“SLAVES TO A SYSTEM.”

Southland Times, Issue 22730, 5 November 1935, Page 8

“SLAVES TO A SYSTEM.”

To the Editor. Sir, —There being a good many questions asked after Mr Hargest’s address at Bluff I did not question him as 1 would have encroached too much on his time. Speaking about the exchange, Mr Hargest said the Government had no option or was faced with having to go to the banks for a loan at 5 per cent, to help the farmer with a bounty, which meant adding to our debt. The alternative they took, he maintained, was the pegging of the exchange. Now the point is of the two evils, which is the worse? A bounty equivalent to the exchange would have cost in borrowing, a debt I presume, the amount we now find in exchange taxation plus the 5 per cent, interest on the debt. The whole position boiled down simply means that, the interest annually to the taxpayer under a bounty system to the farmer of £9,000,000 or £10,000,000 or whatever the exchange amounts to of borrowed money would be £500,000 approximately annually to be found, whereas a tax is now levied for the whole amount to the full extent of the exchange both ways. Then this method the exchange has the effect of acting as a brake on our imports from Britain, hence the necessity of establishing the Reserve Bank to clear up the muddle. Further the taxpayer and ,consumer still pays a tax indirectly, which he is not supposed to see, on the goods we consume from Home and here in the sales tax. Our imports in round figures after the exchange on them is added is passed on to each and every user in a manner he is not supposed to see directly. Everybody growls about the price, but the inevitable is we pay the piper or go without these necessary goods. Hence we have stagnation in business goods too dear to buy. Mr Hargest stressed the point of Mr Gilchrist’s that the Labour Party or the Democrats would wipe out the exchange by a stroke of the pen. This is purely election stampeding talk. The Labour Party will not smash any legislation existing until the machinery to a better alternative is ready to set in motion. Mr Hargest painted a nice picture of the shopkeeper stating he would be ruined and implied that the shopkeepers would wake up and find that goods had shrunk in value over night by 25 per cent., which would mean rdination to them. He also stressed the point the export season is about on top of us, and it will mean

a,big drop in prices to the farmer if the exchange is tampered with. Before'any alternative can take place in the exchange the guaranteed price will be in operation so there will be no fear on that score. The exchange will be remedied over a period of time to enable business men and others to quit exchange goods and enable everybody to level up. The Labour Party will not be and is not a party of nitwits that intend to wreck all standing social legislation and heap chaos on already overtaxed, underpaid and in many, many instances undernourished and under-clothed farmers, as well as the wage earning community. Mr Hargest was quite frank and honest. He put his case very clearly and in no manner did he try to hide the fact that all the necessary cuts, high exchange and various measures which the Coalition were forced to adopt were virtually forced upon us from outside interests. He told us that the moneylenders at Home were responsible for the drastic measures which were forced upon us. Eight million pounds had to be squeezed from somebody to make up the leeway as there was a deficit facing the Government. To meet this all sections of the community were forced to tighten up their belts. The social welfare of thousands of human beings was sacrificed on the altar of Mammon. Oui’ ox cart monetary system collapsed under the strain of usury interest, goods and services piled up because wages and salaries were brought down in thousands of cases to starvation point, and values all disappeared automatically. Mr Hargest was quite frank over his explanation why he voted against the farmers’ 20 per cent, equity clause. He admitted that he was a slave to a system where he had to go and borrow to carry on his farm; where was produced the real wealth and where he proved conclusively that the present economic system is based on and tied to usury, absolutely. He admitted that the Government did not know how to grapple with the problems facing it; that the measures adopted were simply props to sustain this ox cart system of usury. I presume Mr Hargest like a lot more has not. taken into consideration that he and his colleagues are all slaves to an out-of-date monetary system, which functions not in man’s interests to-day as a just and perfect measure of value but as an instrument of torture and slavery. He does not consider that we are moving in a 20th century machine-age which scientifically applied has brought us to the crossroads where we are forced to one of two alternatives. We must either face the problems as they are sorely affecting every citizens of this country brought about by our own inventions, use the surgeon’s knife and operate bycasting our vote for the party who challenges this present . monetary system or go on indefinitely using palliative after palliative and patch after patch and get nowhere. The inevitable has to be faced sooner or later. We cannot go on enslaving our farmers, virtually denying our boys and girls the right to learn the arts and crafts which would enable them to carry on the social structure after we older ones have passed on. The electors have to look the age of scientific advanced production in the face. It has brought its problems with it. Systems have to move with advanced thought and keep and live as the Great Creator intended them to function for humanity’s use, and enjoyment, while we all individually and collectively move through life. Finally our social system is dependent on each other’s service in exchange with each other, so why in the name of commonsense, not use commonsense and enjoy the good things bountiful Nature provides and God intends all should have a share of and none should want. —I am, etc., P. BATCHELER. Bluff, November 1, 1935. (Further correspondence will be found on Page 4).