DEFINITION OF PROFITEERING.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15238, 27 November 1919, Page 7

DEFINITION OF PROFITEERING.

SOME OE ITS EFFECTS,

In moving in the House or Commons that tho British Profiteering Bill be road a second time, the President of tJie Board of Trade (Sir Auckland Geddes) 1 reviewed the circumstances which call for a measure of tins character, following is ail extract from his speech:.—• The Bill which we have to consider today is a carefully considered measure to deal with, what all thinking men must regard as n serious evil. it contains within it.au implicit definition of profiteering. Perhaps 1 may summarise it a3 follows:—-To profiteer is to make unreasonably large profit, all the circumstances of the case being considered, by the sale to one's fellow-citizens of an article which is one or one of a kind of j common use by or for tiie majority of the population. That is a- very important delinitiofi, because, a.s tne House will observe, it excludes from the purview of the Jlill transactions in' connection with export trade. We have been told on a great many occasions that the word "profiteering U one which is not capable of exact definition. In reply to that 1 may say that there are many words in the Jrill of which no exact definition is possible, vhcr'e the application of the word depends on the reasonable interpretation. The introduction of the word "profiteering" into the language is really sometiling of a landmark, for it mark's an increase- in tho social consciousness. It, shows that people on a large scale, the; populace as a whole, arc realising that! action taken by indivduals for their own benefit may be against the interests of the population a a a whole, and that isj indeed the case with the makiuf of unreasonable profits in connection with articles in common use, or of a kind that i

is m common wso. ]. would like for a moment to consider what are some of the effects of profiteering and what are some of the evils which flow from the making of unreasonable* profits iv the home market, 'liie.se nuiN readily be divided into two sets-, an economic sec of evils.and a social ..set. Tho economic evils affect both our export and our import trade. iOveryoiie will agree that the greatest economic need or this country a& the

present tune .is to stimulate our export trade, to get a greater volume not only in value but in every possible way, direct export iintl re-export. Profiteering has a. very profound effect upon the export trade. Wherever the homo market presents a great opportunity of profit, naturally, as it is more easily reached and more easily observed, the tendency is to concentrate on the home market at the expense of the overseas market, and that is at all times for this country an evil, but at tue p;v:seiik time it is a very great evil, perhaps the greatest single individual cvu winch nows from profiteering. There is another effect. The making of high profits acts as a magnet to draw imports to the country. It is true that at the present time there are import restrictions imposed. It is also true, and it is within the knowledge of this House;, that those import restrictions were imposed in pursuance of a transitional policy which was announced as to terminate or at least us subject to review from Ist Soptem'her. if high prices continue in this country, and high prolate! are obtainable—unreasonably great protits, in some cases unconscionable profits—the pull on imports will be enormously strong, and if that would lead to a great flooding of-this country with unnecessary a nicies and swaying the balance of our tracfc further against us than it is at present, that is an evil which must flow from profiteering Then' the big economic espects of unreasonable prolits are important. Take, For example, a ©ingle transaction. Imagine an import from some country where the exchange is against us, say, of a. couple of million pounds' worth of boots or shoes, if the exchange bo against us, prolits are high. Wo want boots, and we want them as cheap as we can get them, but if the profits are high, whatever amount of the profit is unreasonably high is a dead loss to us from the point of view of exchange, and has its counterpart in the fall of exchange, and, therefore, jn the increase of price which has to be paid for necessaries, which have to be brought across the exchange. It follows beyond the possibility of quo<> tion, that if the exchange is forced down and goods or necessaries have to bo | brought across the exchange, then more j of the currency of this country will have i to be paid for those necessaries These are economic evils, carrying with them in their train social evils, and one of the direct social evils consequent on profiteering is the creation of social j unrest, affecting not only labour but ail j classes of the community. The mere > fact that it is known to the workers that j the employers are perhaps making quite' unreasonable profits is directly deprcs- ■ sing production, and it is a very vital: factor in that depression. ; There is another factor. Never he- j fore in the history of this country have there been so many people who drew ■ their income from the State. No amount of pretending that it does not exist will remove the fact that we have at the present moment a great number of men and women who directly depend upon the Btat^ for the money with which to pay. their way. And if prices are high, unreasona'blv hinh, if unreasonable pro-it elements are included in those prices, itall comes back on to the national purse. It simply means that there is a steaay demand an irresistible demand in the - circumstances as they exist, apparently • a ri"ht demand, that payment from the State shall make, the individuals who are paid by the State capable of buying the necessaries of life. That is at the present time reacting profoundly upon our financial resources. So let us pot minimise, let us not exaggerate-either the. evil etfocts which flow from the making cf unreasonable profits.