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FINANCE AND WAR.
To the Editor.
Sir Although Mr. Shearer may consider
that my remarks are but "'an effusion of
platitudes 60 years old regarding donation
of shipowners and money-lenders," they
are nevertheless true. And these alleged
Free-trade fallacies- will be true in another
60 years, when Mr. Shearer's Protectionist
dogmas are discredited. Economic laws do
not vary with time or place. Truth survives
all criticism. Mr. Shearer's sneer
about a nation of shipowners and money-
lenders" is altogether unwarranted, but "it
is the usual custom of Protectionists to cast
slurs on Great Britain as a manufacturing
nation. They do not care to admit the
fact that in the matter of manufactured
goods Great Britain outstrips all her rivals,
despite the for that she was not adopted
the policy so dear to the hearts of the
Protectionists. Air. Shearer refers to the
huge amount paid to charity in Germany,
and evidently thinks this is something to
be proud of. I think it is the reverse.
Such a huge payment is an indication that
the people of Germany do not get justice;
that is, they do not get the proceeds of
their labor, otherwise there would be no
need for this dispensation of charity. Ger-
many is suffering from the curse of landlordism,
militarism, and Protection; the
three great evils which afflict society to-day.
The people of Germany are robbed
of their natural rights to give special privilege
to a favored few, They have to sacrifice
their freedom and live under conditions
which are a disgrace to any civilisation.
If Mr. Shearer and his friends are
successful in getting a further dose of
Protection fastened upon the people of
Australia it will not be long before our
workers are reduced to the level of the
German workers, and we shall then, no
doubt, have the pleasing (?) sight of ses
ing our manufacturers dispensing lavish
charity on German lines from the bank
balances which have been swollen with ill
gotten gains. Although I may not be able
to pose as an expert on the question of
trade. 'I think I may fairly claim to understand
the rudiments-." I am sufficiently
acquainted with trade to know that when,
it is free both buyer and seller are satisfied,
and that when one side gets a prize
legeKby means of "Protection" the buyer
has to suffer, and not the manufacturer.
He gera more than a legitimate price for;
the article sold. In financial matters" I
am old-fashioned, enough to believe we
could get on very well in Australia Aviti
out loans. All we need do is to collect
the economic rent of land into the public;
Treasury, and we should then have an
inexhaustible fund from which to draw to
meet the expenses, of government. Such a
method of financing would aid production
and benefit allies am, etc.,,
E. J. CRAIGIE.
Sir-Mr. Craigie, writes against a higher
tariff on farm implements, which would
enable firms manufacturing these implements
to work their plants at a profit,
on the ground that it would increase
the cost of wheat production. Of course
no one will contradict Mr. Craigie on
that point, but I would ask him to
look a little deeper into the matter.
Would it not be better to buy from the
local firm who are employing labor in
our own country than to buy from the
foreign manufacturer, who employs no
labor here? By buying from our own
firms Ave keep the money in the country;
it goes to pay our own workmen,
in turn passing on to the shopkeeper, and
so on, always remaining in the country,
whereas in the other case it goes to
swell the coffers of some other country
that will very probably make war on us
Some day. I don't suppose even Mr.
Craigie would entertain for one, moment
the idea that we, with our fair conditions
and living wages, could compete
with the Sweated conditions and low
wages of the foreign manufacturer. Also,
Mr. 'Craigie points out that goods are
paid for with goods, and not with
money. This is true to a certain extent,
but what about the balance? This
has to be settled in good yellow gold,
and in this fair land, where we import
much more than we export, the balance
is considerable, and eventually has to be
squared up from foreign loans. I hope j
Mr. Craigie will see the error of his ways
and set to work to reduce the national
debt by supporting Australian manufactures,
and not leave the burden to i
posterity.
I am, etc.,
THE BOY.
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