IS THIS SOCIAL CREDIT?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22956, 11 August 1936, Page 8

IS THIS SOCIAL CREDIT?

Just upon twelve months after the elections which returned him as Premier of Alberta with an overwhelming majority of social credit supporters Mr William Aberhart has put his first " prosperity certificates " into circulation. His Government has issued 250,000 one-dollar tokens, taxable at a cent per week and redeemable at the end of two years. They seem to be patient people in Alberta, and to have their share of credulity, and yet there is no indication of their elation over this development. Poverty, declared Mr Aberhart, must not be tolerated in a world of plenty. The words have a familiar ring in our own Dominion. The Premier of Alberta promised an alluring alternative. His political campaign had been likened to a religious crusade, and his success to that of a prophet. By a cynical Winnipeg journalist his message was translated into the words, "Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden and I will give you twenty-five dollars a month." Apparently social credit came to Alberta a year ago as a revealed religion rather than as an economic theory. Since then Mr Aberhart has been struggling, perhaps more or less picturesquely, with the difficulties attending the practical application of an economic theory which most people regard as fantastic. Despite prophetic inspiration the machinery for the establishment of the economic security in this world which he offered his followers has been slow to move. The "cultural heritage" of twenty-five dollars which every citizen of Alberta was to receive from the State Credit House could not be immediately produced. Successive postponements have prolonged the suspense. Now at length there has been an issue of certificates, or tokens, by way of payment to the unemployed for work on the roads. But, as it is not surprising to learn, many business people in Alberta have declared that they will not accept them, and the Chamber of Commerce has appealed to the Canadian Government to stop their circulation on the ground that their issue is illegal and is creating intolerable confusion in business. Mr Aberhart has denounced the Chamber as the mouthpiece of those who oppress the people. He has thoughtfully intimated that, " if successful," this issue of tokens will be the forerunner of social credit dividends. What the unemployed think about the matter is not indicated. An interesting and perhaps crucial development is suggested. If the Canadian Government, legally reassured, declares that Mr Aberhart has exceeded his authority in distributing these certificates as a form of currency, and the business people of Alberta are at liberty to repudiate his tokens, the Premier of Alberta will have to take a new grip of an awkward situation. A practical demonstration of the mysteries of social credit had to wait upon the more pressing problem of keeping Alberta solvent. Inheriting an empty Treasury, a large current deficit, and a funded debt of nearly 160,000,000 dollars, Mr Aberhart had to tell his followers that they must wait eighteen months for the new dispensation. In March last, with a Budget showing a deficiency of over five million dollars and a bond issue of over three million dollars falling due, he had to choose between obtaining a Federal loan and guarantee of the refunding issue if he would accept further Federal supervision of his financing, and the risk of alienating all lenders by defaulting. He nailed his colours to the mast and took the latter course. But to what good purpose has yet to be seen. "He may continue to postpone Utopia," observes a commentator, " and engender the disaffection of his followers: or political exigencies may force him to embark upon his programme precipitately. Neither alternative offers to Mr Aberhart an enduring political future." What the ultimate value may be of the dollar tokens, taxable by the affixing of a one cent stamp every week for 104 weeks, there is no telling. But most people will have a shrewd suspicion on the subject.