JAPAN AND SOCIAL CREDIT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21707, 14 February 1936, Page 20

JAPAN AND SOCIAL CREDIT

TO THB EOITOI Of TIB PBBBB Sir,—ln reply to “Nippon” and also to “Bunk,” I wjsh to say that no social creditor has ever claimed that Japan is a social credit country. What has been said is that the Japanese understand the principles of social credit There is a very big difference between understanding a science or art , and practising it. But these two correspondents, together with one or two others who have written in these columns: have jumped to the entirely wrong conclusion that social creditors claim Japan as a social credit state. There is no direct evidence that Japan’s export subsidy is financed by costless credit, created for that purpose by the Japanese Government. It is simply a logical deduction and as such was clearly set out in the “New Era” article and also by Mr Davie and myself in our letters. “Nippon.” however, persists in reading into the article and letters a meaning which is not contained in any of them. And he has used this false premise as an excuse to launch a very thinly veiled attack on social credit. In fact I suspect that a desire to attack social credit was the reason why he arrived at his false premise. There is such a thing as erecting a figure of straw for the l sole purpose of displaying one’s ability in knocking it down. And now, notwithstanding that this discussion is concerned only with economic conditions existing In Japan, “Nippon” . brings Russia into the picture, and has the audacity to say that “Douglasites shy off Russia at once,” Let me tell him that these columns have, during• the last eight months, contained many references to Russia. And many of these references have been made by social creditors. I myself have frequently quoted the U.S.S.R., and on one occasion explained to the best of my ability, the difference between communism and social credit. In 1917 communism was the only solution of Russia’s troubles. Twenty years ago Russia’s ability to produce was so small that the whole of her production was barely sufficient. to enable her population to maintain a bare existence. In fact, Russia was still in the age of scarcity. And because Douglas social credit is designed to meet the conditions which exist in a state which can, if it wishes, produce an enormous surplus of goods. i.e., a state which has entered the age of abundance, social credit was not in 1917 applicable to Russia. “Nippon” asks why Russia does not do what Messrs Thomas and Davie ask us to believe the Japanese have done? My reply, which I think will astonish “Nippon”; is that the communists of the U.S.S.R. have done just that very thing, i.e., they have created costless credit and issued it against their production. There was literally no difference between a U.S.S.R. ration card and a rouble note, for both were an effective demand for goods. It is only within the last few years that private enterprise has been permitted in Russia. Previously every worker was a Government employee and all production belonged to the State. Each worker received a ration card which entitled him to receive certain goods; That rouble notes also circulated does not alter the fact that these ration cards were “money” isued by the U.S.S.R. against U.S.S.R. production. In any case, what evidence has “Nippon” to prove that all the rouble notes aftd intangible credit used in the U.S.S.R. are not created and issued by the central government of the U.S.S.R.?— Yours, etc., F. G. THOMAS. - February 13, 193.6.

TO THE EDITOR Of THE PRESS. Sir, —So anxious were the Douglas cohorts to go gunning for “Nippon” that they overlooked my short letter of a day or two ago., They usually answer such questions at length-p-to their .own complete satisfaction—and I am wondering why my little query was neglected. All the talk so far has related to the prosperous condition-of Japanese secondary . industries, which the Douglas people assert is due to the of social credit principles —inverted, Mr .Davie says. I want to know why. l if this panacea has been' so successful for Japan’s secondary industries the intelligent Japanese haye not applied it to - the elevation of their depressed primary industries?— yours, etc..'" »>; BUNK. February 13, 1938, J : '