The Dominion SATUBDAY, NOVEMBER. 8, 1919. PROGRESS AND ITS ENEMIES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 38, 8 November 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATUBDAY, NOVEMBER. 8, 1919. PROGRESS AND ITS ENEMIES

One thing that people ought to do with an electipn close.at hand is to 'consider- just .what the possibilities of social improvement and advancement are in this country. It is, or rather ought to be, the chief business Ol the politician to speed the wheels of progress, and it follows, of course, that sonic thought must be given to the lines on which progress is possible if the electors are to make an intelligent selection of representatives at the polls. The fact which deserves to be emphasised in this connection, and is not emphasised as much or as often as it should be, is that there is no insuperable obstacle to establishing much more prosperous conditions in this country than it has ever known. Neglected as it is, this fact will be apparent to any one who opens his eyes and looks around. With other countries, though not in as serious a degree, -we are suffering under such disabilities as are bound to arise in the wake of a great war. The direct burdens imposed by the war arc onerous, production 'is in some vital respocts seriouslv hampered, and. many of the commodities we import are to be obtained only at extravagant prices. In the aggro'-' Kate and as they find expression in high cost of living, these disabilities are serious, but so far as national resources ancl the possibility of turning them to account arc concerned, the remedy is easy and obvious. In their materia] aspect, the economic problems of the Dominion arc incomparably less serious than those of Great Britain and other European countries which are at an almost desperate pass in striving to repair the ravages of war. The reason of our relatively enviable position is, of course, 'that in a country richly endowed by Nature and . lirfitly populated there are possibilities of economic growth and expansion which in older countries ap not exist. As compared with what the Dominion is capable, of carrying, our population is a mere sprinklings and the readiest of all means of amending unsatisfactory economic conditions and lightening national burdens is to build no the population rapidly on sound lines It is at least as important, however," that our existing methods in industry and in practically all departments of production and distribution fall far short of the pitch of efficiency that actual experience in other countries has shown to he attainable. iThere is hardly anv form of development work or productive activity in this country which docs not afford, obvious scope for the profitable application, of improved organisation and up-to-date methods. Our public works system is manifestly wasteful and inefficient, as any system which is devised .primarily with a view -to pleasing as; many people as possible at a given time by allowing them to see road or railway construction or ether works going on in their immediate district. Intelligent and progressive farmers are the first to that our 'average standards of-primary production are not as high as they ought to be. Our secondary industries arc notoriously ill-organised, and our methods of retail distribution are about as uneconomical and inefficient as they could well be. From these admitted facts it follows not onlv that there is open scope in this country for making life easier for all by enlarging the population, but tlm't development, production, and distribution might easily be made 'very much more efficient and profitable than they arc at present. Given a purposeful policy aiming at these results, all reason for •complaining about tho cost of living would soon disappear.

While there are no material obstacles to rapid and indefinite progress .oiv.tliese lines, there are obstacles of another kind. Mere inertia and a tendency to cling :.n traditional methods are in part responsible for the current drift, but the most formidable obstacle to the inauguration of a policy of progress is raised undoubtedly by the activities of Labour-Socialist extremist-, who are"indtistriously propagating false ideas iiv regard to the relations of Capital and Labour and other matters that bear vitally on social and industrial pro-jres:,. Trading artfully on popular discontent, these agitators, are now striving hard to gain an enlarged foulhold in Parliament, and noHuiinr is more urgently necessarv at this time than that Mie nature of their activities and the objects at which thev aim should be clearly understood. Admittedly they are. intent not on amending the. existing organisation of industry, but on destroying it in order to substitute some form of nationalisation. . The insanity of this noliev is effectively exposed ljv a

British economist, T)u. A. L. Bowley, who«o observations arc ci'od in nri article in the current. Hound Tnhli'. \s showing how barnin of results the nolioy of 'destruction would bo. T)n. Tiowr.EY pointH out that in Britain 60 per cent, of the t(> f -nl nation: 1 ! in porno soes to those "bos" annual income is nuclei' ;EIGO. Ho comnntcs, f"rth"r, that if every earned iiipri"'" in (ho country were rnflnof.fi to Rioo P"r minimi, and that th" whole of the balance so paved, together w'tli all unearned incoino, were transferro/l to national rii!Hin«<"i. only about ;E200,00n.P.f!0 to ,Cr,n ooo.nOf) 'al. pre-<"'ir futures) ,v,.i.'-l !-n "vaib,l.i« T|,;... H u > oonrA,,n<sf n,1,15-. ivo-lfl hflv lil.ll. mnvA than sufficd i'o lu'inii the wnp-pi of adult "'■on an'' women nil In " uimirrniin of 35-s. f or a men and 20s. for a woman. In actual fact no such sum as is mentioned would be ob-

tained, since confiscation of the earnings of capital would automatically cut clown production to an enormous extent. Allowing for the difference in wage standards, a. similar compilation m regard to this country would show much the same results. That the direct fruits of a policy of confiscation would bs negligible is, however, only one side of the question, and not the most important. It is a much more important though elementary fact that capital plays a vital part in production, and that a country in which the accumulation of capital and its application to business are penalised is taking a short cut to national, ruin. Some sections of organised Labour in this country have been diverted so far from a just appreciation of the true relations of Capital and Labour that the following remarks by the Hound Table, though they refer to Britain, may well be applied locally: —

The root of the trouble is very deep. It lies in the repudiation by many of of the whole existing economic system. In their revolt against it they claim that manual labour and skill arc the nnlv elements in production, and they demand the elimination cf private capital and capitalists. They ignore the fact that saving is a. vital factor in production, and that individual initiative, boldness, and skill in enterprise, inventiveness, organisation;-and the taking of risks are also all important, and that. without them pure manual labour is of little account. Hitherto profits have been the reward and losses the penalty of enterprise and risk. ,

Ir, is, of course, Where capital is accorded its due place as a factor in production that workers arc best off. In the United States, for instance, organised Labour concedes free scope to the legitimate enterprise of both capitalist .and wageearner. The results are seen in the fact that industrial capital per worker is from two to three times as great in the United States as in Great Britain, while the output, and wages of the American workman are also from two to three times as great as those of his British eontemporary.

As the Round Tabic justly observes, the remedy for industrial ills is to be found in the workers becoming capitalists, not by confiscating the proncrty of those who now possess it, but bv joining them in owning it. In this country the way is open to. progress on these lines and to the 'methodical improvement of industrial organisation.. It cannot hi! renlised 100 clearly that the La-bour-Socialist .extremists whoj are now bidding for political favour are diametrically opposed to this noliey. The whole effect of their activities thus far has been to make social and industrial conditions worse than they need have, been, and deadlier evils undoubtedly would follow if they were' enabled lo realise their political _ aspiration?. The one '•ountry in which the wjlicv they favour has been nut full' - info practice in recent. I.inios, is Russia, and th» nature of the fate that has overtaken Russia is in no respect in doubt.