Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953)(about) |
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Monday 21 March 1932
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CHAINED TO THE PLOUGH. City Cracks the Whip; Driving the, Farmer. A publicity circular issued over the signature' of Paul Cheyne on behalf of. tiheo. Sydney manufactur ers, makes the belated discovery that in the land industries lies the salvation of Australia. Under the .title of "Back to, the Plough," this circylar paints a smug picture of the; value of primary production to ;the'` nation and declares that. tch., 'restoratio. of nAustralia must come from more land production. No thing is said in this remarkable doc ument about the necessity for man ufacturing industries to raise them selves to an exporting basis to help pull Australia out of her trouble. Nothing is said about the necessity for city industrialists to work harder. and increase production. The circular merely pats the fairmer on the head for his great import unce-and adninisters a 'surrep titious kick to drive him on. All through this statement',the cracking of 'the' whip wielded by the city manufacturers and the city indus= trialist echoes, driving the farmer on. "Chained ' to . the Plough", would have been a more apt title for the circular. In. all thd years ivwhile thp farmer has been carrying Australia on his back, these snamec persons have been cracking the whilp to urge him to greater efforts. The 'policies 'they have dictated have robbed him of .the returns from 'his, labor. by. increasing hlis costs of pro duction. " They . have bound his' wrists to the plough by the iron bonds of an iniquitous tariff which has. ruined him, and olosed the fac tories, causing thousands to become workless, thus robbing the country man of his home market, as well as making it impossible for him to compete on a profitable ' basis abroad. If the big manufactur ors are genuine in their views that the land industries are the saviours of Australia, let them, too, take off their coats, increase their exports, and help the country men to remove the shackles .which.. the _high' unie 'onomic tariff places on all industry,. primary and secondary alike. That is the 'test of their sincerity.