The Price of Polities.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18654, 4 June 1932, Page 11 (Supplement)

The Price of Polities.

Evil of State Interference.

(Sir Erne |TT "THAT WOULD THE VICTORIANS \1 / fcave thought of the modern habit \Y' of conference, or the ever popular committee? These devices for ’shelving problems and promoting inactivity [are the peculiar products of the twentieth fcentury. In industry they have reduced us .to our present condition of stagnation. I We have reached a stage when no man (may -do a piece of work until all his fellows have decided how much he shall do, the 'amount he shall charge for it, and ail the detailed terms, conditions and circumstances In which he may be permitted to work at all. * - Not Generals but Constables. Similarly in.trade. We are very near the stage when no manufacturer, merchant or /shopkeeper many consider a transaction of any kind until its terms have been approved by all- other merchants and traders of his class.,,Jn these ways, which, after all, are only minor imitations of the Parliamentary way, we have done our best >to render * human endeavour ineffective. Our leaders instead of being ■ generals leading us into action, resemble more closely constables holding up the traffic. But even more serious is the way in which this conference degradation has robbed us of the leadership.of..the.world. We inherited a position in which the whole world waited for the word of-Britain. Every foreign office hung upon a hint from Downing v.. Street. If there was trouble, lack of liberty or security, risk to life or property in any part of the world, - England could be relied upon to set-the matter-right. It lias remained for us to throw away the great tradition, and to bring ourselves''and .-the rest down to la position where our leaders of industrial Inactivity are allowed to tour the Continent conferring with similar poverty makers abroad to decide between themselves how restrictions, restraints, and every conceivable bar to wealth and exchange may be arranged to the detriment of the world' as a whole. 1 . Spurious Political Money. The money troubles of the post-war period have, for -the most part, arisen from political money—enormous sums which have no relation to any values whatever, written In the ledgers of the nations and called reparations and Inter-allied debts. If the common people would realise that the hard-earned shillings -and sovereigns which they themselves handle in their own little way are rendered less effective, less valuable and more speculative by the presence- in the market of huge sums of spurious political money, all those figures would be wiped out of the world’s ledgers, and money would once again become simply a. medium of exchange, having goods behind it. There is, therefore, no case for political interference with banking, and-no proposal advanced toy any politician is backed with any evidence that it will do any good. While it Is known that our life depends upon our banking service, it is not suggested that banking is inefficient; neither is it suggested that the coat.of jt is too high. ■ b We com'eyv therefore; •to * this- ■conclusion, that the banks must be left free of political influence as; a commercial service, .that the banker must function for. profit, and wish no , other purpose in view. It would indeed be . as dangerous to have the banker turn pdii- ■ tioian as -to allow: the politiqian to .turn.

3t Benn.) , banker. In' the ideal world the hanker will be left to bank, .the economist will return to his cloisters and keep his records for the • benefit of posterity; 'recognising that his business is rather that of historian than of tipster, and the politician will return to his appropriate function of preserving the people’s ,liberties. Rubbish about Equality. All the popular rubbish about equality goes by the board when two or three people get together. Equality-is a very -pleasant theory, but in practice . the great majority of people have no desire, indeed are determined not to be, equal. Few want to be on ' top, others -are incapable -of leaving the bottom, and most desire for > -themselves a comfortable position half-way up or down {■Jig 'SC&I 6. The ordinary person does not want to lead nor does he want to be down and under. Putting his requirements into proper order, he would probably first ask for a good, thick stratum of society which he can regard as inferior to hims,e.lf, and next for a thin layer of superior beings above him who can save him the trouble of doing too much thinking, -and- who possess .sufficient energy or sparkle to make him feel that he is adequately served in such little leadership as -he needs. Individual Does the Making. Public authority can own, but it cannot make. It only owns what it can extract by force from the individual who does the making. Public ownership, therefore, acts as a discouragement to those invaluable citizens who are by nature makers of wealth, and encourages the incompetents, the parasites, the passengers, the incapables and the pauper-minded. I have said that before you can own wealth or property, it must be made, but there is a third consideration —It must be cared for, preserved, maintained, and guarded from depreciation. A public authority, which has confiscated —for all taxation is confiscation —which has confiscated wealth, values it so lightly and cares so little , for it-, that it will throw it away on the slightest provocation The civilisation of each generation through the whole history has rested upon the private property made, 'Owned and cared for, by the previous generation. There is no exception to this universal and agelong experience. Ba.ck to Prosperity and Progress. On , the other hand, each generation has been handicapped with- the debts of (its forefathers, represented only by the blunders of public ownership. The private individual tends always to acquire wealth —real wealth—which remains in the community for its comfort. No community has ever acquired anything ' worth mentioning but debts—the opposite of wealth ... The-,argument, therefore, boils down to ■ this: the economically perfect' society wants the maximum of wealth—houses, railways, electricity'plants, steamships, machines, and numbers of- other -things. All experience shows that, the/ private individual through •ownership'; /is/;t)ie/ onTy/lageffit bihat can be He make's them he cares for them,’ and he passes them on, free of debt, to the next 'generation. When,, and O.nly when, these principlesare again allowed to guMe public affairs/ will the world return to Ijhc path of economic prosperity and process.