The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1921. CHALLENGE TO CAPITALISM

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14603, 2 March 1921, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1921. CHALLENGE TO CAPITALISM

It would be idle to pretend to misread the events which are taking place to-day both in the Dominion and in the neighbouring Commonwealth of Australia. The conference of unions in Melbourne which has resulted in the formation of a Council of Action furnishes the most direct evidence of a determination on the part of at least a section of Labour to challenge Capitalism in the hope of ending the existing economic system. The lime may now have arrived wli*n it is no logger sufficient for Capitalism to resent the attack passively, and remain merely on the defensive. It will bo incumbent then upon capitalists themselves to justify a system which they believe to bo not only the best in the interests of all classes, but the only possible system under which Western civilisation and culture may be preserved and maintained. This argument is forcefully elaborated by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Birkenhead, in the first of two articles recently contributed by him to the Daily Telegraph. He joins issue vdth those advocates of Socialism who. like Mr .T. 11. Thomas, predict that “when Labour rules” there will profiteers, no slums, no unemployment, no hungry children,” the suggestion being that these, and other kindred evils are the direct res 'I of the private ownership of capital and the conduct of business by private enterprise. Lord Birkenhead carries the war into the enemy’s country by affirming his conviction that the destruction of Capitalism would be productive of more profiteers, more slums, more unemployment, and more hungry children than the existing order lias ever witnessed. He calls for a united effort, not to abolish Capitalism, but so to improve it that, the evils and injustices in which has originated a prolific crop of isms— Socialism, Collectivism. Etatism, Communism. Guild-Socialism, Syndicalism, and Sovietism —may be abolished or at least be reduced to a minimum. While he warns the public against the danger of underestimating the power and persistence of the attack on Capitalism, he prgues that it is possible to demonstrate tc the point of proof that in its larger aspects and results the system is an Incomparable triumph of human skill and foresight. The success of (lie Socialistic attack is largely due to skilful propaganda, which has rendered the revolutionary gospel somewhat atlrac-

five to the man in the street. Propaganda of this kind cannot, be effectively (net by mere denunciation. It must be countered by propaganda of another *rt. “The philosophic defence of Capitalism,” says Cord Birkenhead, "is not enough.” It should be possible to advance facts and arguments to prove that not selfishness nor conservatism is the reason for supporting the existing order, but that the advocacy of it Is actually in the interests of the working classes. The first point to he gained Is a general assent on the part of all classes of the community that “the private ownership of industrial capital and the private management -of business under the stimulus of the personal gains to be reaped from success arc, essential conditions of the economic well-being of all classes, and above all of the working classes.” These fundamental principles once established, it rests largely with the capitalists to show forth the desirability of a positive programme which shall appeal to practically-minded people as both obtainable and desirable here, and now for the immediate benefit of those us living to-day. Lord Birkenhead concludes: “The chief mark of this programme, as I see It, is that it shall not consist of changes which statesmen ar? to offer to, or force on, both employers and employed, but of changes which both these great classes have agreed to demand from ttyc statesmen. Its inspiration must not be found in the > Cahinot-ropm and on the Green Benches, but in the mills of Lancashire, the mines of South Wales, the shipyards of the Clyde, the blast furnaces of Middlesbrough, the weaving sheds of the West Riding, and the workshops of Birmingham. It must be born in the city, not in Whitehall. It must have engraven on it the seal and token of immediate success—viz., that it is the expression in legislation of the minds of the people.” In other words Lord Birkenhead sends out a call for peace in place of the prevalent and it is a call to which the people of New Zealand will do well to give heed. The path to prosperity is the path of increased production, and capital is a potent weapon in increasing the product of industry-