THE WORLD OF TO-MORROW.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 306, 24 November 1932, Page 8

THE WORLD OF TO-MORROW.

ALTERNATIVES IN PROSPECT. For a period of two years or more we have listened to explanations proffered by economists of every nationality as revealing the causes of the world depression (writes E. J. Walker, B.Ec., in the Sydney Morning Herald). . , Summing up the position, it would seem as though the world depression will never end until the leaders of the civilised nations of the wor 1 d are prepared to recognise the vastness of the changes that must be made to bring about the betterment'of present conditions. Any redress that must be instituted is of a very far-reaching nature, and a cra.zy world, will have to realise this in the near future. Although we must admit the applicability of certain of the explanations which are daily offered to us as causes of world depression, clear thinkers on economic problems must eventually come to the belief that over-production of certain necessary commodities and the maladjustment of industry generally because of so many national and international restrictions (Government monopolies, trade encumbrances, tariffs, etc.), constitute the true causes of the world depression. , One cannot deny the party played by the multiplicity of supplementary factors in adding to the maze, but the upshot of it all is that the civilised nations of the world must either revert to world-wide free trade, with complete freedom of enterprise and an untrammelled operation of price mechanism, or adopt one of three possible alternate first alternative is a drift back to primitive standards. Never has the world known unemployment on such a tremendous scale as now exists in every nation. The great resources and noble inventions that science has brought to the knowledge of mankind cannot be utilised, as our economic system will not permit of employment being found for all of the available supply of workera. Tho drift towards unemployment nnd poverty is becoming greater and greater, and unless something is done this state of affairs- will continue merely because the economic world cannot keep pace with the progress of civilisation. , . • The second alternative is for the leaders of nations to see this drift setting in and to embark upon a scheme for establishing their particular nation as an entirely self-contained community. In order to bring this about production would need to be governmentally controlled, and industries of every calling would need to be set up to meet a new set of conditions which would call for production of the people of that country alone, and not for the demands of a foreign market, as was the case heretofore. It is possible for any one country to make and grow almost any article it so desires, provided it lias the technique present am'.ngst its inhabitants, and provided it is prepared to accept the sacrifices involved in making and growing all things for itself in preference to calling upon other countries of the world by means of exchange for articles which those other countries can produce much more cheaply and much more favourably than can the self-contained community. The Russian five-veor plan in its eventual fulfilment aims at some such condition of things as this second alternative. The ruthless manner in which the Soviet has endeavoured to achieve their ideal has left in its wake a harrowing spectacle of a degraded nation. Had any such reform rested in the hands of capablo statesmen the transition could undoubtedly have been brought about much more rationally and beneficially. The restoration pf Italy under the Mussolini dictatorship is a more enlightened example of modern trend.

As a third alternative, there remains the possibility of the civilised nations of the world coalescing together to plan production amongst their several communities to provide and distribute ample of every necessary commodity for their people, and when those commodities have been supplied, to proceed to provide luxuries of a more extravagant nature. We cannot shut our eyes and hope for a return to the prosperous times of yester-year. We cannot shut our eyes to the detrimental teachings that class fanatics and unintelligent and biassed socialistic leaders spread amongst the large and restive ranks of discontented wage earners and unemployed. It is possible for us to bring about' an emancipation only by a true realisation of the troubles bsetting this tangled world. Having come to the realisation of their immediate presence, let us work towards the creation of a new united world which will provide for its inhabitants on a lavish and generous scale of 1 untold magnitude. To nchieve this aim we must banish from our minds any thought that such a state of affairs is a mere ideal.