The Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1936. Regimenting Industry

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 237, 7 October 1936, Page 4

The Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1936. Regimenting Industry

lu view of the strong criticism levelled at the Government’s Efficiency Bill now before the House it is'interesting to note what one of Europe’s loading authorities on the subject, Professor Eerdynand Zweig, has to say about this contentious subject. In his book, “Economics and Technology,’ he declares that private monopoly means exploitation, imperialism and international conflict, excessive poverty on one side and excessive wealth on the other. But neither is the promise of a State monopoly very attractive, it would mean regimentation, centralisation, bureaucracy, coercion and the degradation of man to the level of a tool and the deprivation of his natural rights.

Will our epoch, Professor Zweig asks, completely betray and for ever abandon the principles of liberty and the fundamental rights of mail, or will it return to them after all? Monopoly, in both its forms, means the abandonment of the principles of liberty and the basing of the whole economic—and consequently the social—order on compulsion. The present trend of events is always from liberalism. Some nations (Soviet Russia, Germany, Italy, etc.) are sailing at full speed toward some indefinite destination, toward some system which is a combination of nationalism, and socialism; a combination of private and State monopoly, and based on autarchy, regimentation and compulsion. But once the palate has tasted this indigestible mixture, will there not arise a desire for lost individual liberty, even at the price of material and other sacrifices?

“lam convinced that after a period of monopoly there will come again a great liberal revolution, which will strike a fatal bIoAV at monopolies (even if the end of monopolies should be brought about at the expense of technological progress) and change the direction and the very purpose of technological improvement. The fight for liberty that will then start,” he declares, “will be a fight against monopolies in all their forms. There is no doubt that this fight for liberty will be a fight for the survival of our civilisation, since monopolistic autarchy breeding aggressiveness and militarism, is a constant menace to civilisation.”

School Homework

The recent debate in the House of Commons about “the tyranny of homework” showed a lack of knowlege of what is required in a well-run secondary school, writes the headmaster of Tettenhall College, Mr. H. Pearson, in his annual report.

“Modern investigation on the psychology of the child has shown that fatigue in the mind is a very quick phenomenon, and that the retention of knowledge depends entirely upon the degree of attention given by the child. If that attention is withdrawn, or is incomplete, the lesson is meaningless.

“Most schoolmasters are united on this—that every normal boy, in normal health, requires time to test his powers for learning and work, to summarise results of work done, and to apply principles taught in class. For this, homework, or ‘prep/ is essential. It should be strictly limited in amount and regulated by the time-table. Ido not recall, in 30 years’ experience, a single boy breaking down as a result of homework. Most boys, if given too much, simply do not do it.”