ROTARY AND PROPAGANDA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19397, 4 August 1926, Page 8

ROTARY AND PROPAGANDA.

Sir,—Your correspondents, J. 11. Beale and George Johnston, who were game to sign . their names to letters under th» y above heading, need not be east down by the futility of the letters- of "C.li.N.' and othcrsj stating tho opinion of the middlemen and .discrcdited^politicians of Auckland City. If tho slogan " British Goods are Best" is a mistake, any one of the everyday slogans used by tho altruistic business men and the business Government of tho U.S. A. is a veritable howler. The side-tracking of the question by bringing in the alleged economic argument (triangular trade, etc.) is rather amusing. According to this argument we should facilitate, by every means in our power the penetration of this Dominion by American business. They already run tho pictures, the benzine and the motor-cars and take all the profits to U.S.A. To show wo are reasonable beings and not impervious to the uplifting arguments of the Roturians and other genuine American-minded people, let us take the duty off all American goods. Let us admit Amorican timber anil building materials free. What matter if our sawmills close down and the sawmill hands and their dependants starve? In place of food we can pass on to them seme of the hot air which is tho only thing America gives us for nothing. Those who wish prosperity to a. united .and self-sup-porting (and debt-paying, self-denying) Empire need not fear, the hearts of the people are in tho right place, While travelling round the Upper Waikato and' Northern King* Country we have found this subject an interesting ono to bring up among the farmers. As one hardworking son of the soil said in Otorohanga last Friday : " We can get along fine if we are only let alone, but we mustn't let the Yanks' bluff us out of everything." And that cocky, I venture to say, does more actual production every day than any of tho people who live in Auckland on triangular trade do in a year. „ '■ B.F. &P.

Sir, —It is somewhat difficult to reply to your correspondent "C.H.N.as he writes all round the compass and seems to have a somewhat confused mind as to just; where he stands. I desire to avoid personalities, but "C.H.N." writes both in the vernacular and as one outside the British Empire. In the latter category I can quite appreciate that all efforts centred on trade within the' Empire naturally "antagonise foreign nations." I am sufficiently "far-seeing" to recognise this* fact as I also recognise the ;.British Empire as a whole has been far too tolerant in the past in trading with countries devoid of anything in tho nature of a reciprocal tariff. I do not, as alleged, dispute "the accepted axiom thafclM international trade is in the ultimate based on barter," but the particular axiom from my point of view is the one so aptly defined by that eminent English writer, Isaac Taylor, "Equal tilings added to equal make equal." I leave it to your readers to judge, whether even in New Zealand wo are benefiting from American trade by what your correspondent terms "barter." My remarks are not based otv axioms on theory, but on straightout concrete facts. It is only necessary to draw a comparison between our imports and exports to and from America. After rending your correspondent's remarks, doubting the quality of British goods and alleging that my advocacy for trade within the Empire when established. on a proper basis will moan more expensive motor-cars and less customs revenue, I am iri the position of a friend who recently hunted all over New York for some New Zealand butter. He searched in vain, as I have in endeavouring to discover matter of' substance in your correspondent's letter justifying a, continuance from ah Empire point of view of the Americanisation of this Dominion either in. motors, films or literature that we are being flooded with. Vincet arnor patriae. Uhojias A. Jrasep,. Devonport, August 3.