TOPICS OF THE TIMES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4752, 28 September 1935, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

To Reduce Unemployment. "We have the plant, we have the men, we have the money, too," said Mr. Harold Macmillan, M.P., pleading in the House of Commons for constructive effort to reduce unemployment. "Can we marry the idle men and the idle money? Of course we can. Even those who see the dangers of this policy would not say that it was not economically possible. By a concerted effort upon a large number of lines pursued con r currently, of course it is possible to bring this into effect. The danger is whether when the monetary support for the policy of expansion begins to be withdrawn there may not be a collapse. That is the really substantial point made by those who are opposing this policy." Mr. Macmillan went on to discuss the complex conditions which should be fulfilled if collapse were not to follow the withdrawing of monetary support.

Empire Farmers. "The changing outlook of the Empire farmer contains a grave warning. He has had his eyes opened within the last few years, and has now struck for independence from the money market. Blessed with fertile land and much of it, the farmer had concentrated with great efficiency on getting out of the ground as much wheat as he could. He sold it at a considerable price, and was able to buy food, clothing and other supplies at the neighbouring towns. He could afford to leave his farm and take an extended holiday during the winter months. Those days have 1 gone. In Saskatchewan alone, for ! example, 30,000 farmers and their families were brought to the verge of starvation, and were only saved by the timely intervention of the Government. Everywhere to-day the farmer is struggling to make himself self-supporting. The general trend is back to the small holding and mixed farming—real, as opposed to commercial, parasitic agriculture. England led the world into its present impasse. England's only hope in the future lies in getting the world out of it and in leading it back to sanity. The whole civilised world is stricken with a mortal malady—money-fever, that must be cured at all costs."—Surgeon-Cap-tain D. H. C, Given, in hia book, "A New Angle on Health."