BUSINESS MORALITY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 105, 6 May 1927, Page 6

BUSINESS MORALITY

EXTRAVAGANT TERMS

A BESETTING SIN

(Contributed.)

Either as a private individual or as the leader of a political party, Mr. H. E. Holland is free to entertain just what views ho -pleases concerning the morals and methods of the business men who direct the trading operations of tho Dominion. But when from a public platform he proceeds to cast aspersions upon the mercantile community, with, out a tittle of evidence to justify words, he is abusing the uses of flrgo speech and legitimate comment. to *w tha* Mr. Holland has offended grievously in this respect it is not no ':«wary to recall passages from his i m ." ps*«oned speeches oa the hustings" and 5a Parliament, where extravagant lan. gasge is all too readily condoned. I| Kill suffice to quote two or three gen. teoeee from the Press Association's tonsmary of his recent studied address at Wanganui. THE INDICTMENT. '^Vested interests," Mr. Holland said, "naturally fought co-operative marketing, because they realised that such marketing would deprive them of the opportunity of exploiting both the producers here and the consumers at Home." "The trouble which followed the institution of control was the result of storing supplies previous to control and of tho gambling methods of speculative interests." "All communications so far made available to tho public reveal tho JSew Zealand Government was behind Mr. Paterson in his attitude of hostility to control and the London management." "What Mr. Paterson was then doing was approved, notwithstanding the fact that his conduct could only result to the detriment of New Zealand producers^" ■ "It whb imperative that marketing should bo conducted on lines that would eliminate all the elements which gamble in the people's food." COMMERCIAL MORALITY* The purpose of this protest is not to reiterate what already has been aaid in* regard to "absolute control," a subject worn almost threadbare. The high standard of commercial moralltv maintained by the business men- of this country, however, is such a valuable national asset that it is doubly deplorable to find a public man of Mr. Holland's parts attempting to sinlrch it merely With the object of advancing his own political creed among careless people who have taken no trouble to maka themselves acquainted with even the rudimentary facts. VESTED INTERESTS. It is simply a perversion of the truth for Mr. Holland to soy, that "veiled interests"—moaning, of eourso, the merchants and agents—have fought cooporative marketing. The misrepresentation is aggravated by the addendum assorting that tho merchants and agents "fought co-oporativo marketing because they realise such marketing would deprive them Of the opportunity of exploiting both tho producer here and the consumer nt Home." Thoy have raised no ob.joction whatever to cooperative markoting, nor have thoy dis-. couraged it in any shape or form. Cooperative production and co-operative marketing have been outstanding features of tho dairy industry in tho Dominion since it was first 'instituted. Co-operative factories outnumber the proprietary factories by fully ten to one. It is therefore simply ludicrous for Mr. Holland to talk of tho merchants and agents fighting co-operativo marketing. As a matter of fact, the very reverse has been the case, the efforts of tho merchants and agents being directed towards securing the business of the co-operative ' factories by, offering them tho best possible terms; Exploitation in thd circumstances would have been the very last expedient they would have employed. The first count in Mr. Holland's indictment, to put it nlildly, is simply a figment of liis own fruitful imagination. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. Mr. Holland's attempt to saddle tho troublo which followed Upou the institution of control on to tho shoulders of "tho gambling methods of spoculativo interests" —meaning again the merchants and agents—is scarcely less unhappy, It was tho advocates of "absolute control" that wanted to ttike charge of the market, nx prices, and Make tho British consumers dopondent upon the whims of tho Dairy Board and the judgment Of its roprosontatives in London. Of course, it is easy enough now to any that had a majority of tho members of the board stood flrmly by the chairman In his attempt to extract more from the British public, the British-public would have approached the London agency &s •uppllßiits for butter at any price that seemed good to Mr. Grounds and his colleagues. But the probabilities geom to have been all against such a development, and in any caso the "merchants and agents in Now Zealand' wore not responsible for what actually happened. Thoy had to.Bharo, howovor, in whatevor losses were occasioned by the board's attempt to hold up the market. THE^ PEOPLE ' S FOOD. Finally, Mr. Patorson, , tho Government's representative on the London ngoncy, is held responsible for all the ills that havo bofallen the producers. He allowed tho Govornmout, according to Mr. Holland's statomont, to stand behind him in his hostility to control and tho London management, and in his effort to save the producers froiil what he conceived to bo an approaching catastrophe. These do not appear in the oyos of the onlooker to bo very, grave lapses, since tho poor man had no mcaiiH of preventing tho Government agreeing with him; but if thoy really were grievous offences, surely it is the Pmno Minister n»d his colleagues that should bo called to account. Mr. Holland's suggestion that it is tho malign ■influence of tho merchants and agents that prevents the elimination of "all tho elements which gamble in tho people's food," betrays ft ciiriom igiioranco of tho practical things of life. . lho seed time and harvest, tho Weather and the crops, tho. inexorable law of supply and demand arc tho chief gamblers in (no people's food, and theso aro not yet under the control of man. ■ A DEPLORABLE DISSERVICE. No one, wishes to quarrel with Mr. Holland over any otto of the many panaceas by which ho would banish "all tho ills that boHet humanity in this world, and tho next. The Leader of. tho Labour Party serves many useful purposes. He keeps tho political conscience of tho country awake; he holds fast to the faith of his party in tho honeftt belief that one day it will move mountains; ho fnits *tho embers of dloeontent in tho hjinri that they will break forth into tho ilamo of beneficent achievement, and,'according to his lights, ho gives of his best to his constituents «nd to tho country. But his efforts'and his achievements all arc sullied by his extravagant speech, by his disregard, on occasions, of tho amenities of public lifo, and; abovo all, by his reiteration of charges ho knows to be unfounded. Hi» repeated attacks upon the commercial morality of this country is a dcplorabl* disservice to the whole community.