HANDS OFF THE BANKS!

Evening Star, Issue 22790, 27 October 1937, Page 9

HANDS OFF THE BANKS!

STATE CONTROL UNWARRANTED FREEDOM OF INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE A warning against the replacement of individual enterprise by State control, more especially in connection with the Dominion’s banking system, was issued by Mr J. R. Fairbairn } chairman of the National Building Society, at its annual meeting last bight. There was a growing but unhealthy belief that Governments could take the place of individual enterprise and bring about a better state of happiness ‘for the people, but the speaker contended that this'was wrong. “ No Government nor body of Civil servants, however good they may be, can prove substitutes for individual enterprise, as their processes are towards relieving the individual of his responsibility for providing for his future. This is not a healthy state of affairs, and tends towards a levelling down rather than a progressive building up of the spirit of individual and national independence. Savings alone make for or create capital, and it is those of thrifty . habits who take long views and see the reward of the future, even if by their present self-sacrifice in saving they are willing to do without many immediate pleasures, who are the stalwarts of the people. “ There is a tendency to-day to blame the banks for much of our recent troubles, for assuredly people do not realise that monetary problems were not the cause of, but rather were the result of the depression, when complete lack of confidence infected everybody. “ We should be thankful that our great system of banking and credit has so well stood the test of the recent depression. Our banks are well managed, and our credit system is one of the most wonderful structures of the age—indeed, the British system is the envy of other nations. I trust that the people will not permit the State to unduly interfere with the peoples’ savings as represented by our efficient system of banking. “ To-day there is a growing but unhealthy belief that governments can take the place of individual enterprise and bring (about a better state of happiness for the people. This .is quite wrong, and whenever this widely-held view has been tested and found wanting, there will once again arise a realisation that the nation is only, as great as the sum total of its individuals, and a determination that the State must not penalise, but do everything possible to encourage the spirit of individual effort.”