SOCIAL CREDIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1936, Page 9

SOCIAL CREDIT.

, ALBERTA'S PROBLEM. BANK MANAGER'S COMMENTS. t( FINDING THE MONEY." Formerly manager-in-ehief of the Ontario branches of the Canadian Bank e of Commerce, which does considerable , business with Alberta, Mr. J. T. Bell, e who arrived in Auckland by the Monr terey from Los Angeles this morning, expressed his gpinion as a banker on g the social credit proposals that form the main plank of the policy of the r Alberta Provincial Government—a policy on which the last general election was _ fought and won under the leadership of s Mr. William Aberhart. e "Banking is a matter of evolution and - changes are bound to come," said Mr. r Bell. "Personally, however, I do not , think that social credit is a practical . measure. It is based on a wrong con- - ception—that everybody is entitled to r share in the credit of the country 1 whether he has earned it or not. "What is national credit?" he asked. ' is something built up over a long 1 period of time by good faith and keep- ' '"g your M-ord. That is why a Britisher counts for something. So far Alberta ' has done nothing in the direction of ' paying to every person in the province ' over 21 years of age the sum of 25 dollars a month. The reason for not having carried out this promise is that the Government has found that in order ' to keep going it has had to get the i Dominion Government to lend it considerable sums of money and so far the 1 Government "is not in a position to pay these individual dividends. Consumption Tax. "The plan for finding the money to p.'iy to every adult in the province, is based on a sales or consumption tax involving a 'fair fixed price' and the whole scheme seems still to be in a nebulous state. To be fair to Mr. Aberhart he has ftated that it will take two years at least before he can perfect any scheme for sharing the national ] income. The whole thing is based on ] a fallacy. The exponents of this scheme j of social credit have the idea that all ; that is required is to have as much { money in circulation as will represent all i the transactions of production. Anyone i knows that if you have ten different s debts each of 100 dollars the payment a of one 100 dollars can wipe them all out if passed on successively. Under i the social credit scheme this' would not e happen and there would have to be ten i separate 100 dollars. Tliis of course t means inflation. " Let Mr. Aberhart Try." ' "The banks are not interfering. Thev a say: 'Let Mr. Aberhart try it?' Thev a will place no obstacles in his way, but " the banks will not take the risk of t allowing him to handle their funds. The i general opinion is that for the social r credit scheme to be put into operation n Customs houses will have to be estab- " lished all over the province, and preventive officers appointed to ensure that i, no goods are sold at a lower price than I the price fixed under the social credit plan. It is a book-keeping scheme as I far as the payment to the individual of t 25 dollars a month is concerned. The ' whole amount must be spent in the C 1 province and nothing saved except that T which can be devoted to Alberta loans. v The scheme takes no notice of the „ national debt and this will not be placed c as an offset asrainst tlu> nntinnni .

«= au uhbuu iiyuuiso me national credit in which everybody participates. Every- . body is anxiously awaiting the working of the scheme, but there are some who think it may never be put into operation."