SOCIAL CREDIT VERSUS SOCIALISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22259, 11 May 1934, Page 6

SOCIAL CREDIT VERSUS SOCIALISM

TO THE EDII'OB. Sir,—The present social services are, for the most part, based on public borrowings, which have to earn interest and principal charges first. Under a socialised system of economy interest would be cut out, because no " rake-off" by private persons would prevail. These services would be operated on the principle of the cost of production only. In other words, the people would receive the full benefit of these at cost price, which I term production for use. I am asked how the Labour Party will make the monetary equivalent of goods and services available to the people. If the Labour Party is completely in power its first act will be the passing of the necessary legislation giving the State com-

plete public ownership and control of banking, credit, and currency. This step effected, the next step would be to create manufacture the necessary amount of money, and this would be distributed to the people in wages as the goods and services were produced and made available. This was done by the private banks during the war. Most ot the £7,000,000,000 that Great Britain spent on the war was manufactured by the banks. The Labour Party claims that if it was good business for the private banks to do —for the destruction of lives and property—it is much more reasonable for the nation, through its Government, to do so for the purposes of construction and the saving and preserving of human lives. It must be done if we are to prevent our workers and tne prospective generation coming on from becoming unfit for doing ordinary physical work. Along with our monetary policy we would have to set up centra] authorities for the purposes of finding out our total national requirements, etc., and also see that our internal producers of commodities got a guaranteed price sufficient to enable them to live according to the standards of our productive forces. This could be planned m such a way that, we would only producP according to the plan and not as at present, haphazard. Then lam asked to show in what essentials the Labour Party methods differ from those ot the Douglas Credititcs. In the first place, the Doudas proposals are in favour of the present system of private capitalism, still allowing the emergence of profits which will at some time become surpluses, and must, as now. find a market. My Socialism is no different from that ot others. Our only differences are in tne methods to be adopted to bring the change about. The Labour Party relieves that the creation of credit ami eoiitrol of monetary policy are so vital to production and business generally that they should be the first to be brought under public ownership and control tor use in the interests of the nation as a whole. Other vital factors on which the State would have to keep an eye. preliminary to taking over, are in the realm of speculations and the controlling of prices, wages, and conditions, etc., in the domain of these operations.—l am, etc., P. XEILSON. May 9.