PROBLEM OVERCOME

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1935, Page 7

PROBLEM OVERCOME

UNEMPLOYMENT OF JAPANESE.

CO-OPERATION PLAN EFFECTIVE.

Replying to questions at an informal meeting of the Ministers’ Association at New Plymouth yesterday, Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese Christian leader and sociologist, whose visit to the Dominion has created much interest, stated that Japan had now almost completely overcome her problem of unemployment. Of the 3,500,000 unemployed in the cities a few years ago, 3,000,000 had returned to agriculture, in which they managed to support themselves. Reproductive relief works had been found for the remainder. A system of co-operative unemployment insurance had also proved remarkably successful, said Dr. Kagawa.. .The casual labour available had been divided into sections, each section being provided with a period of work. Each man in employment provided five sen to a fund on which those who were not working drew, and the employers contributed an equal sum. Co-operativd systems were highly developed and popular in modern Japan, no fewer than 14,450 societies, now operating. The system extended widely in spheres of production and credit. Cooperative credit societies were among the most powerful factors in Japanese finance—so powerful that no rich man could beat them. The price of rice had been stabilised by co-operative effort and the producer was satisfied. Dr. Kagawa also instanced the effectiveness of a remarkable experiment in the United States, where 15,000 members of co-operative guilds in Minneapolis and Minnesota had issue 1 paper script promising to pay in labour for what they received as necessities of life. A central market system, based on barter had been established and within four years 2,000,000 dollars *rorth of “labour” scrip was in circulation—and this without the subscribers having possessed a cent of capital in “real” money.

Questioned if this were not similar in effect to Douglas social credit, Dr. Kagawa said: “No. The Douglas system has no direct on supply and demand. This system had. I do not think the Douglas system would be successful.”