Supply and Demand.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4771, 11 October 1893, Page 1

Supply and Demand.

A c*bi' reß P on d6 n t of *^c Sydney Bulletin "thua BcoftV ? fc the law of supply and demand:— , , , „ __, The law of snpiJ v and demand ! Who is the lawgiver ? fa v one of the eternal edicts of God and Nfl^ re? . P oes lfc Emanate from the Bpirit of j^tice and love? Even the daily Press df»«? »?* Affirm such a social blasphemy. T^' s figment in economics is nothing but A caafc iron rule forged in the furnace of rain's greed; a shibboleth of the competitive ayetsm. Sharp, calculating, exact business men, capitalists, employers, all those generally who dori'fc know what want and hunger ace, gloat over the sounding catch phrase. It tickles thorn ; they smack their lips with relish, as they glibly roll out the words. To them, and to them alone, it seems*, a justification for their position and a satisfactory explanation of social troubles, exonerating them from all blame. To the workers it is an all-devouring dragon of desolation. The law of supply and demand is an enactment of the Parliament of Wealth, drafted solely for the parasites of wealth. The propertied classes are responsible for it. It enact 3 all monopolies —of capital, land, and means of production. The rich spawned it, and they administer ifc — nob against themselves, but against the wretched, the depraved, the hungry — against the "men who live in little, houses." It is relentless, arbitrary, and in every way a law of triumphant evil. Therefore, it shouldfee rebelled against and repealed ; and the only way to accomplish this is to so alter existing social arrangements as to give every willing worker an equal opportunity of living ia comfort and independence. The Press-owning syndicates sometimes pretend sympathy for the workers, but they never have an honest and unreserved word to say in support of the cause of the people; they never care a straw about their condition, about improving their homes, health, morals. How should they ? The capitalistic, shopkeeping, interesttaxing,' profifc-mongering classes rule it completely. Its God is Dividend; its. Christ: is Advertisement.