SOCIAL CREDIT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20441, 20 October 1934, Page 31 (Supplement)

SOCIAL CREDIT.

Could Have Been Used to Build Waitaki. A QUERY ABOUT A LOAN. (By B. J. HOWARD, M.l* > *J*HERB are a lot of delightful (and otherwise) experiences gained as a result of this weekly article. For instance, last week we received a letter, obviously a fake, asking why

Russia had to try to float a large loan in England, seeing that she could print her own notes and make her own discs. When I say the letter was a fake I mean the writer tried to convey the impression that it was from a group

of working men trying to seek the truth. But the writer adopted all the stage mannerisms of a working man and overdid it. But we will forgive him for that because of the thought he conveyed for the subject of an article. That delightful Chinese, Dr Koo, when he was here recently, said: “To understand the present you must know something of the past.’* And to understand the Russian situation we must know something of the history of Russia. Every man’s behaviour, under any given combination of circumstances, depends largely on habit. The actions, ideas and institutions of any society are the expression of the particular habits of thought. If we could keep that in mind in thinking of Russia we would not go off the deep end every time the publicity man gives us a new item to think over in relation to that country. > Can Be Made in N.Z. I have said, and I repeat, that all that stands between our unemployed and useful work is a little round disc. Those discs can be made in New Zealand, and the machinery set in motion to enable our present workless to provide their own needs.

Let us think of Waitaki and that big dam. With the exception of the machinery, all that went to the building of the dam was here in New Zealand—land, labour, cement, and engineering brains. The machinery we borrowed from England, and it is written in the book as an increase in our national debt. The other things we used we got in New Zealand, and these are written into a book as a debt to the banks of New Zealand. We could have built that dam without going into debt to our banks here if the Government had used social credit instead of letting the banks use our social credit.

In 1891, France and Russia entered into an alliance. Shortly, the alliance was to stand by each other in case of conflict with any other nation. As a result France lent Russia a lot of money—in the form of goods—to help her build railways towards Manchuria. If we watch her railways we can see her expand and get a glimpse of what was in her mind. She wanted to check Japan. So from 16,000 miles in 1885 she increased to 22,000 miles in 1895, to 40,000 in 1905, and 51,000 in 1913, the year before the war. The TransSiberian railway, which took fourteen years to construct, linked Russia with China, and, in a way, with Japan. It opened up a trade in coal, iron, copper, silver, lead and gold. It also operited up oilfields and cottonfields. Russia and Japan.

The story of Russia’s march to the sea front at Port Arthur is a fascinating story to the students of Eastern history. Japan was not taking the matter sitting down, but she played the game according to her own rules. So she thrashed China and retreated on the advice of France, Russia and Germany. But In retreating she took back an indemnity from China, half of which was lent to her by Russia for certain concessions.

At this time, then, Russia was moving east, apparently without opposition. But Japan was biding her time. She found three very strong nations inclined to check her. So in 1902 we find an Anglo-Japanese Alliance taking place. That alliance was really an agreement that if France or Germany should join Russia against Japan, then Britain would help Japan. The logical outcome of that was a war between Japan and Russia in 1904-5, and Russia took the count.

So soon as the Great War took place Japan began to square the ledger. She took all Germany’s possessions in China and all her islands north of the Equator. She occupied Manchuria and notified China that she was under arrest. Since then she has been elbowing Russia to the west, and slowly but surely gaining ground on the mainland. Russia is a vast country. She has all sorts of minds to deal with. There are probably millions in Russia who don’t know that they are a Soviet State, and wouldn’t know the meaning of it. But gradually Russia is being driven into war over her Eastern railways, or else she must eat the leek and pretend she doesn’t care. Borrowing Goods.

Russia, under the Czar, could not tackle the Japs single-handed. Soviet Russia cannot do much better. She could not expect to beat Japan without some support. If she could borrow a large European loan that would almost be as good as an alliance. If she could build up credits in England, apparently for the repair of railways, she could use those credits for munitions. But the gentlemen who lend money only back sure things. Russia owes them money now, from the dav« of the Czar, and so no one will grant her supplies. So to come back to my friend’s

query. Countries do not borrow discs from each other; they borrow goods. Although we speak of a national debt owing overseas, what we really mean is that we borrow goods and services, but our creditors will not let us pay back in goods and services. But we could supply our own needs with our own discs as a medium of exchange. All that prevents us is the pictures in the heads of the people and their habit of thought. They don’t think it could be done.

The United States Government is spending £16,000,000 on a great dam at Fort Peck, at the head of the Missouri. It is half a mile wide at its base and 100 feet wide at its 245-foot high peak. Behind it there is to be created a lake 175 miles long and capable of impounding 19,000,000 acre feet of water. If it achieves the aims of its designers, it will produce a minimum nine-foot depth and an even flow at all times in both the Missouri and the lower Mississippi. It is also expected to restore millions of acres of land along these rivers which are annually wasted by the spring floods.