TO-DAY’S PROBLEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 24 April 1934, Page 8

TO-DAY’S PROBLEMS

(To the Editor) Sir, —I have followed with interest the letter of- J. P. Prouse and “Fanner Brown” which have appeared in your issues from time to time. In recent letters oi these two correspondents finance and currency has been mentioned. I have been prompted, although not without- a certain amount if misgiving, to make a few comment's myself, so with your permission, Air Editor, 1 shall proceed. In the first place let us ask ourselves u-liat, made the British Empire the great institution it undoubtedly is to-day? One thing is certain. It grow to unexampled power and greatness without the assistance of the gold standard, or the machinations of any financial dictatorship. Great Britain owes very little to wither of these. Its real strength lies in the heart and sinew of the everyday man, and unless 1 am greatly mistaken it is to the latter that we must look for the guidance that is necessary if there is to he any economic and political reconstruction. New Zealand, ill common with other countries, is dazedly surveying the wreckage, the result of three major catastrophes that have, befallen the world within the past 20 vears. Tile first, was the War, the second was the Peace, and the third was the Depression Now who has suffered most in each instance? Is it the financial dictators who invented the gold standard, or is it mankind? Just ordinary people like you and me who have been called upon to make the greatest sacrifices to remedy the mistakes of those cock-sure individuals who have appointed themselves to rule over us. It was not until ten years after the war was over that we began to get just the vaguest idea as to what it was all about . . . not until it was brought home to us in no uncertain manner that it was our war, and we should now he prepared to pay the price whether we liked it or not. Pcrliap, in another ten years we may perceive some of the causes that led up to/the greatest Depression in history. In mo meantime it is Air John Citizen and family who have to suffer for it. This same unfortunate individual pledged his belief in the future of New Zealand, and took unto himself a wife, and perhaps raised a family. The man with means, lie also pledged his faith in the future. Then came the slump. Well, the man with means can give up his limousines, liis yacht, or his subscriptions, but Mr John Citizen cannot give up his wife ami family because times arc bad. In days gone by it was our friend who pegged his claim in this country-by purchasing a section on the instalment plan. Well, 6% is still 6%—unless of course it is Government stock. Honesty and thrift are perhaps two of the outstanding virtues of John today, hut they appear to he dangerous virtues. Whenever there is a financial panic, whenever there is a bank smash, it is always John Citizen who is found in (lie wreckage. In the days immediately ahead, that same gentleman will find that he will have to make still further sacrifices and endure still more suffering in order to make up for his negligence in the past. The first step must he a merciless scrutiny of his Government, and the men who dominate it. He must disabuse his mind of all the petty bigotries and illusions. The sooner that John Citizen realises ids own strength the sooner will he lie in a position to assert himself, and the sooner will lie he free of these old men of the sea who pose.as his leaders iu the economic and political world j’u which lie lives. The vyorld is full of various bureaucracies which seem at times to be doing their best to strangle t he. economic life of this, and other countries, but in my opinion the greatest bureaucracy of them all is the money power. At the moment only a few of the facts are apparent of the part this financial dictatorship lias played iu this depression. Durinjr the past few years we have heard of more than the usual number of self-appointed Alossiahs of Currency. The newspapers see fit to comment, lightly, bitterly, or not at all on the activities of these men, hut in so doing they fail to realise one important fact about these —Lenders of a New Thought —shall we call them? These men have only one idea in all their schemes—-an inherent degree of justice for mankind coupled with a hope —a vague one perhaps of a sort of social millennium. When the subject of currency reform ' is broached it is amusing to see the pained and worried look that is immediately registered on some people’s faces. TJiey talk vaguely about 1 inflation, and the awful fate of the German mark. What happened to tile mark could very easily .happen to the. £. they argue. They got quite worried about the especially those who still have a l'ew £’s to worry about. Interested parties express alarm at any attempt to meddle with our present

monetary system, which apparently appears to them to lie some hind of a sacred and inviolable institution that must not he touched at any cost, lest tho heavens fall. The usual parrot cry is raised that what was good enough for grandfather is good enough for us. People talking thus are not only wasting their breath, but they are not even talking good sense. It is absurd to object- to a “managed-” currency, simply because it is managed. Every system of currency that the world has ever known is merely an artificial arrangement to enable mankind to trade and do business together. There is no natural currency system. There never has been and there never will be. Wliat is more every system is managed in one way or another, but the point is by whom.'/ If currency is to be allowed to play its proper part as a public utility it must be managed, or controlled, but by whom? Already you can bear the yelping of those who don't want their money meddled with. It is all quite natural. The more money they have. the. more they will oppose anything being done that might depreciate its value as a. commodity. Whether lie lias ally money or not, John Citizen is facing one economic fact —that any change in the present system must he paid for by somebody. He is also realising that as a debtor lie is paying more than his fair share of the depression. Of course if tile burden is to be lifted from bis shoulders some of it must land elsewhere. Someone is bound to get pinched whatever change is made. Hut surely that in itself is not sufficient reason for doing nothing, especially when it, seems evident that something should be done. bet us drop all this nonsense about a managed currency, and stick to fundamentals. Give money a fixed standard of value so that it will enable men to sell what they make and buy what they need. Make money a true medium of exchange, and not a commodity that make a pound note worth fifteen shillings to-day, and perhaps twenty-five shillings to-morrow. Let 11s strive to give the John Citizen of the future a stable currency for without that there can never be real security either at home or abroad.—l am, etc., lAN K. MACKAY. Nelson, 21st April.

(To the Editor) Sir, —In Friday’s issue of “The Mail” there appears an article in which Mr A. D. Kerr, president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, is quoted as saying that the system with which we are all acquainted has served us well in I lie past. That reads to mo like so much dope. It has served, but more liko a. makeshift, and seems likely to he less effective in tho future. How can it be said to have served well in view of tho succession of strikes and lockouts, unemployment which is to some extent continuous, and the large number of people living almost on the bread line even in normal times? It is time people awakened and replaced our bad old system with another capable of giving fair service to all and not only to a favoured few. If this is not done signs are not wanting that we may he. faced with a dictatorship as is the experience of several other countries. It seems difficult to get a good idea of the Douglas proposals. Whether they are workable or not as they stand they contain suggestions which ought to be brought into use. Is it not ridiculous that while we. have a large number of unemployed side by side with much work needing to lie done we cannot set those men to work without getting permission (credit) from another country? Or again, we have many people going short of necessaries of life which we produce in abundance, but are not' enabled by our unjust economic and financial: system to pass on to those who need them. Surely human wisdom can devise a plan which will rectify that. Unhappily, vested interests stand in the way. Our moneyed men look askance at the idea of a change lest they should lose their dominance. I don’t wish to charge them with conscious unfairness, but selfinterest has a terribly blinding effect on the average person. A pre-requisite is to get people to see the injustice and inadequacy of the present system and the absence of value in such statements as quoted above.—l am, etc., G.E.T. Nelson, 21st April. "