TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays MONDAY, 5th APRIL, 1943 BANKING AND THE STATE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 66, Issue 5601, 5 April 1943, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays MONDAY, 5th APRIL, 1943 BANKING AND THE STATE

DURING the Address-in-Reply debate of the recently-concluded session Mr Langstone had something to say on the subject of banking policy, and brought again to the forefront of political aspirations the theory of a State banking monopoly. It implies a political manipulation of all that is contained within the delicate mechanism of the national credit, involving what has been put forward as a balanced economy based upon the utilisation of the public credit facilities. It is perhaps the most intricate and sensitive of all the prospective polilical experiments. The Mercantile Gazette has probed the theory and exposed its unrealities. The Gazette first of all touches on Mr Langstone’s qualifications and finds him to be only a “ make believe ” in the realm of banking; but, passing more to the serious implications, the deductions reached are of much more than passing concern. “Mr Langstone and those who agree with him,*’ says the Gazette, “ are obviously saturated with the theories propounded by Karl Marx. This German economist advocated State control of means of production, distribution, and exchange; the theory found favour in Germany, where State control has developed into the Hitlerism of to-day. Consciously or unconsciously. Mr Langstone and his colleagues are endeavouring to sow the seeds of Hitlerism. Indeed, we may say that the people have been already inoculated with the germs of Hitlerism in the State control of the Reserve Bank, the control of imports, the control of ■exchange, the control of industries, and the control of marketing.” Such a political drift is'discernible in many directions, and the controls have been extended until there is scant opportunity to escape the governmental influence as it has been steadily expanded in recent years. And there

is strong suspicion that it is more than the war emergency, and, as the Gazette bluntly says, becomes the fulfilment of a political method based upon the German plan. It is certainly a question for the people to ponder for whatever the exigencies of the day may be the possibilities of the future can shape exceedingly alike to the German plan. Just as we have feen a development of the Marxian theory in Germany with the growth of the national socialist movement — the transference of economic power to the ruling political group—so also ' s there been made apparent the loss of the people’s independence. The Gestapo is not an accident: it is an integral part of the plan; and so also is the concentration camp. So

surely as the people forfeited their economic freedom then just as surely must they lose political and social freedom also. At present too many ’ our people fail to heed the implications; they appear wishfully to supnose that tr *• ''rate the socialist state all that is necessary is to eliminate profits, overlooking the fact that for the rank and file, of industry high wages, and the right to strike for them, are equally excluded. A soldier’s pay and a soldier’s discipline for all—that is the model we should bear m mind when there is advocacy of State control of the industries which in their aggregate make up the economic state. “ Banks,” says the Gazette, “ are an integral part of our every-day lives for the stability of the social order and for human progress. They have been developed by man to suit man’s convenience. The basis of the banking system may be expressed in one single word: confidence.” The Gazette then gives a telling reminder of what can happen when politically inspired State control enters. “ A bank controlled by a Government would never command respect, least of all a Labour Government as we have,” says the Gazette. “ For the people would always have before them the unfortunate experience of the wool-growers, who have been compelled to accept a part of their money in non-negotiable bonds.”