The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1935. PLANNING SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20095, 30 April 1935, Page 6

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1935. PLANNING SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Political peculiarities which the British mind would be excused for regarding as phenomenon are at present causing a disturbing effect in the United States, and any prophecy as to their ultimate result is to a great extent pirevented by their very novelty. On one hand the “uncrowned king” of Louisiana, Senator Huey Long, wages a fierce campaign against the Roosevelt regime and he is partly assisted by the vivid oratory of that influential priest, Father Coughlin. On the other hand, President Roosevelt and his advisers are making a great attempt to explain away the innumerable complications and tlie ramifications of the New Deal, and with this aim in view, they are trying to calm the maelstrom of invective that lias been upsetting his Senate. The cable messages Iliis morning indicate that Mr Roosevelt is “taking to the air” in earnest, in his effort to outgeneral his most active opponents. Between Senator Long, his erstwhile supporter and the President, another campaigner is gathering a , great following. He is Dr. Townsend, an elderly physician, who belongs to Southern California, where lie came In contact with the distress that followed the depression, and to remedy that distress, he is not so much concerned with politics as with spending money. In a nutshell, his plan is to tax all financial transactions and by so doing, collect some 24,000 million dollars, which he would distribute as old age pensions to all citizens over sixty. Townsendiarism, the name that has been given to the doctor’s startling plan, has, so it is stated, received the signatures of 15,000,000 Americans. This plan cannot, therefore, be regarded as a small matter. Dr. Townsend has no connection with the other “leaders,” but even though they directly include politics in their compaigns, their aspirations are somewhat similar to his in that they too advocate currency changes. Father Coughlin strongly denounces the League of Nations, and in his lively oratory he connects it with the ‘money power,” so to him, in some measure must he attributed part of the responsibility for the rejection of the proposal that the United States should become a member of the League of Nations. The radio now plays a very important part in Americnn*politics, and over it Father Coughlin exerts his oratorial powers to great advantage. After he has delivered a fervent address he asks his listeners to telegraph to Washington their support of his proposals, and in thousands they rush to do his bidding. He demands the nationalisation of credit, in fact, lie seems to be a social credit reformer and millions of his followers have joined his League for Social Justice. Mr Roosevelt is meeting these talkers in their own element. Perhaps the President’s most formidable opponent is the powerful Senator who is the dictator in Louisiana, because he has built up a powerful political machine and he has climbed to his present eminence through the working of that machine. Through the radio and through his following, he has a tremendous influence in the Senate because each American politician must regard all the whims of his electorate. He cannot say as that great British orator, Edmund Burke once said, “I am a Member of Parliament, not Member for Bath.” If even a small section of li is electorate loudly supports some nebulous theory while the rest is silent, he must he ready to vote for their proposals in the Senate, or otherwise apparently, he must be prepared to lose his seat. Seemingly to nobody is that fact better known than to the American politicians themselves, and wlple President Roosevelt played on it with his New Deal, Senator Long played on it with the proposals extolled in liis autobiography, “Every Man a King.” By a capital levy of 10,000 million dollars to work a “share of the wealth scheme,” so he says, even the humblest citizen could follow in his footsteps and become a king. Perhaps to a Britisher none of the schemes from that advocated by tlie President downwards is entirely understandable, and perhaps none is entirely plain to the mass of the American people. The fact seems to remain, however, that in the near future the New Deal will be reshuffled and moreover, there seems to he no dearth of people standing by ready and willing to take a hand in that work.

THE MUNICIPAL YEAR. Although the Mayor of Timaru in (lie comprehensive review of I lie two years’ work of the Borough Council, which he presented at the final meeting of that municipal authority last night, conveyed his expressions of thanks and appreciation to his councillors, the municipal officials and members of the staffs, for the splendid team work in tlie interests of the borough, which has yielded such commendable results, it can be said without exaggeration that the thanks of the people of Timaru are due to Ihe Mayor and Councillors for the efficient and dignified manner in which the work of the borough has been performed during the administrative term of the

Council now going out of office. In the review of the two years’ activities of the Council the Mayor presented last night, credit is modestly yet justifiably claimed for the municipal administrators for the efforts they made to keep the borough in the forefront of municipal progress. It is not often, however, that local governing bodies, or any governing bodies, for that matter, can look back over their term of office and claim that every pre-election promise has been redeemed. The Timaru Borough Council is in that happy position to-day. The Mayor was elected upon definite pledges to restore and preserve dignity in the deliberations of the Council; to embark upon a progressive policy; to bring about reductions in the general rate; to keep the finances of the borough on a sound and safe basis; and not to add to the indebtedness of the borough. The review of the administrative work of the Council presented by the Mayor last night, and the comprehensive statement on the financial operations of the municipal authority during the past year, furnish indisputable evidence of the efficiency of the administration of borough affairs during the period of office now drawing to a close, and to the completeness with which the Mayor’s pledges had been redeemed. The borough finances have been capably administered and a modest surplus will be handed on to the next Council as a financial nest egg which will be found useful in meeting the pressing needs of the early days of the current financial year. From ail points of view, the finances are in a very satisfactory condition. Loan conversions have been most capably handled by the borough officers, while the needs of the town in relation to an efficient omnibus service and cheaper supplies of electrical energy have been met on sound lines. Moreover, it can be said that the aesthetic requirements of the borough have not been overlooked ; indeed, one noble monument to tlie splendid work of 1 lie borough administrators is the new debt-free clock' tower which is now the proud possession of the borough. While it is not claimed that the municipal administrators have been able to translate all their dreams and aspirations into material form, it can be said that within the limitations of the borough purse, tlie Mayor and Councillors have carried out a modestly progressive policy which has yielded most commendable results. Through days of difficulty the municipal authorities held the finances of the borough on an even keel; they have conducted the affairs of the municipality with dignified efficiency; the Mayor and Mayoress have most capably discharged the social obligations associated with the exalted position of first citizens of the borough, while councillors, officers and staff have pulled together most effectively in the work of keeping Timaru in the front line of the progressive municipalities of the Dominion. CHANGE FOR THE WORSE. One phase of experimental legislation in relation to the local administration of primary education, the former Minister of Education placed on the statute book, has yielded negative results. We refer, of course, to the amendment of the Education Act, sponsored by the (Minister that cancels tlie annual election of members of school committees and the substitution thereof of an election every two years. It is worthy of note that members of every school committee worth their salt, from end to end of New Zealand expressed disapproval of the change insisted on by the (Minister. From the outset it was suggested that such a change in the long-lived arrangement which eliminated the annual election of members of school committees would tend to destroy local interest in the schools. The first annual meetings of householders under the new legislation were held last night, and if the experiences of the Timaru town schools can be regarded as any criterion of the general attitude of the people, then the legislative change •has little to recommend it. The meetings were very poorly attended; local interest in the annual report on the school activities was practically reduced to zero, and outside the members of the committee who felt it their duty to attend, there were very few members of the community who bothered to put in an appearance. The proposal endorsed by the Federation of School Committee Associations suggested the retirement annually of half the members of the committee (or the nearest lessor number). The idea was to preserve a continuity of membership, and yet to mainiain local interest in the school by providing for an election of a proportion of ihe members of the school committee every year.