STANDARDS OF LIVING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24189, 3 February 1942, Page 6

STANDARDS OF LIVING

A WORKMAN'S QUESTION

Discussing standards of living ag long ago as 1924 Dean Inge wrote:— Questions of good manners, and even of self-government," almost sink into insignificance beside what wiii soon be the decisive choice for the whole future of humanity. Is the world to belong to the high-standard races or to the Towstandard races? Is the well-fed, highly-educated American workman to prevail over the rice-eating Asiatic, who works 14 hours a day, and saves out of wages on- which a white man would starve? The American, the Australian, and the South African feel this to be literally a question of life and death. They are convinced that free competition between the white kVourer and the Asiatic would mean the speedy and complete extinction of the former. They demand protection of the most drastic kind. The professional classes do not ask for this protection; it is a working man's question. The white labourer is economically so far inferior to the Asiatic that tie latter must be kept out altogether. And if necessary he must be kept out by battleships and bayonets. Will the, Asiatics ultimately force their way in, or will America and Australia remain permanently white? It would be rash to prophesy. But it seems clear that the claim of the white labourer to a much higher standard of living than has ever before been reached by his class must commit him not only to a policy of stringent protection, but to militarism. If the Asiatic can give much better value for his wages than the white man (and this is the sole serious charge against him), he can only be kept at home by. telling him that he. will be shot if he tries to compete with the' whites.