WEALTH TO WIN THE WAR

NZ Truth, Issue 579, 22 July 1916, Page 5

WEALTH TO WIN THE WAR

How the Dominions may finance the Motherland THE SILVER BULLET BANGED BEYOND THE BOUNDARY Will New Zealand Lead the Way?

During the present Parliament, and more particularly during- the present session, we have heard time and again, by way of excuse for the introduction." by the National Government of some .ess or more reactionary proposal, the phrases, "It is done at Home," "The Imperial Government are doing so," "We are following the Mother of Parr llaments," and so on ad nauseam. And yet m the one thing m which we could have complimented the Coalition for taking a- leaf out of Britain's book, that one thing it failed to follow per example set by the , Imperial authorities — the nature and scope of the Budget. The London "Daily Chronicle" assures us that "boldness" was the note of the financial statement unfolded m the House of Commons by Mr. R. McKenna, THE CHANCELLOR OP THE : EXCHEQUER. "Boldness" was the one note wanting from the taxation proposals "• brought down by SUf Joseph Ward. Its chief feature was incompleteness, its chief note was indecision..' Every time the clauses of the Finance measure came before the House for discussion, the "Wizard of Finance" had something to withdraw, something to reinsert, something to withdraw for the second time, or something 1 to add. There has been so much cutting, carving, chipping and chopping that even when finally passed and placed on the statute book, members will not be surprised should supplementary finance legislation bo brought down. ; ) In fact, the 101G budget is a veritable bagman's budget. Thq more the damascene document is dissected, the, more one sees m it a positive "Joseph's coat," a thing of shreds and' patches, hiding beneath its mutually antagonistic clauses the /one definite design to confirm the present gang of profit plunderers m; the secure possession of the means whereby to exploit the workers of God's Own. And one of the best -means to this end will be the Government War Bonds issued at five per cent, free from income tax. To see exactly what this means one has to take the following example of how all things work together for the fulfilling of the Scripture/which saith, "To him that hath shall be given." - According to the estimated increase m the cost of living Bince the outbreak of the World War, the purchasing power of the sovereign has decreased by 25 per, pent This means that the worker i» mulcted of five shillings m addition to the ordinary profits, ox every pound he spends on the necessaries of life. Then the Government, by means of its five per cent war bonds will return to the plute Investor In six years' time one pound for every fifteen shillings loaned to the State. Thus the profit pincher gets m at both ends. He robs the consumer of 25 per cent of his earnings, then he invests it m war bonds and draws Interest on it from the consumer per medium of the State. "XJkLP." feels that he ought to withdraw the charge against the National Government's 1916 budget with which this article opened. He said It wasn't a bold budget This was a mistake: It 13 a "bold" budget -^oa "bold" aa it la "brazen"! ' When ''X.M.P." set out to show how easily the Government of New Zealand could have found, and may yet find, its Bhare of the wealth to win the war, he did so not because he wanted to free the people from the burden of additional taxation due to the , PROLONGATION OF THE WAR. If that were all that there was to it, then his Idea would never have been given expression to, He hails the clapping on of heavy taxes, and the heavier they ore the better he likes them. Bettor than tho speeches of the peace advocates, better than tho more or less coherent and logical harangues of the anti-militarists, Is a thumping tax to bring home to the people the fact that war Is an extremely costly thing. Costly m human life and limb and costly m the eating up of the national wealth m the form of interest on borrowed millions used not for productive, but destructive, purposes. His purpose, on the other hand, has been to show the people that such borrowing and piling up of a gigantic national debt owing to the money needed for munitions of war, was unnecessary, knowing that, if he could domonetrate this fact so far as the supplying of woalth to win the war was concerned, it was but one step further to demonstrate that the same wealth could be used for tho purpose of abolishing tho exploiter and all the evils, the robbery, the want and poverty that follow m his train. How our loading statesmen should fool tho leant llttlo bit perplexed Over tho divining of equitable ways und means of raising the necessary revenue to meet the nations annual outgoings, m, a country whero wealth automatically recreates Itself, is what puzzles the man of logical ml ml, untrammelled by material lntereHts and unbiiutsod by preconceived opinions. Lot It be granted, for the sake of argument, that all parties Sn tho Stulo, the Conservative, tho Liberal, the Laborlto and tho Socialist, are, ouch and all, seeking tv d«al fairly between man and man, and that their advocacy of thin, or their objection to that, tax, Is tho result of an honest conviction that the one la Just and tho other unjUHt. la there no way whereby the fairness of this or that tax can bo demonstrated boyond cavil? For what practical purposes have wo instituted and maintained, at great oxponno, our statistical department? Is it puroly for tho benefit of plute? Cannot this office be made to. function aa the unerring and unbiased umpire on all questions of i taxation? It Is a trite saying that the people who Htand to lose the most m this war arc the people who have tho moat to loao. Likewise tho people who ntand to lose the moat from a bronkdown of civil authority arc tho people who have mo»t to lone. Who, then, should pay for tho war and for the upkeep of tho civil government, but THOSI3 WHO STAND TO GAIN by the winning and upkeep of each respectively, and In proportion a« they Bland to gain. What. then. Is to hinder Mr Malcolm Fraser. CJovernmont'Statlatician. from making nn annual unnlyuls of tho total wealth produced In the country and showing l»>to whose coffero the bulk of mtcH wealth — a* wealth— ultimately flntlH it» way. Were thin <lone tho task of the Finance Minister v.tmltl bo a tslmplo one. WUh the Idea of allowing hf« rcadi'nt how tlits would Work out. "X.M.R," the other day, "rung up" ihe atntlaMclan's department and linked for «onio figure* under tho following heads for the yonrK 1899. 1904, 19011. MU — • Population. Workers Km ployed. Wealth Produced. Wage* Paid. Income Tax; total amount on which Income Tax was paid nnd total amount piikl. "X.M.P." \» ot opinion that tho answers wuppHed by jjuen ft return would OUjcloko beyond dubioty who AhouM pay tho additional taxation required. Hut tho Government Statistician wUd -X.M.P." would tax* to aoply to «vi "Ml." without tho

"X.," to get the return for him. He immediately applied to an honorable member of the House to aid him m obtaining the required return. His honorable friend "rung up" the Government Statistician, stated what it was he wanted, and was politely toldthat he: would have to move m the House that such a "return" should be "brought down." Isot to be baulked, this scribe obtained copies of the census returns for 1901, 1906 and 1911, and set to work out the returns for himself. -. ■ • " And what did his search reveal? An examination of the returns of 1901 and 1906 showed that In ten years wages •'by the day" increased slightly under ten per cent, that is not one per cent, per annum, whereas the cost -of living increased close upon 26 per cent, or nearly two and a-half timed greater m annual rates than the increase of wages! Luckily, for the ten years under review, employment was more constant and so the yearly • earnings of i the workers increased by 80 per cent — a net gain of five per cent, m ten years. At the same time, it can be seen that but. for the "more constant employment," the workers would HAVE BEEN WORSE OFF at the end of 1905 than they we?e m 1895, though, then earning ten per cent. .less. We also find that during the same ten years the employers more than dollbled the value of their- plant and machinery, the figures for the years under review being £5,706,017 and £12,509,286 respectively. In addition to this the amount of profits to which the employers confessed. in their income tax returns, and., upon, which they paid income tax, showed a net increase of 180,2 per cent -How's that for high? To the workers — five per cent increase m ten years. To the employers—l 80.2 per cent, m the same time. Should there be any difficulty m fixing the necessary taxation equitably? But that is not all. From 1906 to 1911 the total wages paid the workers increased by £1,114,651. This means that, the workers' wages barely kept pace with the increase m the cost of living. But what did the worker give m return for that additional wage of £1>114,661? He provided for the employer £4,222,073 of additional plant and machinery, and he produced an additional return of £8,284,767 m value of .commodities! Since the war broke out wages have not Increased ah all round .five per cent, while the profits made by the exploiters have all but doubled. With such figures before them, tested rind tabulated by their own officers, how can the National Cabinet have any doubt whatever of the ability of thla fruitful little Dominion to meet the additional call upon its resources, or how can Ministers have any difficulty m deciding on whose shoulders equity would place the burden? But, granting that, m spite of the eloquent figures herein placed before them, the Ministry 1b honestly perplexed, then "XM.P," informs them that In order to meet the additional expense the war has placed on New Zealand, they need not bother to levy taxes at aIL There are several other ways by which the needful may be obtained. ' "HE WHO GOES A-BORROWING GOES A-SORROWINGy' says an old adage, and it is as true of a country as it Is of the individual. But when a man goes a-borrowlng, he does so because his purse ia empty and he is m need. Is this true also of a country? It seems not During the forthcoming year, New Zealand will borrow from the Motherland something like a million and a quarter pound per month. For this she will have to pay 4% to 5 per cent Is thla because 'New Zealand has no money? If the Ministers are undor such a delusion they might learn something to their advantage by analysing the Banking Returns as published m the "Dominion" on the Bth mat, and In the "New Zealand Times'* on the 10th mat, and m pondering over the editorial comments thereon. "The Dominion" tells us that: The excess of deposits this year Is simply huge, and the banks must be hard put to [to] find investment for the money at their disposal. ' "Hard put to" it to find Investment for their surplus cash, and tho Government In need of a million and a quarter pounds per month! And the "New Zealand Times" says: Although it Is gratifying to see so much money coming into the country, it is not satisfactory to fcee so niUch money lying idle. "Not satisfactory!" Cerialnly not Tho banks have a total of £20,000,000 of free deposits; £20,000,000 belonging to individual New Zealanders, upon which they pay not ono penny of interest, bvit actually charge the owners for holding for them, and a.t the same time the Government, which theae .same Now '/ealatiders helped to place m ofiico, 1» borrowing money at five per cent. — flvo per cent, interest which thoae siimo depositors will have to help to provide*. Why should not tho Government have the uho of these free doposJta? Tho additional expense Incurred by the country la caused by maintaining the State and civil Government, without whloh the bank« would not be «ufo. Surety, then, that which costs the banks nothing, but on which they make a profit, ought to be handed ovor on tho same terms to aid m their defenoft? That Is ono way In which the- Government could meet its immodlato needs and at no cost to a olnglo Individual or lnutltutlon, and at an outlay for working expenses merely fractional when compared with tho cost of floating loans for a ulmllur amount. Another way by which tho needful could bo obtained would be for tho Government to doclara thai all unimproved land values accruing since the outbreak of war Bhall remain tho property of iho nation. Unimproved luntl values are not created by Individual effort, but aro the result of collective settlement. From 1905 to 1914 the unimproved land values of this Dominion almost doubled, the Increase for the von years totalling £705,650.250. HERE IS AN ELDORADO upon which the nation can drnw for quite a cormldcrable number of yenr.i. Nor Individual, or body, or claw.i of Individual, has nny moml right to appropriate thla great amount of wealth. It In v community created nsaet and ought to belong to the community nnd be utll* t«c<t to meet the needs of the community, more especially at the present time, when the hcwh and father* of thr community are (rlvinp their liven to defend the very land upon which such $aluo accrue*. And tlespiU' all our liOauted and boosted leulnhulon for «ottllntr people on the Inwl. In two year* --from 190S-9 to 1910-1 1 — the number of people owing from one to fifty acres decrouiod by II 1-3 per cent, while

those owningr over 60,000 acres Increased by over Beven per cent! And at present our boys are dying not only to conserve to the holders of this land their own property bought and paid for, but to make it possible for them to continue to pocket the unearned increment on land values at the rate of ten million pounds additional per annum. Surely now, if ever, is the time to put an end to such robbery. We have heard a lot of talk about "equality of sacrifice," chiefly from men who know that there can be no such equality. The widow's mite was her all. The worker's life is his aIL Whatever wealth the rich man may five it cannot equal that But come rich men give of their lives m addition to their wealth? Yea, but their passing hence leaves those who remain to share their accumulated wealth but richer by their death. When the worker dies the family bread-winner has gone and his wife and children are poorer plus the loss of his love and care. There can be no equality of sacrifice. The cost of living has increased enormously, and the Government shows no haste to tackle the question of fixing prices. Wages have slightly increased, but, taken all round, the average increase is under five per cent. But what of th» Income of PLUTE AND THE PROFITEERS. Look at your Bank Returns. What is the lesson they teach? It is that the profits of the exploiters of the people m God's Own Country have doubled since the outbreak of the war! At the end of the war what will be the position? The workers, the class that provided ninety per cent, of the fighters as also of the fallen, will, as a class, be worse off, while the commercial cormorants and the Mammonlto middlemen will be much richer. And the extra wealth they are ringing from the . workers now they will invest m Government loans which will levy further tribute upon the Industries of the nation for generations to come. Equality of sacrifice? This is impossible as we have shown, but since the Plute apologist pretends that it is possible, why should not the Government help htm to get as near to It as he can ? Why should not the Government take over all the excess deposits In our banks, scouring only to the possessors of wealth that after the war they should not be m a worse, or poorer condition, monetarily, than they were prior to August, 1914. Even then they will have the bulge on the workers, who, as a class, will be, and cannot help being, worse off. Thlß would not be conscription of wealth. It would be merely the conscription of profits, which would moan an enormous saving m interest- charges In tho years to come and thus Justify Itself, from the financial point of view, which snoneyod men consider the most important, In the eyes of tho very class who to-day ■vvould oppose such a scheme. How short-sighted Is tho average profiteer after all! In addition to the various mothodn herein delineated, whereby wealth may be obtained to win the war, wo have also tho proposal put forward m the opening article of this series, which not only would solve tho question for Now Zealand, but would h«lp the Motherland on tho way to v similar satisfactory solution. AS ALREADY POINTED OUT, tho thing could bo consummated 80 easily. All the Government would havo to do would be to calr-mark all surplus products for export to tho Imperial Government, and pay for them much In the same way as tho New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Co. and other exporting aßoncles pay tho farmer for hl» wool, etc., m advance of the Home markets, with thlß difference, that, Instead of allowing the farmer to draw up t 0 a fixed amount on tho banks, tho Government would cut out the middleman at both ends, by buying direct from the farmer and solUryr direct to tho lmporlal authorities ami by paying tho farmer In full by a apocJally legalised note lasuo, having tin; double security of the Now Zealand Government nnd the Imperial Government behind It a security .such as no nrovloun note Issue ever poaseaaed, And think of tho far-reaching otTvcla of such uraei tlcal patriotism! Great aa tho Immediate benefit to the Motherland, the present and potential benefit a to tho Dominion would bo greater In proportion. Tho cnormouo .war profits now | going Into the coff<?r« af A MULTITUDE OK MIDDLEMEN would be gathered at one .awvop Into [ Stulo coffers ami would obvintc nil I noeeNslty for vexations and Invidious ! financial lotrluiatlon In order to ral«o I tho needful. It would stimulate Inter- | tmporlal tradn atut orffaudK* tho vttrj louh Urltlith poKHesslonn into a. truly self-reliant Kniplnv Thu» might bp found not only wealth ttufltatani to win i ihi« war. but, were the worker* wise. i wealth 10 win the world: