THE DOUGLAS CREDIT PLAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21640, 10 May 1932, Page 10

THE DOUGLAS CREDIT PLAN

TO THE EDITOR.

Sjß)—Several people have asserted that the proposals of Major Douglas have beep tried, but all have failed to prove , it. The latest example of that was Critic, who, when asked to substantiate it, first asserted that an advocate of Douglas should acquire' knowledge, next advised him to study Oresme, a sound money man of the fourteenth century, and ended by quoting, the - remarks of a Labour Committee which was later stated to consist of keen-brained men. Still later _in his letter “ Critic ” admitted that he did not know what Douglas advocated. ■ Does “Critic” realise how silly his reasoning was? Oh the same plan the reply to Professor Eddington’s description in his “ Science and the Unseen World” of two sorts of tables —the one we see and the one ecience describes, would be: “ Physicist* should acquire knowledge, and if they really wish to understand matter" they should study Aristotle, a sound scientist, whose views are upheld by the keen brains of a church committee when they had to deal with such' people as Galileo; I admit that, though I have read your book, I do not understand what you advocated. Apart from that, however, there is room to doubt, whether Labour as a whole is keen brained. Judged from the policy put forward by the New. Zealand Labour Party at the last election it is to be doubted. ' The party proposed to make no reduction in wages and to acquire a credit of £25,000,000. Since we run on a money economy and must make the best of it whilst we do, neither appeared possible, and probably appeared ,to most voters as very childish ideas, advocated because it seemed possible that they would appeal, to large sections •of the, public. Labour always forgets two things—the first, that' most of its supporters do not want Socialism, and the second; that the average intelligence of the public is much higher than Labour imagines and better thai that of the Labour leaders. •< On one point “ Critic ” was correct. Undoubtedly the Douglas proposals find the financial fields a hard and stony soil. Naturally they do. You may advocate reshuffling the existing stock of money amongst the community as much as you like and -.finance may rest easy. It will even help you to do it. But you will not advocate taking away its power or control without finding much stonyheartedness shown by much vituperation and an endeavours'to suggest that change would bo dangerous. It is because Douglas advocates a change of. control that his proposals are disturbing to: the shallowminded and the chicken-hearted. —I am, etc., C. H. Chapman. Dunedin, May 7.