"THE UNEMPLOYED YE HAVE—"

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 151, 29 June 1939, Page 19

"THE UNEMPLOYED YE HAVE—"

LESSONS FROM U.S.A.

AND THE ECONOMIC 'FLU.

PROBLEM WHICH CANNOT RECUR. In a letter to the Editor Douglas Seymour, Hamilton, writes:—ln the vear 1921 the world suffered a severe economic slump. In the U.S.A. there were 0.000.000 unemployed, and things looked black. These, of course, were the unenlightened days before political and economical quackery was enthroned. They were the days of "robust individualism." They were the days when mankind knew that inherent economic forces were continually correcting the machine, and so they let prices of goods and labour follow their economic course under the law of supply and demand. The result! By 1923 —that is to say. in 18 months —American industry had reabsorbed the whole of the <5.000.000 unemployed and, like Oliver Twist, was shout nig for more!

In the year 1932, the U.S.A., in the grip of another slump, had a problem of 9.000,000 unemployed. But this time there came to its rescue a man billed as sent from (!od for the purpose, whose name was Franklin Roosevelt. Having "gotten more wisdom and knowledge than all those who have gone before me in Jerusalem." histrrry could teach him nothing. He made, in fact, a particular point of ignoring everything upon which' mankind had hitherto thought it could rely. Anything "robust"' or "individualistic'' was scorned, so that the words became terms of contempt. And so he got to work. He exhausted the alphabet in letter combinations to describe the Departments he created. He primed every pump he could find —particularly the hot air pump—until he was black in the face, and doubled the national debt in doing so. He inflated the dollar and sucked into America thousands of tons of gold that he has had to bury. And the result? After seven years of stvugpTp, he has finished up with 12,000,000 unemployed. The patient used periodically to get a dose of economic 'flu. He used to lie up for a few days and use the home remedies of his ancestors. But then the quack came. None of these ancient remedies were any good to the quack. Everything was to be so pleasant that the patient would not even know he was being cured. He is now in galloping consumption. Now what is the significance of these things for New Zealand, wlier.e our vestpocket Roosevelts. bruised, grimy and incoherent, are still ducking and slith.ering along the road to Utopia? History, of course, can teach them nothing I because they neither know nor want | to know, and just now they have no I time to think, anyway. A little while ago, they were proclaiming that they were making history. Now they are not so sure that they aren't. They can pride themselves on enjoying the full measure of success which has attended the efforts of Franklin Roosevelt. They have spent millions in the encouragement of unemployment and have made it the most popular industry in New Zealand. In reaching this happy state of affairs it is satisfactory to know that both political parties have worked in complete co-operation. Those who noted it at the time may remember that about 10 years ago when Ward came into power* we had 3000 unemployed. (Nobody, of course, nowadays ever remembers a time, or can conceive of there ever having been one, when the unemployed were not a national problem.) "Ward boldly proclaimed that he knew how to settle this unemployment problem. He would settle it "in three weeks." In three weeks, he had 0000 unemployed. In three months, he had 30,000 unemployed. And then he shut up and suppressed the figures. Ever since that day the politicians have been faking the records in order to cover up Jlie facts of their own refutation. Unemployed have been buried in public works, buried in "over the fence" schemes, buried under every label but the true one. Recently it was given out that unemployed had ceased to exist and the Social Security Act naturally made no provision for something which neither existed nor could possibly again recur. I notice, however, that farmers are subsidised 75 per cent of the wages of people to be taken to work on farms. If ever a scheme could properly be called "over the fence" this one surely is. I could have hoped that the farmers would have had the stuffing to reject it neck and crop. But apparently, like other sections of the community—just as a tip is offensive to one's personal pride unless it is sumcienily large—they are prepared to accept this charitable -id in unlimited quantities, as long it masquerades under the alias of social security. And for the future; the farmer can safely let the work on his farm go to blazes, so long as he can, in due course, muster one-quarter of the cost of putting it again in order. So, courage, fellow citizens; Utopia is only 25 per cent away.