The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1916. THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

New Zealand Tablet, 3 February 1916, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1916. THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

fMONGST thinking people it has been a well-founded belief that, though kings and • rulers in the past had been nominally responsible for wars, yet the real wirepullers were the financiers, as for them international conflicts meant times of extra- . ordinary prosperity, whilst for the masses . they meant periods of industrial depression \, and national suffering. The difficulties of natiorfs were the opportunities of capitalists. Nations engaged in war had to provide the money necessary to carry on such conflicts, and, as their treasuries were not often equal to .their ambition, they had to have recourse to , the financial magnates to tide them over their difficulties. This they were only too ready to do at an exorbitant rate of .interest. Countries that have

great difficulty in ordinary times to make their revenue balance their expenditure embark on costly wars without apparently giving a thought as to how they are to be financed, yet, somehow, they get the means without any serious effort. Austria is a case- in point. It is well known that for many years the Dual Empire has been on the verge of bankruptcy, yet, as one of the Central Powers, it has been engaged for a year and a half in the most expensive war the world has ever known. The only way to account for this is that it has been borrowing money wholesale from European financiers at ruinous rates of interest. Even if peace were declared to-morrow, and if Austria were permitted to escape paying an indemnity, it would apparently be an utter impossibility for it to carry on the work of government under the staggering financial burden which its people will be called upon to bear. * In nearly all the wars in which England had been engaged the wealthy classes did not experience any inconvenience, whilst in most cases the industrial classes suffered severely. The present war is, perhaps, the only great conflict in which the British people have been engaged, that a wave of prosperity has reached all classes in the United Kingdom. Returns which were prepared recently showed that most of the manufacturing companies and syndicates were making abnormal profits. Wool-growers, agriculturists, shipowners, ironfounders, cloth manufacturers, and proprietors of coal mines were enjoying a period of prosperity which was unequalled for many years. We know that this was due to the extraordinary and unprecedented expenditure of public money in connection with the war. The National Debt is mounting up at the rate of about five millions sterling a day, and what it will be when peace is declared is impossible to say, and even if we could give a rough estimate in figures, it is not everyone who could realise what such a huge sum would mean. There is one thing that we can understand, and it is this, that the annual interest on our future National Debt will tax the resources of the United Kingdom, and that all classes will have to bear their share in proportion to their ability!. Another disquieting feature of the war is that at its termination there is sure to be great industrial depression throughout Europe, from which the United Kingdom cannot escape. It is contended that Great Britain as a manufacturing country will then be in a position to capture the markets of the world, provided it has not been anticipated by the United States. But, providing that Great Britain will be in a position to extend her manufacturing industries when peace is proclaimed, where will be the benefit should there be no markets for its goods? Every nation engaged in this titanic contest will then have to practise the most rigid economy in order to meet the interest on its public debt. It is very probable that people, instead of indulging in the luxuries of the twentieth century, will have to revert to the simple life of their forefathers of a couple of centuries ago. So far there is no indication that the people of the United Kingdom and its colonies are making any provision for the future. A note of warning as to the necessity of economy has been sounded in Great Britain and Ireland by far-seeing persons as to the conditions which are likely to prevail at the close of the war, but so far it has, generally speaking, fallen on deaf ears. There is, apparently, the customary extravagance amongst the upper classes, and a complete want of thrift amongst the masses. Money and employment are plentiful to-day, and, consequently, the industrial classes trouble not about the morrow. It is only stern necessity that will force them to do that which they should have practised as a precautionary measure. * Sir Gilbert Parker, in the course of a severe arraignment of English extravagance and self-indul-gence, repeats what a woman friend told him about a northern watering-place. ' She said that in the big

hotel filled with people where she was staying the display of diamonds and expensive gowns, with bottles of champagne at dinner every night, made her ashamed of her fellow-countrymen.' Sir Gilbert has a weighty comment on this lavishness: This luxury means that there are people making much money out of the war, even with the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on their profits. They are making more than they did before the war, and they and their women folk forget the horrors of Flanders and the slaughter of the Dardanelles in the self-indulgence of the table and the theatre.' There is another significant statement : 'lt is the people a little higher up who are the cause of waste and of England's bad reputation for production. This much must be said for the industrialists and the labor class that they do get up early and that they do work their honest eight hours a day, or at any rate their eight hours a day. There is a vast population, out of the factories and in the commercial and mercantile world and public employ, who could, by two hours' work more a day, add immensely to the nation's wealth and serve the cause of economy and set free the labor of others.' He adds this: 'As for waste, the waste in the homes of our working people is appalling. It is largely not the fault of the people themselves. In our fanatical individualism we have never organised our social life properly; the poor have never been taught how to cook, to make clothes, to conserve their humble resources, to make the best use of what they have.' .*. His Eminence Cardinal Logue, speaking ' some time ago at a Gaelic festival in Dundalk, emphasised" the necessity of providing for the future. He said: ' I agree thoroughly with a number of people who are moving at present to induce the people to practise thrift and economy. These immense sums of money that are being raised must be paid back with interest, and this interest, according to calculations made as to the cost of the war, will be £150,000,000 sterling.' Hence, when money was plentiful, his Eminence emphasised, it was time they should lay up something for the rainy day, because when the war was over there would be a slump. They would be taxed for the war, and if the people wasted now there would be a terrible reckoning hereafter. This was a thing that could not be too prominently kept before the minds of the people at the present time. * We in New Zealand should take this warning to heart. This Dominion is at present enjoying an unprecedented period of prosperity, owing to the great demand for our staple products, but should industrial depression set in in Great Britain our markets would be restricted, and the prices of frozen meat, butter, cheese, and wool would suffer a set-back which would react on all classes in the community.