The Press. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1915. "Vehemence" and Facts.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15222, 9 March 1915, Page 6

The Press. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1915. "Vehemence" and Facts.

I One of the Red Fed members of Parj < linraent has constructed'what ho calls i a "diary ,, with, the object of showing | that tho Government lias caused such a rise in the price of .Hiring that tho country, to uso tho words of a leading - Opposition paper,, is a great deal nioro . heavily stricken by "famine ,, than anyone would 6UDJ3OSO who watched democracy thronging" nightly to the picture shows. But this diary, w e arc told, '" will bo of small value unless it is to •'' be the prelude to a vehement protest -*; against a'scandalous failuro on the "part of the Government." This very naive confession that the Opposition have no other purpose than the wortins up of "vehemence" and a storm -t)f Jangiiago against tho Government will disappoint those simple-minded folk . who have imagined that tho Opposition I sire , really anxious concerning a J *' fatnine-strickon people.. Xobody, of j • course, has any excuse for imagining j ■ that tho familiar top-note of the Oppo- • r-ition critics has any but a purely poliI tical purpose. Not a single Wardist ■ paper spoke otherwise than respectfully j and admiringly of the Ward Governj ment when that Government complai <ently watched the price of bread go i up io tenpence in 1907. This fact will perhaps not trouble those whoso dislike I of tho Government overwhelms every j other tooling, hut. it will certainly dej tor loss excitable people from join- { ing tho Vehement Party's • strong-la n- '; guago'league. ■ "When the last mail left England, ±* on January Oth. wheat was at 6s 10d a jj bushel, and broad ha<l advanced in J price proportionately, but tho people * and the politicians in Britain were not ir crying out about, "famine" and compi!- ---\ ''preluuos" , to "vehement" cami ' paimw of abuse- of tho Government. ? Some people, ot course, were urutesfci 'ing, and were seeking to blamo "the '* nudcJk'iuan."' but these were v small \* minority. Most iKKjple recognised that , tho prices of wheat and bread wero due. to economic cor.ilitions result-ing from the state of war. In its issue oi Janu- : »ry .Sth "The Times" dealt with theso conditions: the dislocation op mercantile shipping and the disappearance of ' at-lcaat £.VJO.IK)«.000 worth of trade; \ ' tho re<iuis;t»oti oi merchant jihipjiiiig for [' military : ivar risks and delays : : -tho cluhur'a of some eourcts of Mipply: j higher froi S his. All of these things f make for enhanced prices, and .supply J quite as complete an explanation of the'

position as any theory regarding some ni sort of secret villainy or some artifi- t: cial manipulation of markets. As oi "The Times" says, 'the tendency to c< " blame the- 'middleman' for any rise a '■ in prices is a commonplace of ignor- d< '' ai.ee. The 'middleman,' who is pic- p ■" turod as *omc fat and unscrupulous fr, "rogue, is really a huge and elaborate ci "chain of agencies which bring to our fc - •• doors the innumerably things we ti •'need, and in doing so provide oceu- •[ '• patiou and a living to a largo por- j, "' tion of the population. Kach link is , v " hound to the nex: one, and any con- g . " siderable influence operating on any t | •part run*-through the whole."' There v - is no need, our contemporary remark?, to call for ver.goauce on some imaginary malefactor. In this country the ri>e in the price "' of wheat, Hour and bread is. or is not, . v <nic to ini.m.vior manipulations" of the Ci marknt and jmpioper comhinatious. No n attempt has been made to show, how- d c\'ei\ that tho ijurm.'i! r.orkiny at' trade w lias been inieritTed u;ih by anybody. '■ Oi;r -voiifmont" liitnd.a of tho Oppo- . claim that U'cauue nrire.s r , arc lii<;h the ik>oj)li? engaged in the v protluction ur manufacture of wheat, floui- ai.r] bre-ad should be made to sub- " mit to restrictions which thrlion and ili«- trade, unions Would has- t: ton tv d«-noi:nco if they were imjKi.sed s , liixiii other n.'C(>s>aii.', .<m]\ as New > Zealand-made boots or clothing. AVo :! have i.ot yrl <-e.-u any attempt to sliow :, that only the n-hcat-growc!-. who would have u> bear the. weight o)' any re:,tric- C tion.s. ought, :;:. a matter oi principle. * Jio be the only producr-r who shoul'l " be asked to \,msy repiossive regulations. I: not pJeasaiit that bread should cost tenuonce a loai, although our Op- s; ( posit ion JrienrJs- thought that price P I finite all right it. l«07. Hut it is at '' any rate very nmth le-.s unpleasant {" than the price which would have been iiiling had the Government not im- v )»orUHI wheat from abroad. i