TOPICS OF THE HOUR

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2649, 24 November 1919, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE HOUR

LONDON. September 4. The death of General Louis Botha rob.* the Empire of another great personality. At one time ho was among our toes ; but he has most faithfully shown that the oath of allegiance he took was no mere scrap of paper. Of French extraction, and related to Robert Einmett by marriage, he was gifted with great foresight, and he never made any secret of the fact that he was not in 'favor of the Kruger polity. which led tip to the last South African War. Recognising the power of the ltritish Kmpire, he well knew that the dream of a Dutch South African Republic, which would embrace Cape Colony, Natal, and Rhodesia in addition to the Transvaal and the Grange Free State, was impossible. Unce the late General Botha had taken the oath of allegiance to the Kmpire he resolutely essayed the difficult task of making the" big Veldt Dutch see that the fusion of the Dutch and British in South Africa was a right policy. There wore some who considered the British Parliament wa s somewhat premature in restoring the franchise to our late enemies so soon after the last South African War. General Rotha. however, appreciated our confidence, and did his utmost to lead the rank and file of the Dutch in the right way. His death has come most untimely, another General Flection in South Afrea being so near at hand. His strong personality and example would probably have swayed" the voters towards co-operation with the Rritish Empire. What will happen now is somewhat difficult to predict, and General Smuts, another stalwart for Empire unity, will have a difficult task to defeat the aims of General Hertzog and his supporters, who still desire to bring about a Dutch South African Republic outside the British Empire. The death of General Botha, following so soon on that of Theodore Roosevelt, is indeed a great misfortune. Roosevelt's influence was always towards good understanding with England, and the Empire can ill spare such fiiends as the two soldiers and .statesmen named. NO DRONES. It i* not often that Bernard Shaw advocates anything likely to help England ; but he recently suggested something -which, if carried out," would be a decided gain to the land in which he earns his money and to the Empire generally. His idea was that we should not permit any drones at the present time, when workers are so much needed. There is good practical sense in this suggestion. Many patriots consider that everyone should have been compelled to do some useful work during the war, and it would have been over quicker had, this wise policy been adopted. jJernard Shaw thinks that everyone should be made to pull their full weight in the effort to pay for the war and carry us through the- difficult financial situation, which i* now creating so much anxiety. Of course, that .section of the community so often referred to as the •'idle rich" pays a big proportion of the taxes, and, therefore, helps pay for the war. On the other hand, everyone who is bile is naturally a non-producer, which is not a satisfactory state of things. Moreover, many non-producers employ people for their own convenience and comiort, such as butlers, footmen, gardeners, grooms, valets, ladies" maids, and other domestic (servants. True, the gardener sometimes produces a small proportion of foods, and. therefore, his work Ls not entirely wasted. Nevertheless, many of our non-producers do employ large numbers of men and women who might be more, usefully occupied. This is a big problem, and"whilst it is unlikely that any legislation will be introduced to force all individuals to follow .some useful occupation, it would be quite practical to take .steps to improve matters. The most obvious course would be to introduce, very heavy taxes for what might bo termed •' luxury servants." These taxes would, of course, apply to the employees beforementioned, and should be on a sliding scale. It we hud a tax. say. of £lO a year for the first domestic servant, which description would embrace butlers, footmen, valets. ladies' maids, etc., a considerable revenue would be derived. Wjth a sliding scale which doubled the tax for ivtch additional servant, making- a sum of £2O for the second, £4O for the third, and £BO for the fourth, and so on, it would greatly reduce the number. This would automaticaly free a large number of ablebodied men and women for productive occupations. WOMEN IX BUSINESS.

Fveryonu knows how largo numbers of women stepped into tin- breach during the war. and took the places of the fighters, -o that tho latter might be supplied with vital necessities. Many of them have been demobilised, but thousands are still carrying uit. Their presence in the labor market is not received very favorably in some quarters. Trade unionists consider that their presence in certain industries is hard on disabled soldier*, and keeps the latter out. Now admitting that there is hj grain of truth in this, it cannot be too forcibly pointed out that to shut the loor on any worker, male or female, is i jireiit mistake. The Government should, of course, take stops to create occupations for returned lighters, and also women workers who came into the labor world a* a ousequence of the war. Unfortunately, we have to deplore the loss of 600,000 gallant men, while many more thousands have been disabled. If, therefore, we say that the Home labor market has lost a million worker* we shall not he far wrong. To fill their places by women who formerly did no work, would therefore seem a wise policy. Moreover, every additional worker who was a drone before the war is a gain. There are many directions to which the Government might turn attention so iis to absorb every worker. First and foremost, of course, is the great industry connected with the.production and distribution of foods. In connection with this, one naturally thinks of cheap transport. Our canals should be utilised in this direction, and it is really astonishing that no • great movement towards this end has yet been taken. A schc.nc to out our canals in order and construct others would absorb many of our .vnkers and lead up to r.ieilities for bringing the product of the country-side to the markets. Hundreds of thousands of women should also be given opportunities to work on dairy farms, market gardens, and in tic all-important matter of afforestation. So long a* the products of other countries arc allowed to enter the country duty free, it would, of course, be necessaryfor th.'.• Government to subsidise the Home produce. When we were sufficiently ad-i-anced to lie in a position to dis'ions? with foreign butter, cheese, eggs, poultry, bacon, etc., these products might be taxed. This is treacling on a great question but sooner or later our Government will have to tackle it.. The day of small wages is over for this country, and obvii i-.-ly high wages cam: •' be p.i'd if loieign prod i o 's admitted du'.y J'r^e.