SOCIAL CREDIT

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19665, 27 August 1935, Page 9

SOCIAL CREDIT

DOUGLAS OUTDONE. ABERHART’S PROMISES. THE CAMPAIGN IN ALBERTA. (From a Correspondent.) VANCOUVER, August 2. Out ot the avalanche of political disaster that is sweeping away one Conservative Government after another throughout Canada has emerge a tense interest in the Social Credit campaign of Alberta. . The Socia, Credit messlah, Major C. H. Douglas, after recommending to the Government preliminary steps for implementing his system, departed for England to think things over, leaving the field to a fervid disciple, William Aberhart, who has outmastered the master in his gospel of social salvation. “Five pounds a month for every Alberta adult,” cries Mr Aberhart. Where he will get this financial ration from he has noL clearly explained, hut thousands of hard-hit farmers will vote for him and his party in the election on August 22. This year is going down as the year of most elections and biggest political upsets in Canadian history. The avalanche started last year, w'hen the Liberals with radical leanings swept the old-time ConservatHe Government from office in staid Ontario. s Opposing Parties.

Alberta has its Conservative and Liberal and Farmer Parties. These have been opposing each other for the last 14 years, with the Farmer group continuously holding office. Two sensational divorce cases, one Involving a Premier, Mr Brownlee, led to reorganisation last year, and a new Farmer leader, Mr R. G. Reid, assumed the Premiership. For tills election there are four new groups. Labour has reorganised, and Communism has raised its head. Then there are ofllcial Douglas Social Credit candidates, and another far more powerful group of Social Creditors who prefer to fight under the Aberhart rather than the Douglas banner. It is this Aberhart group which is causing real alarm among the older parties. i William Aberhart, described as the] “Father Coughlan of Alberta,” is a High School teacher, 55 years old. He campaigns largely by radio, mixes religion with his politics, and claims that his Sunday School class is the largest In the world. Mr Aberhart s platform, the principal feature of which Is a promise of a credit issue of £5 a month for every Alberta adult, Is denounced as fantastic by | other parties, but this does not alter the fact that it has a great appeal among the population of poor farmers,, a large percentage of whom are foreign born.

Invitation to Major Douglas. Mr Aberhart’s propaganda made such headway that the Alberta Government decided last January to invite Major Douglas himself to the province, hoping that he would divert the public towards true Social Creditism, denounce 'Mr Aberhart, and eliminate him as a serious contender In the coming elections. They gave Major Douglas a handsome retainer, j Under orders from the Government Major Douglas conducted a sui-vey, ( then reported upholding his own theories, but failed to deliver the ex- i pected drastic exposure of the Aberhart plan. Finally, Major Douglas returned to England, leaving Mr Aberhart In possession of the Held. Douglas Plan, Major Douglas recommended to the Government the following preliminary steps for implementing the Social Credit system:— 1. The systematic provision of a news circulation system under the unchallengeable control of the Province, particularly in regard to radio 1 facilities of sufficient power to cover a wide geographical area. 2. The organisation of some Credit Institution, either under the Dominion j Bank Act or otherwise, which will give access to the creation of effective demand through the credit system, on principles already well recognised and established. 3. Systematic organisation directed to tho accumulation of what may ho termed “ foreign exchange”—that is, i effective demand not subject to attack as being recognisable as having been created within the Province. . Ultimate objectives, however, Major Douglas pointed out, could only be attained by access to control of local credit. Therein, apparently, lies Mr Aberhart’s problem, too. £5 Puzzle. Where he will get his £5 a month without taking over the banking facilities, which are under Federal Jurisdiction, and therefore beyond his control, remains a puzzle to opposing parties. He appears to be adopting the “just price” discount In the Douglas plan, and he would set this just price so far above the cost of the production of wheat that the difference between the two would oreate a fund from which a £5 a month dividend would be paid. The cables last week stated that the advocates of Douglas Social Credit had a sweeping victory in the elections.