Evening Post TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1940. HARMFUL SPEECHES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 98, 22 October 1940, Page 8

Evening Post TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1940. HARMFUL SPEECHES

The speeches made by the Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, to meetings of miners on the West Coast and reported yesterday, are gravely disturbing and call for prompt comment and action by the Prime Minister. No exception is taken to the defence by the Minister of the Emergency Regulations, but his reference to capitalists and particularly his statements of the Government's intentions regarding capitalism are calculated to hinder seriously the development of the national unity which the Prime Minister has been strongly urging. Moreover, the threats of action must give rise to great uneasiness among those who have been asked, and have agreed, to accept far-jeaching restrictions for the period and the purposes of the war. To say that "capitalists had put the Empire into a mess" is to make a quite unjustifiable charge against those whose efforts and wealth are being made fully available for the Empire cause. Mr. Webb followed this up by assuring his questioners that coming legislation would see that the rich man's wealth was conscripted up to the hilt, and there would be few rich men about at the end of the war. It is expected that the war will have marked effects upon wealth and incomes. All people may expect to be poorer, and from those who have most to give the most will be demanded. But the statements made by the Minister in addressing Denniston miners show that he was speaking of something different from the economic effect of the war. The Minister assured his audience that conscription of wealth would be most severe, and from legislation to be introduced he could see some big companies being taxed to the limit of their resources. When we win this war, said the Minister, the capitalist will be as dead as Julius Caesar, and the wealthy people will have played their last card. The Government of this country has been placed in a position which was never dreamed of a year or so ago, and it is going to face its responsibilities. In reply to a questioner, who alleged that profits continued to soar during the war, Mr. Webb said that it would be the task of every member of the Government to "end the capitalist regime" which had so disrupted the universe. We can interpret these statements only as an expression of the Government's intention to use its wartime powers and employ war measures for the promotion of a political objective. It is difficult to reconcile these statements with the tone of the speech made by the same Mr. Webb to railwaymen and watersiders at Westport and reported today. In that speech Mr. Webb spoke of a new spirit at the recent economic conference, praised the endeavour to promote cooperation, and said: "My association with a number of these men on both sides of politics has convinced me that a new era has come into being." But if the Minister speaks with two voices which voice is to be heeded? Are we to accept his second speech as indicative of a Government desire for true and frank co-operation, or are we to take the only meaning that can be taken out of the first speech and believe that there is a plan to use the war emergency to effect the destruction of capitalism? Co-operation in full measure is certainly not attainable if the fear is engendered, as it is by the Minister's speech, that the measures introduced ostensibly for war purposes are to be turned against the capitalist cooperators for political ends. If there is to be understanding, or even a truce to conflict, it must be open and sincere. Apart from this, the Minister's threats of drastic action against capital must be most harmful to the present effort. It was not helpful when, only a few days ago, the Minister of Finance foreshadowed more measures against wealth. But Mr. Webb's statements will heighten alarm. How can it be expected that possessors of wealth, in the state of mind created by such utterances, will voluntarily contribute to loans or otherwise assist in war finance? They are more likely to hesitate in uneasiness until they know what other measures they must face. This is not helpful to the country. It is harmful and must have a damaging effect upon enterprise and production. The country is entitled to hear promptly! from the Prime Minister how far Mr. Webb has spoken for the Government and what are the measures the Government is contemplating.