GOVERNMENT FOR ALL THE PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 23498, 3 May 1938, Page 5

GOVERNMENT FOR ALL THE PEOPLE

To The Editor Sir,—“Lover of Freedom” has introduced Gandhi and Richard King into our controversy. No doubt he will be glad of their company, whilst he strays so far from the point of discussion, which is freedom. I questioned “Lover of Freedom’ if he was deluded into thinking that laws that force employers to displace men with machinery are good for all sections of the community. His reply was that to fail to use machinery, or to do away with it, is not progress. If “Lover of Freedom” found Gandhi took that statement seriously and applied it, what would he then do with his surplus millions of workers? Why put progress before the common good of the community? But is it progress when men are displaced from their usual occupations through legislation to become a charge on the taxpayer? Let “Lover of Freedom” ponder over the fact that today, although our export markets have been buoyant for some time —quite long enough for our industries to absorb all our able-bodied men (the usual sequence when markets become buoyant)—we find thousands of men on Public Works, thousands in subsidized employment, thousands on sustenance and thousands of men classed as unfit for any employment. As to my thinking production is owned by small share holders, who is responsible for the greater volume of our products? I refer to the products of file dairying industry and frozen meat industry. None other than the fanners who have a good deal to say in what their farms produce except for Government interference. It is sheer nonsense for “Lover of Freedom” to say that capitalists take the savings of the workers (it looks as though the Government intends to have those savings). Capitalists are given the money by the workers who control the company with their votes. I notice that “Lover of Freedom” does not deny that many workers have lost their jobs through not being worth award rates of pay. I wish to thank “Lover of Freedom” for proving my point that many workers have been attracted from the land to public works. His admission that he knows many farmers’ sons who have registered unemployed in order to join the public works aptly proves my contention that there is something radically wrong with recent legislation, and his assurance that the sons and workers will not be allowed to leave, the land and join the public works is also proof that our freedom is being curtailed.— Yours, etc, LET’S HAVE FREEDOM. April 29, 1938.