, and save herself by her efforts and the world by her example^ . •,