NEW TIM ES THE

THE
NEW TIM ES
A NON-PARTY, NON-SECTARIAN, WEEKLY NEWSPAPER EXPOSING THE CAUSES, THE INSTITUTIONS, AND
THE INDIVIDU ALS THAT KEEP US POOR IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY
Vol.4. No. 28.
MELBOURNE, FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1938.
Every Friday, 3d.
WHEN WILL
LABORITES
W AKE UP?
How To Spend The Fed. Surplus
A N T I-L IQ U O R S O B -S T U F F
U.S. Treasury's Madness
The Challenge Of Youth
Page Two
New Times
SHOPPING
GUIDE
and Business
Directory
PATRONISE THESE
ADVERTISERS.
Their advertisement helps your
paper. Say you saw it in the "New
Times."
GENERAL
INDUSTRIAL ADHESIVES Pty.
Ltd., 155 Yarra St. Cold Glues,
Dextrine.
"LEUKOL." By far the most up-todate Toothpaste. No Toothache .
No Extr actions. No Pyorr hea.
80,000 packages gold without advertising. Send 2/- to W. Winford,
Waterdale Rd., N.21.
THE NEW TIMES
A n ti-L iq u o r S o b -S tu ff
At first sight it would appear
that the supporters of No Licence
in the forthcoming poll are persons of high principle, determined
to save mankind from the evil
effects of alcohol, but otherwise
having no axe to grind. There is
obviously a difference between trying to induce others to do something, and pleading with them not
to do something. In the first case,
one immediately suspects the existence of an ulterior motive, some
interest which will be furthered if
the appeal to action succeeds. This
is of course, the basis of almost
all advertising, which consists essentially of an appeal to the reader
to buy or use the product or the
services of the advertiser.
In the case of the advocates of
abolit ion, or prohibition, as it
might , and perhaps shou ld, be
called, it wou ld seem that the
motive is one of principle rather
than of self-in terest; but th is is
not n ecessarily so, as a litt le
thought will clearly show.
Who
Benefits
Prohibition?
MELBOURNE
AB BOT SF ORD .
HOLLINS, A. R., 406 Victoria St.
Motor Repairs of all kinds. J 2047.
ALBERT P ARK.
GROCERIES. C. Paten (cor. Page &
Boyd Sts.).
Wood, Coal & Coke.
Orders called for and delivered.
ASCOT VALE.
A. J. AMESS, 390 Mt Alexander Rd.
(Next Tram Sheds.) Motor Garage.
Just Price Discount—Repairs and
Supplies.
AUBURN.
BLACK CAT LIBRARY and Ladies
Hairdrsr. 639 Burw'd Rd. Haw. 1779
B L A C KB U R N .
“ A" GRADE MOTOR ENGINEERS
Station Garage, Whitehorse Road. WX
1490.
HAIRDRESSER and Tobacconist.
Ladies' and Gents.'. Wright, 122
South Parade.
MOTOR REPAIRS, Straton’s. Better
Service. Lower Cost. WX 2748.
PAINTER, PAPERHANGER, etc. G.
B. COLLIER, 8 Wolseley Cres.
BOX HILL .
ALL Electrical and Radio Needs. G.
G. Foster, W'horse Rd. WX2681.
BOOT REPAIRS. Work Guaranteed
W. Tolley, 97B W'horse Road.
BOX HILL FURNISHING CO. 247-9
Station St. Cash or Terms.
CHAS. L. COX, TAILOR. Men's
and Boys' Wear. 286 Station St.
CHEMIST. F. Cheshire, For Your
Prescriptions. 270 Station Street.
COOL DRINKS, Sweets, Smokes. R.
Dannock, 1124 Whitehorse Road.
CYCLE SHOP and Oxywelding.
"Alwin" Station St., South of Rly.
DRAPERY. For Smart Styles and a
Fair Deal, TAIT'S Corner Stores
DRESSMAKER. Mrs. Evans. Station
St., opp. Baptist Church.
ELECTRICAL & RADIO. Holliday.
Opp Stn. Sales, Repairs. WX 2677.
FURNITURE REMOVERS.
Gill Bros., 264 Station St. WX2073
GROCER, W. M. Anderson, 14 Main
St. WX 1233.
HAIRDRESSER and Tobacconist. L.
Larsen, Station St., opp. Gilpin's.
ICE & FUEL. J. Underwood. 440 &
770 Station Street. WX 2547.
IRONMONGER & SPORTS STORE F.
P. Park, 10 Maim St. WX1290.
MARS LAUNDRY CO. WX 2662 Pick
up & Deliver. Quality G'teed.
RENNIE'S BLUE TAXIS. WX1946 City
Prices. Day and Night Service
TAILOR, J. G. Penson, 227 Station
Street. Suits Hand Made from 95/-.
W. A. MOODY, 1014 W'horse Rd.
Fruit, Vegetables Delivered Daily.
WATCHMAKER
and
Jeweller.
Barnes. 32 Main Street. Repairs.
BRUNSWICK.
"FAMOUS
FOR
BEAUTIFUL
WAVES." Miss Townsend, 42 Sydney Road. FW 1986.
G. W. TOWNSEND. Your Hairdresser
and Tobacconist is at 46 Sydney
Road. Look for the Neon Sign.
CAMBERWELL.
SPORTS DEPOT & Leather Goods.
E. Goslin, 777 Burke Rd. Haw. 4900.
CARNEGIE.
P.
A.
McWHINNEY,
Grocer,
Confectioner. Opposite State School.
CITY
Health Service & Store Free
dietetic advice. 300 Lt. Collins
St. C 5001.
(Continued on page 3)
JULY 15 1938.
by
It is n ot difficult to see th at
there are certain interests which will
benefit materially if prohibition is
carried in the poll on October 8
next. The history of proh ibit ion
in America immediately provides
information on this point. The
makers of sweets and soft drinks
are beneficiaries in the direct line
of inheritance; and it would not be
surprising to find that they supported wholeheartedly the campaign to abolish the sale of a product which is in direct competition
with their own.
The same applies to the makers
of luxury lines and the h igher
grades of ordinary merchandise.
The diversion from the purchase
of alcoholic liquor of that part of
the national income ordinarily
absorbed in that way means the
possibility of increased sales for
products which were previously a
little out of reach of the average
buyer.
Why Resort to SobStuff?
Sufficient has been said to show
that the prohibitionists are not
necessarily disinterested from a
material point of view. Let us,
however, assume for the moment
that the majority of them are, in
fact, supporting the no-licence case
from the highest of principles and
the purest of motives. Then wh y
is it that, in their campaign, they
should resort to tactics which are
straight-out sob-stuff and fearadvertising of the most insidious
kind?
Regarded from the standpoint of
principle, they have a strong case
if it is properly presented; and it
is most unfortunate that they
should deliberately abandon the
appeal to reason in favour of the
appeal to sentiment and fear. We
are not prepared to admit that it
is legitimate to work evil, in order
that good may result. Dirty tactics cannot be justified by the
cleanliness of the objective or of
the motive; otherwise political
assassinations, and organisations
li k e t he Ku Klu x Kl an or t h e
New Guard would become more
and more prevalent, to the obvious
detriment of the rule of law.
In the case of the prohibitionist,
this argument has especial force,
since he is, by his attitude, placing himself on a pedestal of virtue;
and it is not seeml y that that
pedestal should have an unstable
foundation of deception, halftruths or lies.
The Methodist
Service Dodger
Social
These strictures, if they may be
so regarded, have been generated
by a dodger distributed by the
Methodist
Social
Service
Department. It bears on the front
page a photograph of a baby boy
with the following letterpress:
MOTHER!
VOTE FOR ME,
NOT FOR THE BREWER.
On the inside pages are a series
of statements which may be true
as far as they go, but which are in
essence an unfair presentation of
one aspect of the prohibition question as if it were the whole case.
We have no brief for the liquor
in terests in th is matter, but we
have the self-imposed duty of unmasking false arguments and deception in matters of public interest, whenever and wherever occurring, and irrespective of by whom
or in whose interests they are presented. This we regard as one of
the proper functions of this paper.
We do not con sider it to be
either fair or scrupulously honest
to state on the back page of the
dodger that "The question you have
to decide is whether you will vote
for your child or the brewer." It
would be equally unfair to refer
to Methodists, who authorised the
publication, as "Metho-dists," and
to suggest that a vote for the drys
is a vot e for th e dist il ler. An d
yet, one of the results of prohibition in America was an increase in
the activities of the distilleries, lawful as well as illicit.
Again, it may be perfectly true
that, as the dodger states, the
breweries in Victoria employ less
than three-fifths of one per cent,
of the persons employed in factories. In fact, they employ directly 1258 persons, and pay them
wages totalling £423,000 per annum. Th is may n ot seem very
great, but it is only part of the
picture. The brewers use 836,000
bushels of malt, 729,000 lbs. of
hops and 100,440 cwt. of sugar
each year. If they are put out of
business, the producers of these
commodities, and the workers employed by them will be to some
extent affected. Sim ilarly, there
are other allied trades which depend in part upon the custom of
the breweries for their existence.
Furthermore, a successful "Yes"
vote will not only put the brewers
ou t of bu siness. There are also
the vignerons and all those who
are connected directly or indirectly
with the production and marketing
of win e. In Victor ia there are
over 41,000 acres of vineyards,
an d the w in e output exceeds
1,680,000 gallons per annum. Prohibition would hit th is industry
with the sam e force as it wou ld
hit the brewers, who alone have
been singled out by the Methodist
Social Service Department for
attack.
The Proper Course
Enough has been said to show
that our adverse comment on the
Methodist dodger is not without
reasonable grounds. What we are
unable to understand is why it
should be necessary to stoop to
any deception in putting the case
for prohibition. A genuine appeal
on the facts could be made, and
the strongest possible case made
out for the liquor in terests to
answer. It is not the easiest thing
in the world to justify an industry
which is intrinsically likely to
injure the community, and which
needs the most stringent regulation
and supervision to prevent it from
getting out of hand. If the main
arguments in favour of prohibition
were marshalled in a clear and
concise way, and addressed to the
men, as well as the women, of
Victoria, it is probable that far
more satisfactory results would be
obtained at the poll than will be
secured by methods that are questionable. We have known many
men who are not total abstainers,
but who would willingly deny
themselves the pleasure they derive
from the moderate use of alcoholic
liquors, if they believed that by
so doing they would help others
who have not sufficient strength
of mind to be moderate.
Is
Prohibition
Remedy?
the
Before considering prohibition as a
remedy for the evils resulting from
the improper use of intoxicants, it
would be as well to ascertain, if poss-
ible, why human beings should turn
so readily to the use of
stimulants and narcotics, when
they are practically unknown to
other members of the an imal
kingdom.
As a general proposition, it may
be said that the almost universal
use of alcohol, in some form or
another, in uncivilised, as well as
civilised, communities, is due to
the fact that man has developed
thinking and reasoning faculties
which the other animals do not
possess. The use of these faculties has brought with it an increased sensitivity and a capacity
for suffering other than purely
physical suffering. The discovery
of the existence of substances
which will induce forgetfulness or
supply an extra stimulus in times
of stress has offered a temporary
escape from suffering which has
been readily accepted. Thus we
see that not only alcohol, but other
stimulants, and also narcotics are
known to, and used by, practically
every race in the world.
Coming down to the present day,
it is noticeable that the main effect
of the progress which we call
civilisation is to increase sensitivity and nervous strain to such an
extent that nervous disorders and
nervous afflictions of all kinds are
almost universal in their incidence.
This has automatically resulted in
an increased recourse to stimulants
and narcotics as the only way in
which the human mechanism can
keep pace with th e in creasing
tempo of life.
If these brief statements of the
position are in any way true, the
question must arise as to whether
it is wise or politic to refuse the
people access to this means of
temporary alleviation of a strain
which might otherwise be unbearable. There is also to be considered the question of whether it
might not be possible to lighten
the burden by some radical change
in the customary mode of living,
and in that way make it less necessar y t o r eso r t t o st im u li o r
anodynes. These are very important questions which it is most desirable should not be obscured by
the raising of moral issues, as is
likely in the prohibition controversy.
One Grave Objection
There is one grave objection to
prohibition , the importance of
which cannot be over-emphasised
—that is, that abolition of the sale
of intoxicants would constitute a
very serious encroachment upon
such liberty of action as the individual still retains.
Our ancestors fought long and
hard to secure for themselves and
for those who were to come after
as much individual liberty as might
be consistent with the best interests
of the group. The principle
governing communal life, under
English law, is that each person
in the community has absolute
freedom of thought, speech and
action, subject to certain definite
restrictions. Theoretically, these
restrictions have been agreed to
by the individual, although, in fact,
they are imposed by the majorit y
upon the minority often in the face
of strenuous opposition. Except
where any such restriction applies,
the individual is accountable to no
one but himself—that is, leaving
theology aside. If, for example,
he cares to amputate his foot, there
is n oth ing to s t op h im. If h e
wishes to drink h imself into a
stupor, in the privacy of his own
home, none can lawfully object.
Maybe some of these rights and
privileges are not in themselves
very precious. We should, however, pause and consider well before we agree to any further
restrictions when so many—
perhaps too many—have already
been accepted without the necessity
for their imposition having been
clearly established.
A Dangerous
Precedent
The placid acceptance of any
further
restrictions
establishes
precedent, and thereby paves the
way for more. Eventually the
position may well arise that we
must justify each privilege which
we wish to retain, instead of having
merely to contest any new
restriction which it may be sought
to impose on us. That would be a
complete reversal of the proper
position, and is not so remote a
possibility as it ma y seem. This
is particularl y so if we remain
supine in the face of the current
tendency of our bureaucrats to sidetrack Parliament and rule by
regulations, which Parliament often has
never seen and over which the courts
have no control or supervision.
In any event, if we have in our
argument
pursued possibility to
rather
extreme
limits, the
objection that new restrictions tend
to form
undesirable
precedents
both valid and grave. If not
forced to justify each and every
privilege we may in the very near
future, should prohibition be carried,
be put upon the defensive against
onslaughts against other practices
less
noxious
but
still
objectionable in the eyes of a section of the community which is
intent upon saving us from ourselves, despite ourselves.
Briefly put, it amounts to this
To-day it is beer.
What will it
be to-morrow—tobacco, horseracing,
aluminium saucepans? Can we
afford to allow this tendency to
flourish unchecked, or should we
not nip it in the bud before it is
too late? That is, we submit, the
most vital aspect of this matter
and it is to this aspect that we
would draw the attention of the
electors of Victoria in the coming
poll.
__________________
THE FULNESS OF
THE EARTH
On the Atlantic Coast of the
Uni t ed S t at e s is a ch e mi cal
works which obtains bromine from
the sea-water, for use as an antiknock dope for motor c engines.
In four years of operation one
square mile of water 354 feet
deep has been treated, and this
volume of water were other
chemicals turned back, yet which
would have a market value
current prices of £79,000,000
Among these were 7,600,000 tons
of common salt, 1,930,000 tons
Epsom salts; 10½ tons of iodine
495 tons of aluminium; 520 tons
iron; 33 tons of copper; 420,000 tons
of calcium chloride; 5½ tons silver;
174,000 tons of magnesium;
and 3½ cwt. of gold.
This is just a small part of the
world 's re al wealth. And think
of the profusion of the vegetable
and animal life which a piece land
of the same di mensi on cou ld
su p por t . Is t h ere th e slightest
reason wh y a single member of
the earth's community should go
in want of food clothes, shelter
and security?
M R . B U S I N E S S M A N ..............
an advertisement in this paper will bring
you in direct contact with buyers who are
appreciative of VALUE………………
PHONE M 5384 AND APPROACH THEM.
TH E NE W TIM ES
JULY 15, 1938.
R . G . M E N Z IE S A N D T H E E M P IR E 'S
S E C R E T V O IC E
Page Three
E D U C A T IO N
________
B y H AR R Y E LM E R B AR N E S , P h .D ., in "C o lu mn R e v iew . "
By H.A.H.
The world to-day finds itself in a
We are exceedingly pleased to lems, if we are to have an effective serious social, economic, and
see that the Federal member for Empire voice at the right moment, po litical crisis. Matters can not
Kooyong, Mr. R. G. Menzies, is is consultation. I think joint Em- dr ag on as th ey ar e to-day f or
having such a delightful time in pire Cabinet meetings by wireless man y more year s—perhaps not
England. It will be remembered would prove a solution. We have
that, prior to Mr. Menzies' em- not yet begun to realise the pos- democracy, in which the will of the
barkation for London, he made sibilities of the radiophone. At majority is sa id to p revail (h ow
some reference to "sacrifices in the present it is used only restrictedly. w e wou ld have liked to have
interests of Anglo-American trade Television, too, is certain."
televised the gentlemen to see the look
"The day will come when not of loyal allegiance in their eyes),
agreement."
We ourselves had little faith in only the Foreign Secretary, but urged Parliamentary representatives
anything likely to benefit the great members of the Cabinet, will sit of all parties to confer with their
majority of the peoples of those down for a direct talk and ex- constituents to ascertain th eir
two countries arising from the change of views on urgent prob- will? Of course you don't
negotiations, although we were lems with the Dominions.
remember. Such was not the case, as
con cerned somewhat as to the
"Ministers will not only hear well we know, Every effort was
nature of the sacrifices which we what the other man is saying, but made to stifle the outbursts of
will see the look in his eyes.
might be expected to make.
loyalty and esteem for the now Duke
"Despite the fact that secrecy so of
If the "sacrifices" now being
Windsor,
wherever
such
made by our Federal Attorney- far cannot altogether be ensured occurred.
General in particular—and the
The "Empire voice" on that
delegation in general—are a sample
occasion, so far as our portion of
of that to which he referred, then
the Empire goes, was Lyons. Menwe say we are all for them. For,
zies, Casey and Co., and the powerful
according to cable advices, the
and rapacious interests behind the
member for Kooyong would seem
scenes, who pull the strings which
to be partaking of, and enjoying,
make those gentlemen dance. Thus
the good fruits of the earth, as
these
so-called
representatives,
dinner follows banquet in close
elected to express the p eople 's
succession.
will, effectively muzzled, to all inten ts and purp oses, th at whi ch
If, as we say, these be the "sacthey were elected to represent.
rifices" to which Mr. Menzies referred, then many a hungry citizen
But is it not time to wake up?
Can it be said that these gentleof this country will be only too
men, a mere handful, have a right
willing to oblige, given the necesto make decisions in matters of
sary purchasing power to fulfill the
gr ave concern and consequ ence
wish.
to millions, without those millions
Filled with good things and surhaving something to say on the
rounded by the elite of British
m a t t e r ? Fu r th er , h a v e w e n o
society and political big-wigs, Mr.
right to know what is said in our
Menzies gives rein to his tongue
name?
in the inevitable after-dinner
Can a gentleman be truthfully
speeches.
Speeches in which he oft-times by radiophone, many consultations descr ibed as R ight Honou rab le
puts forward the views of Australia are practicable, and I am confident who subscribes to a policy of secrecy
(the Lord knows how he obtains that scientists w i l l ultimately in matters of public concern? Well,
the matter rests with us— the
them without a referendum—they achieve secrecy."
Now, what constitutes an "Empire power of the vote is the greatest
are usually opposed to his own
when he does) with forthright and voice"? Opinions would appear to power we have. It should be in the
interest
to
remove
differ. Also, if the Empire has a public's
polished rhetoric.
But one of the latest outbursts voice, why keep secret that which is politicians who want secrecy about
public affairs, and if we read the
of this absent politician makes of public concern.
signs aright we think it would be to
Let
u
s
cast
ou
r
min
ds
back
to
strange reading, yet connects up
admirably with R. G. Casey's the "Constitutional Crisis," so- the interest of those Parliamentary
words (referring to Mr. Curtin's called, when the "Empire" with clock- representatives who are desirous of
their seats, no matter to
question regarding the Common- like precision decreed that a certain retaining
party they belong, to take the
wealth Loan): "It is not in the lady shou ld not b e our Qu een . Do what
of
ascertaining
their
yo u rem ember h ow , at the moment trouble
public interest to disclose."
constituents'
views.
Referring to the fact that some of crisis, valian t efforts were made We particularly recommend this
Dominions considered that the pro- to ascertain the views of his to the rank and file members recess of consultations between them- Majesty's subjects? How the great presentin g the U.A.P. and the
selves and Britain during the Eden press lords threw open the columns C ou n tr y P a r ty, b ec au s e th e
crisis had not been altogether of their daily publications for a free Nation al Insurance scheme h as
satisfactory, Mr. Menzies said, expression of views? How his late given the electors another very
according to a London cable dated Majesty's Australian Cabinet, with severe jolt. They are "wakin g
June 22: "One of the great prob- grave concern for the principle of
up" furth er and faster as a result.
AN OPEN LETTER TO COLONEL COHEN
Colonel Harold Cohen, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O., V.D., M.L.A.,
Collins House, Melbourne.
Dear Colonel,
As a director of large corporations
employing thousands of people, as a boy scout, a soldier and a
Member of Parliament, you really should be more exact in your public utterances, even when speaking to
dear old ladies. A recent press report of your address to a suburban branch of the Australian Women's
National League credits you with advocating the admission to Australia of a few thousand unfortunate Jews of
German and Austrian birth. These people, it appears, have both high technical knowledge and money, and
you expressed the opinion that they would become readily absorbed in our population, not remaining in selfcontained communities, as did certain Southern European races. You spoke of the atrocious treatment of Jews
in Germany and Austria, instancing a report that Kreisler, the world-famous violinist, was forced to scrub
the streets of Vienna. You then conveyed to your audience that the only difference between Jews and other
people was a matter of religion.
Now, Colonel, you must know that thousands of own highly technical citizens find it hard to make a
living, and that the addition of a few thousands from abroad would accentuate the trouble, you really cannot
be serious in claiming that Jewish people would become absorbed in our population. It has been
demonstrated through the ages that this ancient race scattered over the world, remains intact and
homogeneous. Even right here in Me4lbourne the Jews preserve their separate identity, and, in spite of your
opinions, they live instinctively in communities unto themselves. Let us take you for a stroll around Carlton
or St. Kilda.
So far as religion being the only difference between Jews and other people, would you say that a Jew, on
becoming an atheist or joining the Salvation Army, would cease to be a Jew? No, Colonel, the problem is
not one of religion, but of race.
To deal with the causes behind the ferocious assault upon the Jews in Europe would require more space
than a letter could provide, but we direct your attention to the Hitler campaign against people other than Jews.
Kreisler, for instance, is not a Jew, and he is a devout Christian in religion. Dr. Schacht, Governor of the
Reichbank, on the other hand, whose power seems to be even stronger than Hitler's, is a Jew. Possibly
the Germans prefer finance to music! The unreliable and distorted cables, combined with censorship, render it
extremely difficult to obtain current truths as to what is going on in Europe, so we must be careful in
jumping to conclusions. We would suggest, however, that the Communistic control of Germany, in the hands
of the Jews, Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebnicht, which was crushed finally by the Hitler Movement, was
the major cause of the campaign against the Jews. Extra colour is given to this suggestion by the fact
that Mordecai (alias Karl Marx), Braunstein (alias Trotsky), and Oulianoff (alias Lenin} were Jewish.
When you are next speaking on this subject, dear Colonel, we hope you will give a clearer picture to your
audience, bearing in mind that the financial monopoly, which keeps the world in subjection, is of Jewish
origin and control, and that as people become aware of that fact, their feelings towards the Jews are not
improved. It is this financial system which makes it impossible for the people to obtain the necessities of
life, and brings about the destruction, instead of the distribution, of the abundance which the Power Age
has given to mankind, while we wallow in poverty.
Yours faithfully THE NEW TIMES.
many more months. We must go
ahead or backward. All sane persons w ish civ ilisat ion to move
ahead rather than collapse. Education can provide the only safe and
assured leadership towards progress and prosperity.
If we are going to move ahead
we have a clear choice—and only
this choice—between orderly progress under intelligent guidance or
revolution, violence, and a gambling chance with the future.
If we prefer to choose orderly
social advance—and all sensible
people will so choose—we must
rely more and more upon educational direction of the social proc es s . T h e p r ob le m s o f t o - d a y
have become so complicated and
technical that only well-educated
public servants can hope to deal
with them effectively.
*
*
*
If edu cation is going to assume
a more important position in public
affairs, a very grave responsibility
is imposed upon it. Education itse lf mu st set its h ou se in ord er
and prepare itself for a realistic
programme in terms of contemporary facts. The present system of
education is inadequate to supply
the type of leadership which is
necessary in the world crisis.
It failed to live up to the responsibilities of the last generation.
It did not save the world from the
war or the depression. The men
wh o mad e th e Wo r ld War an d
were responsible for the great depression were well-educated men
by conventional standards. We can
expect nothin g better from the
present educational system.
What we need to do is to eliminate useless antiquities from the
curriculum, lay more stress upon
the realities of the twentieth century, and offer effective protection
to the teaching profession in expounding courageously and honestly th e facts as th ey see them.
Especially should more attention
be given to the special stu dies.
These present the only information
which can enable us to bridge the
gulf between machines and institutions. Not on ly should more time
be given to the social studies, but
their content must be made more
vital and linked up with the immediate problems of our day.
In addition, provision must be
made for assuring security to the
teachers of the social studies, for it
is here that most of the heresy
hunts are waged. No teacher is in
much danger analysing the binomial
theorem. But the teacher who
resolutely describes our economic
and political system is constantly
flirting with dismissal.
Education is our best safeguard
—almost our only safeguard—
against Fascism and Communism,
and the foremost bulwark of democracy. The more courageous and
realistic it is the better it will serve
such purposes. If it is cowardly,
evasive, and time-serving, it cannot aspire to vigorous leadership.
Indeed, it will on ly contribute to
the inevitability of general misery
and chaos.
If the latter comes, edu cation
will share in it to a specially disastrous degree. In an era of social
decline an d barb arism, th ere is
little place for vital education. Let
those who are sceptical about this
statement study the history of the
Dark Ages. And let those who are
sc ep tic a l ab ou t th e r etu r n of
another Dark Age stu dy world
events of the last fifteen years.
New Tim es
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H A IR D R E S S E R , L a dies an d G en ts. R .
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BANKING
Address by Mr. Ross Upstill,
HENRY GEORGE CLUB,
18 George Parade
(off 111 Collins Street).
TUESDAY, JULY 19th, 8 p.m.
Public invited.
Discussion.
KEW.
ANDERSON’S, 141 High St.,
Authorised Newsagent. Haw. 1145.
BUTCHER, S. Daw High Street, Opp.
Union St. Satisfaction Service.
C. KENNEDY, Grocer. Haw. 229. Opp.
Cemetery Clock, Parkhill Rd.
DRY CLEANING, Depot & Library
A.I. Fraser, 182 High St. H. 3733.
(Continued on page 7.)
Page Four
9MJ3J\9NRJX
Published every Friday by New Times
Ltd., Elizabeth House, Elizabeth and
Little Collins Streets, Melbourne, C.1
Postal Address: Box 1226, GP.O., Melbourne.
Telephone: M 5384.
Vol. 4.
No. 28.
FRIDAY JULY 15, 1938.
How to Spend the
Federal Surplus
As if there were nothing more
suitable to do with our resources
and our surplus, it has been proposed to finance another expedition to the Antarctic. According to
Sir Douglas Mawson, a noted explorer of the snow and ice, it would
be a pity not to do this, because we
have a young and enthusiastic explorer, Mr. J. R. Rymill, available
and interested in Polar travel.
If this is to be regarded as an
adequate reason, then all sorts of
whoopee should be financed out of
the chronic Federal surpluses, just
because there are enthusiasts who
are willing and anxious to whoop.
Before the bunce has all been squandered, we would like to make a
proposal. No attempt has yet been
made to market the Gippsland giant
earthworms in the Far East. This,
however, can easily be rectified.
We will guarantee to find immediately, if not sooner, half a dozen
enthusiasts willing to undertake the
enterprise, provided the Federal
Government will foot the bill.
It may be that Antarctic expeditions produce results in the shape
of information and what not. It
may also be that these results are
not without value. We are open
to be convinced on these points.
What we know is that there are
other matters crying out for attention, and that these have a prior call
upon our efforts and our Surpluses.
There is, for example, the vital
problem of soil erosion in the Commonwealth. From this cause we
are daily losing in productive capacity; and the loss is increasing in a
geometrical progression, until eventually we will be faced with countless acres of barren waste where
once was fertile soil.
All this can be avoided or mitigated by the expenditure of a little
energy and a lot of brain. We have
been warned about this matter time
and again by our own scientists.
We have the shocking examples of
parts of South Australia and the
Dust Bowl of America as permanent reminders. Up to the present
we have done little but talk about
the problem. Even in China they
have begun terracing in order to
conserve the soil from erosion, but
we, who should know better, toy
with the idea of Antarctic expeditions instead.
While we have a Federal surplus,
THE PRINTED WORD
in
Pamphlets, Booklets, Leaflets.
Weeklies, Monthlies Annuals,
Newspapers, Magazines, or
Books
EXCELLENTLY AND
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By
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MELBOURNE
THE NEW TIMES
it might be well to employ part of
it, together with the man power and
brains at our disposal, in some form
of intelligent conservation. This
would bring more definite and desirable results than skating over the
ice floes of Enderby Land and Macrobertson Land, the principal output from which appears to be frostbite, chilblains and meteorological
data.
If, and when, we have attended
in full measure to this and similar
pressing domestic problems, we can
begin to consider the question of
Polar jaunts. What we must do is
to keep a sense of balance, and recognise that certain matters are intrinsically of greater importance
than others. If we fail to do this,
we may in the near future find ourselves the proud owners of a sandy
desert, an icy waste, and a Federal
deficit which only an astronomer
can calculate.
GAUNTLET
Being a Series of Open Letters
Challenging Certain Eminent Persons
to Mortal Combat with Realities
Bearing the above title and explanatory sub-title, a booklet by
H. Neville Roberts saw the light of day in Dublin, Ireland, in
1934. A re-reading has confirmed our opinion of its excellence—
to the extent that, in spite of the lapse of time, we present its
contents to our readers. Some minor changes have taken place in
Ireland in four years, but—unfortunately for the Irish—most of the
criticism (both destructive and constructive), and the facts brought
forward are still relevant. The generalisations and the capacity for
epigrammatic statement have lost nothing of their force and
lustre. Irish-Australians among our readers who have been
following "home" affairs will, of course, find additional
interest—but, in any event, they and other readers will find it
easy to transpose nearly every Open Letter so as to fit like a glove
the appropriate "eminent person" in Australia of to-day.
In our last three issues we reprinted the Foreword (which
might well be written under similar circumstances by an intelligent and well-informed Australian to his fellow-citizens of this
country) and the first six Open Letters. We now present the
seventh and eighth Open Letters.
THE REALITY OF
COMMUNITY
Stupidity and Silver
A n ew vault for the United
States Treasury's silver hoard has
been built in the military reserve at
West Point. The silver weighs
70,000 tons, and has a market value
of £344,000,000. In order to transport this huge amount of metal, 25
lorries, working five days a week,
will be occupied for between six and
eight months. Coastguards armed
with machine guns, and military
patrols are on duty to guard the
precious loads to their new home.
Could there be anything more futile than all this business? Here
are men and materials employed for
months in a task about as useless
as the mind of man could devise.
What possible use is 70,000 tons of
silver buried in a vault instead of
being left in the lode? It might
have a value as a memorial to the
poor devils who sweated in the
mines to dig it out; but it is in 72
lb. ingots, which have no meaning,
and might just as well be irregular
lumps of bluestone for all the use
they are.
Of course, to the orthodox economist, we cannot have any confidence in our ability to produce and
consume unless we have these
blocks of metal stuck into an impregnable hole and kept there for
all time. When we have gone to
all the trouble and effort to do this,
the printers and the bank clerks can
go ahead and make imaginar y
money by means of ledger entries
and fancy engraving on bits of
paper. This entitles us to live in
the world, which we got for nothing, and to use the brains and the
brawn that were produced by the
material products of this world.
Without this fancy ticket system,
we would die of hunger and thirst
and exposure in the midst of an
abundance of the things which
would satisfy all our needs.
Fantastic as it seems, this is
strictly in accordance with the orthodox theories relating to the economic system; but if it makes sense,
then Hitler's parents were both
Jews, and Good Friday falls on a
Tuesday!
To
A COMM UN IS T LE AD ER
( IF AN Y ).
The gravest charge that can be
made against you is that you have
stolen the good word "commune"
from the dictionary and have perverted it into an "-ism." You have
thereby sullied the character of the
noble words "community" and
"communal." You may plead that
the theft was under provocation,
and is to be condoned because it
was committed on behalf of those
from whom much has been filched.
Yet, the word belongs, not to the
"workers," in some restricted
meaning of that term, but to mankind, and you ought to make restitution.
Lincoln's doctrine of government of the people by the people
and for the people is much more
than the fundamental principle of
democracy; it transcends the
democratic order, for it is the very
basis of all human society. Nor
did Lincoln suggest that he was
proclaiming something new. On the
contrary, he recognised the universality of an ancient principle when
he finished his sentence with the
words, "shall not perish from the
earth." The fact that a money
monopoly, controlled by a few international bankers, has subjected
us to government of the people by
the bankers and for the bankers, is
no excuse for your advocacy of
government of the people by the
"workers" and for the "workers,"
especially since you tamper with
the dictionary definition of this
word, also; and, having limited its
application to a self-chosen section
of those who work, you declare
this section to be the community,
and the dictatorship of this section
to be communism.
with the management of the City of
Melbourne have been amply realised by the sweeping nature of the
Bill."
Why there should be any objection to "political" control of our
public affairs is a complete mystery
to us. "Political" control means
control by politicians, elected to the
people's Parliament by the people,
in accordance with the principles of
democracy. It seems to be that
when one's own particular set of
politicians is in the majority, it is
right and proper for them to control public affairs; but when the
other fellow's politicians are in
power, their control is objectionable
because it is "political."
What we have for some time been
The
Melbourne
Citizens'
Defence League has issued a urging is that the people's
in
Parliament
statement
concerning
the representatives
Melbourne
and
Geelong should control public affairs, and
Corporations Bill, which is now that full political control is a
up to the stage of the second “consummation devoutly to be
reading
in
the
Legislative
wished”; provided always that our
Assembly.
The statement says, “Fears that politicians think straight and think
the Dunstan Ministry would pave for themselves before starting to
“control.”
the way to political interference
"Political" Control
JULY 15 1938.
Your outlook needs, not to be
curtailed, but to be enlarged. The
words "social," "communal" and
"national" are identical; for, society
is the nation, the community is
the nation. Humanity is the larger
society, the wider community; admitted. But, our problems must
be dealt with nationally, since we
cannot legislate other than nationally.
You want to free the workers
from capitalism. I want to free
the community from the money
power that is super-capitalism.
The only capitalism that now exists
as a power is the monopol y of
credit, or money. The so-called
capitalists, the captains of industry, are as fettered and enslaved
b y t he mon e y p o wer as an y
worker, employed or unemployed.
Credit is a communal possession.
It is the one communal possession
that is now in the hands of a
monopoly. Money power is the
controlling power; the exercise of
that power is a communal, or
national,
right;
you
can
communise, or nationalise, the
things that are controlled only by
communising, or nationalising,
the thing in control.
Control of production is not
enough. There must be control of
distribution, and money is the
agent of distribution. The establ ish me nt o f a j u st mon e y
system nationally administered
b y t he p e op l e and f or t h e
people will make all material things
available for the use and benefit of
all. Instead of giving groups of
workers a claim upon the goods
they produce, which is your rather
paltry aim, it will give every
worker, unemployed though he be,
a claim upon his communal share
of the national production. It will
communise goods as the water in
our city pipes is communised
though there be no dispute as to
ownership of the water pipes, nor
claim to personal ownership of any
particular gallon of the supply. The
citizen knows that access to a
water tap is the vital factor, not
ownership of so man y feet of
water main.
The bankers are now in possession of the money taps; they alone
control the goods flow; to them
we must go for access to our own
goods output. For such is the
function of money, and such is the
power to which you are shutting
your eyes. The payment to all
individual members of the community of a national dividend,
recognising them as shareholders
in the commune whi ch is the
nation, is an immediate and permanent possibility under a national
money system, and will remove
for ever the injustice and oppression you rightly deplore.
THE REALITY OF
IDEAS
TO THE PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE.
I wonder do facts frighten you; do
you shudder when confronted with new
ideas, or ideas that seem new to you.
You cannot destroy an idea by closing
your mind to it nor by excluding it
from the curriculum of a
university. If you are afraid of
an idea the only way to kill it is by
discovering a better on e. The
onl y way t o er adicate a
thought, once it has taken root is
b y implanting a more potent
on e. Th e p osi ti ve s tr ea m of
human thought cannot be dammed
with an implied, but unuttered
negative. The tide of national
philosophy,
commonly
called
public
opinion,
cannot
be
stemmed with a test tube—or a
retort.
All education - therefore, all
human progress -- is, and has
always
been,
founded
upon
observation of facts. Man's faculty
for observing phenomena is the
primary factor in his learning.
The secondary factor is his power
of analysis. The sequence is:
observation,
analysis,
reobservation, reanalysis. If the
process does not lead to
innovation, it must lead to
stagnation.
The educational system you
administer has no place for either
observation or analysis. It
consists of memorising what has
been thought and recorded by those
who have long since observed
and analysed, or by those who
themselves
have
merely
memorised. In thus training the
memory, you are developing not
some high faculty of mankind, but
one that humanity humbly shares
with the brute creat i on . I have
d on e as mu ch b y way of
educating my dog.
Many of the recorded ideas you
ask your students to memorise are
stale ideas. (I am not, of course
referring to those classical
treasures of human thought that
never grow old.) In the spher e
of economics, the staleness of
the ideas that are your stock in
trade has reached an advanced stage
of decomposition. Some of your
medical students will know what
that means.
Your text-books on economic s
have no relation to the observed
facts of modern social and
industrial life in an y cou ntr y.
Th e y are totally out of harmony
with the observable conditions in
the country you have the
opportunity
of
leading
in
education. They are opposed to
every national ideal, destructive of
every
national
aspiration,
antagonistic to the national being.
They consist mainly of an out-ofdate exposition of discredited
money system and of an
economic order that has crumbled
to deca y. Wh ere the works are
of more recent date, they are
thinly
disguised
banker
apologetics.
The ideal that is the motive
force of your system is frankly
commercial. The inspiration of the
education your institution imparts
is, in fact, a debased commercialism;
the offspring of feudalism mated
to the money power, the fosterchild
of
pseudo-Darwinism
nourished
upon
the
false
doctrine of cut throat struggle
among men for a share in the
gifts of God. The standar d you
uphold is anti -national in its
conception, anti-social in its
mentality, anti-Christian in its
essence. It provides training in the
art of money getting, instead of in
the art of living.
A study of our ancient Brehon
Law reveals a social order surely
based on economic facts, and
depicts an era in which the economic
welfare of the nation and of the
individual went hand in hand. I
commend its study to students of
economics and social science, if
their
power
of
thinking
constructively has not alread y
been sacrificed on the altar of
competitive examination.
In conclusion I suggest that the
system of so-called education you
administer needs a thorough springcleaning, and that its economic
bookshelves in particular would be
the better of a bonfire. In default
of the cleaning and the bonfire, the
university may well be superseded
by a revival of the hedge school.
THE NEW TIMES
JULY 15, 1938.
THE CHALLENGE OF YOUTH
A Body Gets It in the
Neck
A certain Conservative body,
in order, no doubt, to bring a
break into the monotony of selfadulation and abuse of all "leftwing" movements, invited some
undergraduates to address them
under the above heading: "The
Challenge of Youth." Two very
charming girls and two young
men accepted the invitation—
each taking a different aspect of
the present system to attack.
They spoke extremely well, facts
and figures were well-marshalled —
they were confident and courageous.
The first girl speaker calmly
told this organisation that it
stood for none of those things
that meant a better social order.
"In fact," she said, "few of your
members know what you do
stand for." This was straight
hitting, and undoubtedly true. A
few outsiders in the audience could
have told them, however. They
stood for social snobbishness, for a
stand-still policy in a dynamic world,
and for ideas that should have been
carried away by the rubbish-man
half a century ago. Above all,
they stood for the defence of a
system that meant dividends and
security to them, but frustrated
the demands of 75% of a
dispossessed population.
There was something very fine
about the attitude of these young
people, who themselves had
never known want or the economic
pinch, who were
"Rose-lined from the cold,
And made verily to hold
Life's pure pleasures manifold,"
firing furious fusillades at a
system that meant hunger, the
dole, bad housing and frustration
for the many. The young girl
who spoke first, a radiant young
creature, laid aside her notes to
tell of a visit she had paid to
slum quarters, and she did not
spare the nerves of her smug
listeners in relating what she
saw there.
The other girl dealt with the
attacks on our civil liberties, and
she did not mince matters, either.
She asked, "Who owns Australia?"
and answered the question by
saying it was the big bankers, the
insurance companies, the big
industrialists and the press they
controlled. One young man had
the temerity to criticise the British
Empire's policy in times past and
present, and had many an
illustration with which to drive
home his point. The other
criticised
the
capitalistic
system, inasmuch as it fell
short of using all that plant,
science and engineering had
made available for the greater
production of wealth for all,
but had to content itself with
D R U N K A N D D ISO R D ER LY
By "THE WALRUS," in the "New World."
By LEONORA POLKINGHORNE
It is the rightful heritage of
youth to enter a world that is
just a generation better than that
which faced their fathers. It is
their expectation and desire to
carry on from there, and to aim to
leave the world they found a
generation better again. We
may well ask ourselves what
kind of a world it is in which the
youth of to-day find themselves.
Instead of a steady progress towards
a better and more secure
civilisation, a world saner, freer,
more enlightened and richer in
material prosperity, we give
them a world that has become
one vast arsenal, tunnelled with
underground shelters where the
population may rush from each
other when the storm of hate,
fear and despair has broken upon
them—where a few grow rich
but the great majority grow
poorer—where the bounty of
God is destroyed in the sight of the
starving—where, even while you
read this, the skies rain hell on
helpless women and children —
where the yet unattacked countries
take in thousands of terror-stricken
and half-starved refugees. No wonder
that youth challenges this generation!
Page Five
obsolete machinery through inability
to pay the interest on a new loan
for
up-to-date
equipme nt .
Al t og et he r it wa s a most
refreshing evening, and one waited
with amusement to hear the
squeaks of protest from the
audience when the time for comments came.
If these speakers had been the
children of "the proletariat,"
they would probably have been
reported to the police for subversive propaganda, but as they
were on Christian-name terms,
and were frequently met socially,
that would not do. They were
gently rebuked, and told that
when the y grew older the y
would know better. One gentleman
defended the Waterside Workers'
Act as a rightful punishment for
those who disrupted social
services, but the young speaker
was on his feet again with an apt
answer.
Did they do any good in such a
"milieu"? Well, they must have
shaken the complacency of some of
their audience, and to others given
the much-desired answer to the
question, "Of what is Youth
thinking?"
The Appalling Thing
The appalling thing was the
hope, believed an d hal f-expressed by those who listened,
that these young people "would
ge t ov er i t. " G o d f orb i d that
we should hope they would ever
fall into the spiritual death of
their hearers; that their youthful
chivalry, their generous s ympa th y s h o ul d a tr oph y; the ir
warm, ardent blood run sluggish and slow; that a wall of selfishness and greed should ever
grow between them and the big
world outside! Let us prevent
this h uge catastrophe ! Let us
use our youth for a more noble
pu rp ose ! Ca n we n ot re al is e
that they are our most valuable
assets? Ca n we n ot show that
we appreciate them and need
the m in the fore fr ont of the
battle? Or shall we be
jealous of them, desire to keep
them in the background, take
the Walpole attitude that
brought forth Pitt's stinging
sarcasm—"The atrocious crime
of being a young man. " We
How difficult it is to convey an
idea b y a name; and, of course,
how impossible without using a
name. For example, we all think
we know what happiness is—until
we really think. Then we discover
that to one it means cuisine, lights
and the popping of corks ; to
another (though this one is rare),
the complete sacrifice, even to the
funeral pyre. I was going to say
steak for one and the stake for the
other, but I dislike puns. Usefulness, beauty, and so on through
the whole range of abstract conceptions leave us bogged in the
shifting sands of approximations
whenever we seek for a definition,
so that we long for terra firma,
something that will stay put while
we tabulate it. The business world
has seemingly no trouble in the
matter of tabulation, but then, of
course, it doesn't deal in abstractions—or, at any rate, not without
planning a getaway.
But it wasn't the contemplation
of abstractions or the astuteness of
the business world which prompted
these (I fear) tedious reflections.
They originated in police court
proceedings, and to police courts,
precision of form in procedure is
the outstanding characteristic. That,
of course, is an unfortunate admission for me to make. It argues a
close acquaintance with the seamy
side, acquired either from gloating
over the printed report, or, which
is almost as bad, from inside knowledge. As a matter of fact, this
more or less philosophical excursion began in the rep ort of a
"drunk and disorderly."
muttering: "Why not read the report and find out?" But then I
should only have found out what
the police considered "disorderly,"
and that mightn't have helped me
much. Very likely they have rigid
notions about this. Possibly a man
standing on his head outside Brisbane Town Hall would be raw
material for proceedings under the
heading of disorderly conduct. I
don 't know. But I do know that
a small boy, or perhaps even a
youth, doing the same thing in the
same place, wouldn't be. So the
offence appears to be bound up
with time and place. This is a
misfortune for those adults who
remain youthful in spirit, and even
for those for whom orthodoxy
means nothing.
There is a widespread idea, for
which, possibly, the psalmists and
poets are responsible, that orderliness is the essence of nature. But
it is the flexibility of nature that
impresses me most. Noah was
evidently an orderly soul, but any
one who has dealt with animals
will agree that in merely allowing
for two of everything, as if the
ark were a servant girl's glory box,
he wasn't on very safe ground.
Nature isn't orderly in that way.
Neither does sh e say: "Her e is
so much space. I will have so
much of this, and so much of
that." By a breath-taking arrangement where things exist because
they can, the ark is always full,
but the company never twice alike.
If anyone as modern as Alexis
Carrel is to be believed, anything
but approximate routine is death.
The power of adaptation in man,
he tells us, is a function which
must be exercised. It demands
that, for health, man must expose
himself to hunger and thirst, to
heat and cold, but not to habitual
noise and worry. This looks uncommonly like disorderly conduct.
And it isn't good enough for us.
Our reply to the hunger and thirst
business is three meals a day; to
heat and cold, clothing and a good
bed. Those who hunger never
feast. Those wh o feast never
hunger. And all are exposed to
noise and worry. If Alexis Carrel
is right, and if I have read him
rightly, it seems that a course of
disorderly conduct would do us a
spot of good.
Menace of Excessive
Orderliness
The same seems to be true of
collective existence. We are in
danger of perishing from orderly
conduct. There may be reforms
which are not the result of disorderly conduct, but I can recall
none. Certainly there are no more
suitable words to describe the conduct of Oliver Cromwell, Robespierre, Lenin, and a host of others.
After all, chopping kings' heads off
can only be regarded as disorderly
in excelsis. I claim that Napoleon,
too, won his victories on disorderly
conduct, which, when all is said
can be another name for unorthodoxy. Our hope is in disorderly
(Continued on page 8, col. 5.)
A Crime?
I don't remember anything about
the report. I became lost in a
speculation on why it was a crime
to be disorderly. I can hear you
ha ve gi ve n the m a rotten
world, but we need not add to
that great wrong the cold shower
and the douche on their fresh
young enthusiasms, nor seek to
quench the light that is the best
beacon of hope in this dark
world. With their splendid cooperation, can we not, while
there is yet time, build up a
civilisation where there need be
no talk of gas masks for
babies?
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CHIEF JUDGE DETHR1DGE AGAIN
Time Organised Labour Woke Up
A L e t t e r t o t h e E d i t o r fr o m B R U C E
S i r, — W h a t is th e fu n c ti o n o f
th e C o m m o nw ea lth A rb itra tio n
C o u rt ? Is it t o i n v e s tig a te th e
fa cto rs w h ic h m ilita te a g a in s t
h a rm o n iou s w o rk in g a s b etw e e n
em p lo ye rs a n d em p lo ye es , or is it
t o a c t a s a to o l o f t h e C r e d i t
M on op ol y w hich m a n ipu la tes
o u r m o n e y s u p p lies ? R e cen t
e v e n ts s u g g es t th a t t h e p re s id e n t
o f th e c o u r t b e l i e v e s t h e l a t t e r
t o b e t h e c o r r e c t fu n c ti o n .
Court Controlled by
Finance
W h e n th e u n io n s w e re c o n d u c tin g th eir c a s e b e fo re th e A rb itra ti o n C o u rt l a s t y e a r, a n d
th ou g h t the y w e re d oin g a g rea t
s tro k e b y c a llin g "th e b rillia n t
y o u n g m a n " R ed d a w a y to "s u p p ort " th eir cla im , s o m e c riti cis m
w a s offe red in th e s e colu m n s
re g a rd in g th e ca s e g en e ra lly, a n d
th e a ttitud e o f C h ie f J u d g e D e th rid g e in p a rticu la r. It w a s th e n
p oin ted ou t tha t th e C ou rt w a s
n ot c o n c e rn ed w ith th e m a te ria l
fa cts of th e s itua tion , a n d th a t
its c on clu s ions w ou ld b e b as ed
e n tirel y o n fina n c ia l c on s id e ra t i o n s . A n d s o it p r o v e d .
Bank of England
Intelligence Officer
U n fo rtu n a tely, th e m e n c on d u c tin g th e c a s e fo r t h e w o rk e rs
a t tha t tim e w e re s o prou d o f
t h e ir " a c h i e v e m e n t " i n g e t t i n g
M r. R ed d a w a y, th e g rea tly p u blicis ed "yo un g " e c on om is t, to
g i v e e v i d e n c e , t h a t t h e y w e re
b lin d to th e fa c t th a t h e w a s a ls o
a n in te llig e n c e o ffic e r fro m th e
B a n k o f E n g la n d— th e p riva te
i n s ti tu ti o n i n a n o t h e r c o u n t r y
w h i c h d i c t a t e s t h e fi n a n c i a l
p olic y in A ustralia . A n y on e
w h o w i l l ta k e t h e t ro u b l e t o
e x a m in e th e C o u rt's a w a rd w ill
fin d th a t it w a s in ha rm o n y w ith
th e "e v id e n c e " te n d e re d b y th e
B a n k o f E n g la n d i n t e llig e n c e
o ffi c e r. T h is " e v i d e n c e " w a s
d e s i g n e d t o c r e a t e t h e im p re s s io n th a t a s m a ll in crea s e in
w a g e s w o u ld p r e v e n t a n u n h ea lth y b o om let, w h en th e p rop o n e n t s o f t h e i d e a k n e w fu l l
w e ll tha t it cou ld on ly m ea n a n
a d d itio n to t h e c os ts o f in d u s try
a n d a n i n t e n s i fi c a ti o n o f t h e
s tru g g le to liq u id a te th os e c os ts .
A l r e a d y , w i t h i n tw e l v e m o n t h s
o f th e op e ra tion o f th e a w a rd , w e
a re h e a rin g s c rea m s a b o u t c os ts
b e in g to o h ig h .
Prices Had to Go Up
It w a s a ls o p oin te d o u t a t th e
tim e tha t a n y in c rea s e in w a g es
ord e red b y the C ourt w ou ld ine v ita b l y le a d t o a n in c r e a s e in
p ri c e s , a n d t h a t t h e p os it i o n o f
th e w o r k e r w o u l d s o o n b e c o m e
a s b a d a s it w a s b e fo r e h e w e n t
to th e C o u rt. A n d s o it h a s
p ro v e d . T h e re w a s n o th in g
e xtra ord in a ry in ou r k n ow in g
H. BR O W N .
this , for th e v e ry c o n d itio ns
u n d e r w h i c h in d u s t r y i s c o n d u c t e d m a d e it in e v ita b l e . It i s
tru e th a t s o m e e m p lo y e rs c o u ld
h a ve a ffo rd ed to pa y th e in cre a s e
fr om p ro fits w ith o u t a n y le g iti m a te , e x c u s e fo r ra is in g p ric e s ,
b u t th e g r e a t m a j o rit y o f th e m
c o u ld n o t, a n d it is p a rt o f th e
b us iness of a n y c om m ercia l org a n is a tio n to m a k e h a y w h ile
th e s u n s h in e s . A ll o f th e m
a re s tru g g l in g fo r a g re a te r
s ha re of a n in a d eq u ate s u p p ly o f
m o n e y . I t w a s t h e r e f o r e n a t u ra l
fo r th e fe w e m p lo y e rs w h o c ou ld
a ffo rd th e in crea s e to ta k e
a d v a n t a g e o f t h e fa c t t h a t s o
m a n y o th e rs c ou ld n o t a fford it,
a n d p u t th e a d d itio n a l w a g es
in t o th ei r p ri c e s ju s t a s th e
o th e rs w e r e o b li g e d t o d o . T h is
le d t o in c r e a s e d c o s t s , th e in c r e a s e d c o s ts le d t o i n c re a s e d
p ric es , a n d th e in c re a s ed p ric es
h a v e ro b b ed th e w o rk e r o f th e
b en e fits h e e x p e c te d to g et fro m
th e s o -c a lle d " P r o s p e rit y " a w a rd .
Imagine Ourselves As
Employers
T h e s im ples t w a y to u nd ers t a n d t h i s is t o i m a g i n e o u r s e lv e s a s e m p lo y e rs . W e a re
j u s t m a k in g a c o m f o rt a b l e li v in g , a n d fin d ou rs elv es s u d de n ly
fa c e d w it h a n o rd e r o f th e C o u rt
to p a y ea ch em p lo yee a n o th e r
s ix s h illin g s p e r w e e k . S u p p os e w e a re e m plo yin g fifty m en .
T h e o r d e r o f t h e C o u rt m e a n s ,
th a t o u r w a g es b ill is im m ed ia te l y
increa s ed b y £ 1 5 a w eek . A nd
w e m u s t p a y it b e fo r e w e h a v e a
ch a n c e to pa s s it o n to th e
p u b l i c . W e a r e t h e r e fo r e f o r c e d
into th e ha n d s o f th e bank er to
o b t a in a n o v e rd ra ft, w h ic h m e a n s
th a t in a d d itio n t o th e in c re a s e o f
w a g e s , w e a ls o h a v e a n i n c r e a s e
o f in teres t c h a rg e s . F r om th is
i t c a n b e s e en th a t a lth o ug h w e
h a v e o n ly p a id a n e x t ra £ 1 5 o u t
a s w a g e s , w e m u s t c o ll e c t b a c k
in p ri c e s - £ 1 6 to c o ve r th e b a n k
ch a rg es a s w e l l . P r i c e s m u s t
n e c e s s a r i l y b e in crea s ed b y m o re
th a n th e a m o u n t o r d e r e d b y t h e
C o u rt , a n d th a t is w h y it is th a t
w e p a y th e w o rk e r a n o th e r 6 / - in
w a g es a n d ch a rg e h im 6 /3 m ore
fo r h is f o o d a n d c l o t h e s . T h i s
a l s o e xp la in s w h y h is s ta n d a rd o f
liv in g n e v e r g e ts a n y h ig h e r, a n d
w h y it is fu t il e t o d e p e n d u p o n
th e A rb it ra ti o n C o u rt a s a t p re s e n t c o n s titu te d fo r a n y g e n u in e
im p ro vem en t in h is livin g c o n d itions.
Realities Ignored
W h en th e C ou rt ga ve th e
a w a rd ou r p ro d u c tiv e a b ility w a s
s u c h th a t it cou ld h a v e p ro vid ed
e v e r y e m p l o y e e w i t h m o re t h a n
a 1 0 0 p e r c e n t, im p r o v e m e n t i n
h is g e n e ra l s ta n d a rd, b u t th a t a s p e c t w a s d is r e g a r d e d a n d t h e
T A X A T IO N
(A S IG N O F S E R V ITU D E )
and
NATIONAL INSURANCE
(A M E SM E R IS M B Y SY M B O L S)
N o stud e nt o f ec on om ics or m on eta ry re form , n o p ers on
o p p os e d to ou r e v e r-in c rea s in g l oa d o f ta xa tion , n o on e w h o
w is h es to u n d ers ta n d w h a t n a tion a l in s u ra n ce re a lly im plies ,
s h o u ld fa il t o s e c u re a c o p y o f th is fra n k a n d c o m p lete e x p o s u r e b y a m a s t e r o f t h e s u b j e c t s , M r . B ru c e H . B r o w n .
Y o u w ill fin d "T a xa tion A n d N a tio n a l In s u ra n c e " dire ct,
s im p le a n d c o n v in c i n g .
Price, 1/-; posted, 1/1.
A va ila b le fro m —
NEW TIMES LTD.
ELIZABETH HOUSE (BOX 1226, G.P.O.)
MELBOURNE
a w a rd a c t u a l l y g a v e th e m n o t h in g ". T h a t w a s b e c a u s e t h e
C ou rt lo ok ed u p on F in a n c e a s
s om e th in g grea t er a n d fa r m o re
im p o rta n t th a n th e n e ces s ities o f
l i fe , w h e r e a s r e a d e r s o f t h i s
p a p e r k n o w t h a t fi n a n c e is o n l y
a m a tte r o f s ym b o ls . T h e fa c ts
s h o w , a n d t h i s is n o t a q u e s ti on
o f o p in io n , th a t t h e C o u rt is th e
to o l o f fin a n c e, th a t is to s a y, it
b a s es it aw a rds on fin a n c ia l c on d itio n s b ro u g h t a b o u t b y th e
c o n t ro ll e rs o f th e b a n k i n g s ys tem , a n d neve r tak es an y s tep s
to e xp os e th e in s a nity o f a s h ort a g e of m on e y fig u res a n d tick ets
w h en th ere is s u ch p len itu de o f
e v e r yth in g els e. It m a k es th e
d is trib u tio n o f g o od s fit in w ith
th e m on e y s u pp ly in s tea d of in s is tin g th a t th e m o n e y s u p p l y
s h ou ld fit in w ith th e d is trib u tio n
o f th e g o o d s .
Judge Dethridge
Suits High Finance
O n ly la s t w e ek w e h a d fu rth er
e v id e n c e th a t th e C h ie f J u dg e o f
th e A rb itra ti on C o u rt is p e rs on a lly a p p ro v ed in fina n c ia l c ircles ,
a s o th e rw is e h e w o u ld n o t h a v e
b een a pp oin ted chairm a n of th e
C o m m is s io n t o r e p o r t o n th e
q u es tion o f d oct ors ' fe es in c on n e c tio n w ith th e n a tio n a l in s u rance
fra u d .
T h is
N a ti o n a l
In s u ra n ce B ill, w h ich has jus t b een
p a s s e d b y t h e F e d e r a l P a r li a m e n t, w a s a F IN A N C IA L m ea s ure. It w as not a piece of
b e n e fic e n t s o c ia l le g is la tio n a s
m a d e o u t b y t h e h i re l in g p r e s s .
Its p u rp os e is to s h ift th e b u rd e n
o f o ld a g e a n d in v a lid p e n s io n s
fro m th e n a tio n a l B u d g e t t o th e
s h ou ld ers o f th e p o o re r p e op le in
t h e c o m m u n it y . T h i s e x p l a i n s
w h y th e G o v e rn m e nt d is h on ou ra bly s c h em ed to g et th e B ill
f o r c e d t h r o u g h P a r l ia m e n t b e f o r e t h e e n d o f J u n e , a n d a ls o
h elp s to e x p la in th e s ele c tion o f
C h ie f J u d g e D eth rid g e a s ch a irm a n o f th e C o m m is s i on a p p o inted
to
s ile n c e
th e
e m b a rra s s in g
o p p os itio n o f th e m ed ica l p ro f e s s i o n . H e w i ll n o t b e c a l l e d
u p o n to c o n s id e r w h a t A u s tra l ia
ca n p rovid e on th e bas is of its
p ro d u c ti ve a b ility o r w h a t is
fa i r r e m u n e r a t i o n fo r d o c t o r s ,
b ut on ly w ha t ca n b e paid to
d o c to rs on t h e b a s is o f th e
fin a n c e a v a ila ble . A n d th o s e
w h o a p p ro v e d t h e p e rs o n n e l o f
th e C om m is s ion a re th e v e ry
o n es w h o d e cid e w h a t fin a n c e
S H A L L b e a va ila b le !
An Outrage
N o w , th i s s e l f- s a m e m a n ,
G e org e J a m es D e th ridg e, did
som ething last w eek w hich
s h ou ld lea d eithe r to h is rem ova l
from th e C om m on w ea lth A rb itra ti o n C o u r t B e n c h o r t o th e
re fu s a l of th e tra d e u n ion m ov e m e n t t o s u b m it a n y fu rt h e r
cla im s to th e C ou rt fo r c on s id e ra tion. T h e C h ie f J u d ge op e nl y
a d m i t t e d th a t h e i s i n fl u e n c e d
b y c irc u m s ta n c e 's w h ic h h a v e
n oth in g to d o w it h th e ca s e s u b m itted to h im . A c c ord in g to
th e M e l b o u r n e A r g u s o f J u l y 5 ,
h e s a i d t h is : " It m a y b e — a l th o u g h I d o n o t th in k it l ik e l y
m ys elf— th at the cou ntry in a
y ea r o r tw o w ill b e fa c e d w ith
a n o th er d e p res s ion . It m a y b e
n e c e s s a r y s e ri o u s l y t o c o n s id e r
th e re m o v a l o f th e 'p ro s p e rit y
loa d in g ' from a ll in du s tries . T h a t
p o i n t h a s n o t a rr i v e d y e t . "
Who Prompted Him?
H e sa id that in conn ection
w ith a n a p plica tion b y th e
A . W .U . fo r a 4 0 - h o u r w e e k i n
th e s h ea rin g in d u s try. W ill y o u
p le a s e r e a d w h a t h e s a id a g a i n ,
a n d th e n a s k you rs elf th es e q u es tio n s : If h e d o e s n o t th in k th e re
w ill b e a n o th e r d e p re s s io n , w h y
d id h e in tro du c e th e s ub ject?
W h o s u g g e s te d th a t it "m a y b e "
n eces s a ry to c on s ide r th e rem o va l o f th e p ros p erity loa d in g ?
A n d if th e p o in t o f c o n s id e rin g
s u c h a s t e p h a s n ot a rriv e d y e t,
w ha t purpose d id h e seek to
s e rv e b y i rre le va n tly in tro d u c in g
th e i d e a a t th is s ta g e ? If th e
q u e s tio n
of
re v ie w in g
th e
p ros p e rity lo a d in g w a s n o t
b rou g h t fo rw a rd b y th e p a rties to
th e ca s e b e for e th e C o u r t, h ow
came it tha t th e c h ie f o f th e
A PROGRESSIVE M.P.
trib u n a l a s s u m e d t h e r o l e o f
a d v o c a t e a g a in s t th e w o rk e r?
W ill a red u c tio n o f h o u rs
M r. W . M a cg illivra y, th e n e w
c o rre s p o n d in g w ith th e exten s ion In d ep en d e n t m e m b e r fo r C h a ffe y
o f m e ch a n is ation m ean a fa lling off (S .A .), m a d e th e fo llo w in g re in p rod u ct i o n ? I f n o t , w h a t m a rks in his m aid en s p ee ch in
p o s s ib l e e x c u s e c a n th e re b e fo r P a rlia m e n t: —
a
ju d g e
of
th e
C ou rt
s u g g e s t i n g t h a t i f h o urs a re
The
fi n a n c ia l
s ta te m e n t
red u ce d it w ill b e n ec e s s a r y t o p la c e d b e fo re m em b e rs d ea ls
redu ce w a g es ?
w ith th e p os ition , a n d
s h ow s
th a t
th e p u b l i c d e b t a n d
Who Will Buy?
t a x a t io n a re i n c re a s in g e v e r y
I f p r o d u c ti o n is m a in ta i n e d , y e a r, a n d it is o n l y a m a tt e r o f
t h e n i t i s o b v i o u s t h a t w a g e s o rd i n a r y m a t h e m a tic s to p ro v e
m u s t a ls o b e m a i n ta in e d , a s th a t in e v e r y s u c c e e d i n g y e a r
oth erw is e th e p ro d u c e r w ill b e w e s h a ll h a v e a s till
h ig h er
u n a b le t o s e ll a n d w e s h a ll h a ve
d eb t
a n d h ig h e r
a n in crea s in g q u a n tity o f g oo d s p u b lic
F o r s ou n d in w a s tin g w h ile m o re a n d m o re ta xa tio n.
p e o p l e s ta rve . T h e p u b lic u t - fo rm a tio n on th e fin a n cia l p os itera nc es of G e o rg e J a m es D eth - ti o n w e w a n t t o s t u d y t h e b a n k rid g e s u gg es t th a t h e is e n tire l y in g s ys te m . T h e q u e s ti o n is o fig n o ra n t in re g a rd to t h e n a tu re, t e n a s k e d , " W h a t w o u l d A u s t ra o rig in , p urp os e , ow n e rs h ip , a n d l i a d o w i t h o u t t h e b a n k i n g s y s c o n tr o l o f o u r m o n e y s u p p li e s , tem ? ", a n d th e o n ly a ns w e r I
a n d th a t h e r e g a rd s th e m a s c a n s u g g e s t is , "W h a t w o u l d th e
s o m e t h i n g s a c r e d , s a c r o s a n c t , b a n k i n g s ys t e m d o w it h o u t A u s a n d u n a l t e ra b l e . I f t h a t b e s o , tra lia ? " Y ea r a fter yea r ta xat h e n h e i s e n t i r e l y u n fi t t e d fo r tio n is b e in g in c re a s e d , a n d u p to
th e h ig h o ffic e, h e h old s . In for- n ow n o t h in g h a s b e e n d o n e t o
m a tion a va ila b le to m e, h ow e ver, im p ro v e o u r p os itio n . W e a re
s u g g e s ts th a t h e is n o t s o ig n o ra n t a s h e a p p e a rs to b e , a n d t h a t g oin g b lin d ly a h ea d , a n d s u c h a
it w o u ld b e w is e fo r th e a d v o - s ta te o f a ffa i rs s h o u l d n o t c o n T h rou g h o u t th e S ta te
c a te s o f th e u n io n s to fo rc e h im tin u e.
a n d th e o th e r j u d g e s in t o t h e p eop le are d e m a n din g sc ho ols,
p os ition of h a vin g to d ec la re h os p i ta l s , r o a d s , p u b li c w o r k s t o
th em s elv es o n e w a y o r th e oth e r, p ro vid e g re a t a s s e ts , et c., b u t
— i.e., fo r jus tic e to th e c om m u n i t y t h e y a r e m e t w i th o n e s to c k a n o r f o r t h e b a n k e r s . T h e y s w er— n o m on e y. N o on e has
c a n n o t b e f o r b o t h , a n d u p t o y e t s ug g es te d th a t th e re is a
n o w th e y h a v e s e rve d th e b a n k - s h o r t a g e o f m e n o r m a t e ri a l s t o
e r s . T h e y h a v e j u g g l e d t h e c a rr y ou t t h e n e c e s s a r y w o rk . A
w a g e s , b u t h a v e n o t i n c r e a s e d g row in g f e e l i n g exis ts that
th e w o rk in g m a n 's p o w e r t o b u y.
m on e y s h ould be m a de the s erWhat Should Be Done? vmaanstteor.f thTe h ec oLme ma duenr itoy,f thn eo tO its
pL e t th e u n i o n a d v oc a te s p ro - p o s i t i o n s a i d t h a t w h e n t h e l a s t
d uce e vid en ce th a t p rodu ction
c a n b e i n c re a s e d w it h l e s s a n d L a b ou r G o ve rnm en t took o ffic e
les s m a n ua l la b ou r; tha t th e o n l y th e ba n k told it to red u ce its
t h i n g s t a n d i n g b e t w e e n t h e o v e rd ra ft s h ow in g d e fin itel y tha t
w ork er a n d th e en joym en t o f th is t h e L a b o r G o v e r n m e n t w a s t i e d
n e w s itu a ti o n is fi n a n c e ; th a t t o its m a s t e rs , ju s t a s th e p r e s e n t
fin a n ce is n othin g m ore th a n G o v e rn m e n t is . It h a s b e e n s a id
bookkeeping, m ere s ym bols cor- th a t fin a n c e is g o v e rn m e n t a n d
res pon d in g w ith fig u re s in b ook s ; g o v e r n m e n t is fin a n c e , s o w e a re
th a t th e b o o k k e e p in g o f fin a n c e o n ly w a s tin g ou r tim e in th is
is at p res e nt th e m on op oly o f th e H o u s e u n l e s s w e c a n g e t th e fi n p riv a t e b a n k s ; th a t th e q u e s ti o n a n c e w e re q u ire . W e s h o u ld h a v e
o f d is trib u tio n s h o u ld b e d ete r- c o n t ro l o f m o n e y, a n d t h e l e a d m i n e d w i t h o u t r e g a r d t o th e in g e c o n o m is t i n A u s t ra lia s a ys
fin a n c ia l e ffe c t; t h a t th e p r o v i - th a t w e s h o u ld g e t a ll th e m o n e y
s ion of a d eq ua te fina n ce is the
res pon s ib ilit y o f th e Fe d e ra l w e req u ire to c o v er n ec e ss a ry
w o rk s .
C o ns e q u e n tly,
G o v e rn m en t, a nd th a t a n y s ug - p u b lic
g es tio n th a t th e c om m u n it y ca n - t h e r e i s n o r e a s o n f o r t h e G o v n o t h a v e t h e b e n e fi t o f s c i e n c e e r n m e n t t o s a y t h a t w e c a n n o t
and m echan ics b eca us e o f b ook - h a v e b e t t e r r o a d s o r o t h e r p u b k e e p i n g i n a d e q u a c i e s is a l to - lic u tilities be ca u s e o f the la ck
g e t h e r t o o a b s u rd . U n l e s s o r- o f m on e y . T h e q u e s tio n h a s b e e n
g a n is e d L a b o u r i s p re p a re d t o s e tt le d b y a re s p o n s ib le a u th o rta k e th e o ffe n s i v e a l o n g th e s e it y.
lin e s , th e n it c a n re s ig n its e lf to
T h e H o n . R . L . B u tler— H e
th e c ontin u a n ce o f th e p res en t
c ru c ify in g c on d ition s u nd er d o e s n o t s a y th a t th e re is n o
w h ic h its s ta n d a rd o f livin g b e - lim it.
c o m e s l ow e r a n d l o w e r, e v e n
M r. M a cg illivra y— N o, b ut w e
th ou g h p ro d u ctiv e ca pa cit y b e s h ou ld g et en ou g h m on e y t o
c o m e s h ig h e r a n d h ig h e r.
ca rr y o u t n e c es s a r y p u b lic w ork s .
Remedy in Their
Own Hands
I f t h e w or k e rs c a n n o t d e p e n d
o n th e ir a d v o c a tes fo r th is , th e n
th e y m u s t th e m s e lv es ta k e a ctio n
to force th e iss ue b y joining a n d
w ork ing for th e U .E .A ., a n org a n i s a tio n w h o s e o n l y o b je c ti v e
is th e e s ta b lis h m en t o f tru e d em o c ra c y b y s e e in g th a t P a rlia m e n t g i v e s e f fe c t t o th e w il l o f
th e p e o p le. T h e p e o p le d o w ill
s h o rte r h ou rs . T h e p e op le d o
w ill a d eq u ate p a y for w ork d on e.
T h e pe op le d o w ill tha t th e com m u n ity s h a ll a lw a ys b e s u p p lie d
w ith s u fficie nt m o n e y to p a y its
d eb ts . T h e p e op le d o w ill tha t
A u s tra lia n citiz en s s h a ll n o t s u ffe r p ov erty in the m ids t o f
a b u n d a n t A u s tra lia n fo o d a n d
c l o t h e s . A ll th e s e th in g s a r e
p h ys ic a lly p os s ible o f a c c om p lis h m e nt a n d s h a ll b e a c c o m p l is h e d w h e n w e j o i n t o g e t h e r
i n s u ffi c i e n t n u m b e rs a n d d e m a n d th e m . In th e fa c e o f s u c h
a d e m a n d , b a c k e d b y a m a jo rit y
o f th e ele c to rs , n ot e v e n th e n a tio n a l P a rlia m e n t, m u c h le s s a
ju d g e o f th e A rb itra tio n C o u rt,
w ould da re s ta n d in th e w a y o f
g i v i n g e ff e c t t o t h e p e o p l e ’ s
w i l l . W e c a n n o t v o t e fo r e a c h
o t h e r b u t w e c a n v o t e t o g e t h e r.
– Y o u r s fa i t h f u l l y ,
BRU CE H. BRO W N .
T h e H o n . R . L . B u tl e r— It is
diffic ult to sa y w hat is en ou g h.
M r. M a cg illiv ra y— T h a t is s o,
b u t i n t h e fi n a l a n a l y s i s i t w i l l
b e fo u n d th a t h u m a n b ein g s a re
re a s o n a b le . If th a t is th e o n l y
objection w e s hou ld g o a lon g
w a y th is s es s io n a n d g et s om e th in g d on e on rea s on a b le lin es .
D u rin g m y e le c tio n c a m p a ig n I
s e n t o u t a m a n ife s to in w h i c h I
s ta te d : — I b e lie v e t ha t th e s ta n d a rd o f li ving o f th e p e o p le o f
A u s t ra lia is u n n e c e s s a ri l y l o w . I
b elie ve th a t p o ve rt y a nd a c c o m p a n yin g ch a rity s h ou ld b e
u n n e c e s s a ry . . .. T h a t is n ot
o n l y a m a t t e r o f s e n ti m e n t , b u t
th e s ou n d e s t b u s in es s p rop os ition
anyon e could put u p. If the
s ta n d a rd o f li v in g c a n b e i m p ro ved th e w h ole s ta n da rd o f life
w i l l i m p r o v e . It i s t h e m a n o n
th e b o tto m w h o s to p s a d v a n c e m ent a nd n ot th e m a n o n th e
to p , a n d th e b e s t w a y t o h e l p
y o u rs e lf is to h e lp th e o th e r fe l low . O u r w h ole w orry is on e
o f s u p e ra b u n d a n c e . T h e g ru b i n
th e a p p le d o es n ot s ta rv e b e c a u s e
th e a p p le is to o b ig to ea t.
Therefore our collective community
intelligence is lower than the
maggot’s.
L E T T E R S T O T H E E D IT O R
IMMIGRATION
Sir, —It is n ot often that w e
migrants find such a sympathetic
approach to our problem as that
outlined by Mrs. Leonora Polkinghorne in her article of last week.
The economic aspect of our situation is easier to conceive than the
psychological one, which, unfortunately, seems to escape the notice
of many critics. A Collins Street
specialist recently told me that
nervous exhaustion, due to loneliness and disillusionment, is commonly met in people from overseas,
and a stewardess on a homewardbound boat described the poignancy
of many cases under her care, who
were "not bad enough to be put
away," but irresponsible by reason
of prolonged strain and hardships
experienced in this country.
Three years ago a British M.P.
told me of the spate of despairing
letters wh ich was reach in g him
from stranded emigrants to Australia, and he could not conscientiously support the resumption of
migration. All this confirms what
Mrs. Polkinghorne has to relate.
Despite this, we were told in last
week's daily press that the first
u nn om in ated p asseng er to b e
assisted under the new scheme had
a capital of £1000. Is this intended
to indicate an assurance of success?
If so, I would like to cite instances
within my own experience where
people have arrived here with considerably more than that amount,
but, owing to adverse marketing
conditions and other circumstances
outside their con trol, th ey have
found themselves ultimately mortgaged up to the hilt, and, finally,
forced off the property on which
they had expended the last of their
mon ey an d th e wh ole of th eir
energies.
Educated and kindly Australians
have admitted to m e that there is
an inherent dislike of the English
here, and this largely originates in
the fear of being displaced from
lucrative jobs. This attitude is
responsible for much bittern ess,
and the word "Pommy" is a saddening indication of actual reac t io n s. It is a p it y th a t th os e
who deplore "accent" should not be
mindful of its history and backgrou n d. A little stu dy in th is
direction might prove enlightening,
an d it is in teresting to n ote th at
the highest paid artist on the English stage is one who never, for
any reason, disguises her Lancashire origin. Our common aim of
banishing poverty is lost in a maze
of sectional and national differences, to the delight of those who
fear con cer ted action, w ith out
which this, and every other, country will become progressively worse
to live in for both natives and imported peoples. —Yours faithfully,
"CH ARMIAN." Kew, Vic.
DRIVING A HORSE
TO WATER
Sir, —Social Crediters are
trying to change a collective false
concept, an d, in
o rd er to
su cceed th e y mu st attract a
wider c ircle of receptive faith in
th e truth th ey h ave d iscern ed.
Ev en a h u ge majority will recant
and follow the lead of a minority
when that lead is recognised as
affording the only way of escape
from collective disaster.
Th e question I am concerned
about is the attainment of that
recognition.
Some
of
your
contributors believe that they can
drive the unwilling majority, like
the sh eph erd of th e W est, w ith
h is dog, drives the unwilling
flock. Others, including myself,
think it far better to beckon and
coax that majority, like th e
shepherd of the East, who gets
his sheep to follow his voice and
the tapping of his staff.
I maintain that a minority,
however great its discovery,
cannot force acceptance of the
truth upon a majority. Its attempts
merely induce doctrinarism and
Page Seven
THE NEW TIMES
JULY 15, 1938
narrowmindedness in the idealists
of the majority!
Some of your contributors' propaganda, excellent in many respects,
has been harmful when their arguments have been diverted from the
merits of the case to the character
or position of opposing idealists.
Such arguments seem to me to be
illustrative of the well-known logical
fallacy,
Argumentum
ad
hominem, which always fails to
squarely meet the poin ts at issue.
I thank you, Sir, for giving me
the opportunity of making my
viewpoint clear in the New Times,
which is widely read and appreciated in Queensland. - Yours
faithfully,
(Dr.) J. E. STREETER .
State President, Social Credit
Party of Australia (Queensland).
Brisbane.
A BASIC-WAGE
LOAN-CONVERSION
PROPOSAL
Sir, —Your correspondent, "Slide
R u le," h ad som eth in g to say in
the issue before last on the subject
of bonds and basic wages. May I
add to th at?
The weekly basic wage is arrived
at after calculations which, one
hopefully surmises, are made in
good faith after an honest inquiry
into the cost of living. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction is apparent. It
is obvious that investors and emp lo yer s co n sid er th e w ag e to o
high, whereas the recipients of the
wage are strong in the belief that it
sets an unduly low standard of
comfort for human bein gs liv in g
in a modern, civilised community.
This second opinion is, of course,
shared by most decent people, but
th ey do n ot do much abou t it. As
a contribution which might get all
hands pulling together in an end eavou r to d es ign a go od an d
proper method of determining the
basic wage, I submit the followingproposal:
Introduce a "voluntary" conversion (with a compulsory clause, as
last time) of all Government and
mun icipal loan s, so that, instead
of bein g in un its of £100 each
bond would be converted to the
number of basic wages, of the time of
the flotation of the loan, that was
equivalent to £100. The interest,
instead of being expressed as so
many pounds per cent would also
be
converted
to read
th e
equ ivalen t in basic w ages. At
maturity, each bond or other instrument w ould b e redeemed at th e
value, at that future date, of the
number of basic wages it represented at flotation.
A h ypoth etical examp le may
make the idea more easily grasped:
Take a £100 bond, carrying interest at 5 per cent, subscribed in
1928, wh en th e basic w age was
n ear en ou gh to £ 5. Th at b ond
would be converted to one valued
at twenty basic wages, and would
b ear in ter est at on e b asic w age
per an n um. If such a bond wer e
to be redeemed in 1938, when the
basic wage is, roughly, 67/- (because of the calculated fall in the
cost of living) th e h older wou ld
get about £67 for it, but that sum
would still be equivalen t to the
tw enty basic w ag es he had p aid
for it in 1928, and (and this is the
impor tant po in t), p ro vid ed the
basic wage calculation is correct,
h e would be able to bu y ju st as
much now as he would have been
ab le to bu y w ith h is £ 10 0 ten
years ago. Similarly, a £100 bond,
taken up in 1893 or thereabouts,
when the weekly wage was of the
order of £2, would have a constant
value of probably fifty basic wages
until maturity, and its redemption
value to-day would be something
like £167.
*
*
*
A conversion scheme on the
above lines should be approved by
all political parties (unless they are
willing to have their honesty called
into question), and there is no
reason, other than quite unworthy
on es, wh y all bon d and share
issues Should not be converted on
similar lin es. Th e gains I would
hope for include:
1. Th e retu rn to th e lender of
exactly what he had gone without
in terms of "livin g."
2. The bringing together of all
grades of society to seek an
in telligent and honest method of
calculating the basic wage (if
the present one should not be
quite that already).
3. The removal of the extremely
undesirable element of gambling
from
the
Government and
municipal securities field.
4. The elimin ation of what one
suspects is deliberate booming or
depressing of the prices of securities
to condition the mind of the public
and bring about "splendid optimism" or "tragic loss of confidence,"
whichever is required by soulless
opportunists to put some (usually)
crooked bluff over the people.
After such a conversion, those
who wished to make an appearance
o f (m on etar y) pr ofit ou t of
Government securities at redemptio n cou ld g et a greater nu mber
of pounds than had been invested
only by causing a higher basic
wage, which would, of course, provide in creased purchasing power
for the majority of the population,
an d also permit of h igher pr ices
for the manufacturing and selling
minority—which is what the certified econom ists w ant, isn 't it?
Every now and then one of our
ex- or present politicians is loudly
praised by the ban kers' press for
his amazing achievements in arran ging a con version loan on
orthodox lines, but I bet my little
idea would give satisfaction to a
vastly greater num ber of people.
—I am, your star -gazing
"ER ATO STHE NES ."
Kooyong, Vic.
CHALLENGE TO INCHBOLD BY FOOT-COLD
ereens—"opening like a flower beneath me"—"wonderful fun."
And
we make a fuss of Don Bradman's
exploits!
Now, at last, we have a
real dinkum Aussie soul-elevator in
M.L.C. Inchbold. So I desire to set
a noble example with Bruno
Inchbold, and let the world see
our doctrines in practice.
One of
us must die.
Thus would his soul
(th e dier's) seek relief and elevation , and th e ch aracter of th e victor be made strong.
Then consider
the broadcasting aspect—millions
listening-in. "The contest is on.
Blood flowing freely.
Footcold
thrusts.
Inchbold, with
perfect
timing, parries.
Footcold slashes a
button off Inchbold's slacks.
Inchbold's character slips.
His stocks
fall."
An d so on, till th e victim
pants his last.
Now, I do hope
that this inch-bold advocate of
war will not prove two-inch-cold at
the prospect of a bayonet thrust. I
even
dare to hope that this
thrust at his mentality may find
lodgment and a germ of reason on
which to thrive. —Yours faithfully,
A. FOOTCOLD, M.A.D.
St. Kilda, Vic.
A SUGGESTION FROM
THE NAT IONAL
MONEY LEAGUE
Sir, —My league desires to offer
a suggestion to all organ isation s
and individuals interested in the
general economic problem. Briefly,
we propose that concerted steps
sh ou ld be tak en to indu ce th e
Federal Govern ment to in stitu te
an inquiry into the ways and means
of abolish in g enforced poverty.
Fr o m m an y po in t s of v iew it
seems to us highly desirable that
such an inquiry should be held at
the earliest possible date. A valuable approach would be to circulate
in each electorate a petition asking
th e Federal m ember to attend a
pub lic m eet in g to he ar r eason s
why he should do all in h is power
to cause the inquiry in question to
be h eld. A th ousand signatu res
would give such a petition the
n ecess ar y weigh t. La ter, wh en ,
and if, the petition were signed by
a majority of electors in any electorate, it could be re-presented as
a demand, if necessary.
Th e merits of such a proposal
are that it provides a ground for
common action by all sections of
reformers , and offers a prospect
of solid accomplishment without
waiting for either the next Federal
election or the documentary support of electoral majorities.
My league commends this proposal to the consideration of all
in ter ested par ties, an d we h ope
that in the near future it may lead
to heart-to-heart talks between constituents and members all over
Australia. The following form of
petition , adopted by my leagu e,
may be of interest.
"We, the undersigned electors
of……... are deeply concerned at the
widespread inability of Australian
citizens to avail themselves of th e
essen tials of lif e and h ealth. In
view of our vast national resources
an d the capabilities of modern
industry, we believe such poverty to
be unnecessary. It is, therefore, our
wish that the Federal Parliament
should immediately ins t it u t e an
in q u ir y t o r e v ie w methods at
presen t proposed for the abolition
of enforced poverty, and make a
recommendation as to th e steps to
be adopted. To th is end, we ask
our Federal representative to attend
a public meeting, on a date to be
arranged,
to
h ear
a
fu lle r
statem en t of th e reasons why he
should do all in his power to cause
such an inquiry to be held."
—Yours faithfully,
C . E LLIS,
Sir, —Having read with pleasure
the opinion of M.L.C. Inchbold on
th e virtu es of w ar an d the decadence of peace, I wish to write in
support of his plea for more mental, moral and spiritual character
building, per the sword and bayonet.
So excellen t do I think h is ideas
th at I n ow s eek th e su pp or t of
your valuable paper to inaugurate
a n ew system in to ou r s ch oo ls .
Let the children be progressively
armed, accordin g to grade, an d
teach the young the value of fight.
In the kindergarten, fists; the intermediate, swords; the sen iors,
bayonets; the university, hand
grenades, cannon, etc. What strong,
noble characters wou ld we see in
th e future generation s, instead of
as now: weak, degenerate, decadent
humans, the result of our present
faulty system!
Away w ith this puerile peace
talk! Away w ith th is weakling,
Jesu s, wh o refu sed to u se His
striking powers even in self-defence,
and taught resist not! Let us have
no more of this milk-sop stuff of
peace on earth, good w ill to men.
I rejoice in th is new apo stle of
light and fight, who spoke so appropriately at the 400th anniversary
celebrations of the Bible. And now,
to show my faith in th e doctrin es
of M.L.C. Inchbold, and, be it
understood, M.L.C. does not stand
f or M em b er of Lu n acy C lu b , I
wish to challenge this M.L.C. to
m o rtal co m b at w ith ba yo n ets
affix ed to r ifles; th is con test, in
th e interests of moral upliftmen t,
to take place on the Flemington
Racecourse, for charity. See the
double objective—character building and charity? At least 200,000
would attend. I base this estimate
on the fact that 80,000 paid high
prices to see a mere prize fight,
which is a degradin g sp ectacle.
But a fight with bayonets, no illfeeling, no desire for gain or publicity,
utterly
selfless—how
elevating would this combat be by
comparison! The tameness of Test
cricket appalls one. Decadent
Hon. Secretary, National Money
peace! Let us have war-matches on League of Australia. 97 Sackville
our great greens. See the joy of
Street,
Bruno Mussolini at the sight of
Kew, Victoria
Abosinnians being blown to smith-
New Times
SHOPPING
G UID E
and Business
Directory
PATRONISE THESE
ADVERTISERS.
Their advertisement helps your
paper. Say you saw it in the "New
Times."
MELBOURNE (Cont.)
(Continued from page 3.)
E. WHITE.
109 High St.
Confectionery and Smokes.
FLORIST, "Mayfair,” Haw. 1452
Cotham Rd., near Glenferrie Rd.
GIBSON'S, High St., opp. Rialto.
Hosiery, Underwear and Aprons.
GIFTS, & All Jewellery Repairs. Old
Gold Bought. Greaves, opp. Rialto
KEW.
IMPERIAL DAIRY. R. H. Kent.
9 Brougham Street. Haw. 3243.
LADIES' Hairdresser. Haw. 5605.
"Burnie Salon," 81 Cotham Rd. M.
J. MARTIN, 157 High St. Haw.
3794. Shoe Store, Shoe Repairs.
MOTOR GARAGE. Kew Junction
Service Station, Cr. High & Denmark Streets. Haw. 6457.
RADIO EXPERT. J. G. Littlewood,
267 High St. Also Elec. Applncs.
KEW EAST.
WATCH, CLOCK & JEWELLERY
REPAIRS. I. Pink, 16 Oswin St.
WICKER & Pram Repairs. L. Pavitt, 2 Hale St. Pick up and deliver.
M ORE LAND .
BOOT REPAIRS. J. T. Nolan,
Holmes St., 4 drs. Moreland Rd.
NORT HC OTE.
GRAY & JOHNSON Pty. Ltd.
Leading Land and Estate Agents.
742 High Street, Thornbury.
P A RKD ALE .
RADIO REPAIRS AND SALES.
C. Barnett, 19 Herbert St. XW2031.
SANDRINGHAM.
A. RYAN, opp. Stn., Shoe Repairs.
Tennis Racquets Restrung from
7/6.
BIGGS & LOMAS. Tailors. Firstclass Workmanship.
Suit Club.
CONFECTIONERY and SMOKES.
Gibson's, Bay Rd., opp. Theatre.
GROCERS, McKAY & WHITE.
Bay Rd., opp. Theatre. XW 1924.
HAIRDRESSER and Tobacconist.
A. E. Giddings, 18 Station St.
HOME
MADE
CAKES.
F.
TAYLOR, 81 Bay Rd. XW2048.
LIBRARY,
5000
BOOKS.
COUTIE'S NEWSAGENCY.
ST . KI L D A .
HARVEY'S COFFEE GARDEN.
Sweets. Smokes. 227 Barkly Street
SP RINGVALE .
DAIRY, M. Bowler. Buckingham
Ave. R. MACKAY & SONS.
General Storekeepers. UM 9269.
W IL L IAM ST OW N .
DON B. FISKEN, Baker. 122
Douglas Parade.
DUNSTAN,
DAIRYMAN. 28
Station Rd. 'Phone, W'town 124.
HAIRDRESSER and Tobacconist.
C. Tomkins, 165 Nelson Pl., 76 Ferguson St.
WINDSOR.
E. COOKE, 49 Chapel St. W. 8044.
High Class Butcher (Cash).
DEBATE
"Should Australia
Boycott Japanese
Goods?"
Affirmative:
YOUNG COMMUNIST
CLUB.
Negative:
U.E.A. YOUTH SECTION.
TEMPERANCE
HALL.
Sunday, July 24, 8 p.m.
This important debate will be
open to the public. All
supporters and friends are asked
to attend.
T H E N E W T IM E S
Page Eight
C O M M O N S E N S E IN A H O U S E
OF COM M ONS
From Two Canadian M.P.'s
The following remarks were And T hey—
made by the member for Westas"We have it from the biggest
kiwin (Mr. Norman Jaques) during banker in the British Empire that
an address in the Canadian House banks control the policies of the
of Commons:
Governments and hold in the hol-
Regulation of
Purchasing Power
"Mr. Speaker: The hon. member
for Huron North (Mr. Deachman)
s a id t h a t a m an 's pu r ch as in g
power mu st be measu red exactly
b y h is p roduction . A f ew years
ag o a Fed era l M in ister of th e
C rown w as in Edmon ton, where
he broadcast to the farmers the
particu lars of what his party had
d on e for th eir ben ef it. H e to ld
th em th at h is p arty did n ot w ish
to claim all the credit for the benefits they had received; that Providence must be given some credit,
because Providence had seen fit,
through bad weather, to reduce
produ ction in other parts of the
world. There is an instance where
a man's purchasing power was not
measured exactly by what he produced; his purchasing power was
measured by what some one el se
had NOT produced . I farmed for
five and thirty years in Western
Canada. I always found that when
I h ad a good crop there never
seem ed to b e an y p r ice. Wh en
there was a good price, I never
seemed to have a crop. The same
th in g w as tr u e w ith reg ard to
catt le. Wh en peop le w an ted to
buy cattle, and were willing to pay
a fair pr ice, I n ev er seem ed to
have any. When cattle were cheap,
of cou rse I had some to sell. It
seems to m e th at ou r problem is
the producing of plenty without
penalising the producers. In other
words, it is a problem of selling
p len ty at a prof it . . ..
Banks Manufacture
Money
"It is still doubted by some that
th e ban k s cr eate m on ey. T h er e
ar e s till p eople wh o tell u s that
the banks lend simply what is lent
to them. Now, if 100 members of
this chamber go to-morrow morning to a bank and each deposits a
ten-dollar bill, there is 1000 dollars . Wh en th ey co m e ou t I g o
into the bank and I borrow 1000
dollars. If it is true that I have
borrowed the money w h ich h as
ju st been deposited, th en, if th ey
go in and ask the manager where
th eir m on ey is, h e w ill s a y: " I
have lent it to Jacques." But the
b an k ers do n o t sa y th at . T h ey
say: "Of course, your mon ey is
h ere." So there you have 2000
dollars where only 1000 dollars
existed before, and, if that is not
cr eation of money, wh at is it? I
do not know. It is creation in the
sense that I understand it.
low of their hands the destinies of
th e peo p le. I do n ot th in k an yone in this Chamber could successf u ll y d en y th at s t a t em en t. We
say that control, that monopoly of
credit and money—and without
money no one can live, so that, as
Mr. McKenna says, those who control money control th e lives and
hold the destinies of the people in
their hands—should be restored to
th e Governmen t in trust for the
people."
*
*
*
The following is an extract
from a speech delivered in the
Canadian House of Commons by
Mr. Hayhurst, member for Vegreville:
Depressions.
"I t is sa id th a t o n a c er ta in
coast long ago sharks' teeth were
used for money. These answered
the purpose all right, and the industries of this primitive people
w er e c a r r i e d o n ver y w e l l
with this currency. For years the
country was prosperous, but storms
r avish ed a n earb y coast alo n g
which they caught their supply of
sharks. The storms destroyed the
sharks, and for a number of years
n o mo r e c ou ld b e pr o d u c ed .
Money grew scarce in the island;
industry languished, and the people
became reduced to penury, all becau se of th e scarcity of sh arks'
teeth. Then sharks became available once more, sharks' teeth became plentiful, and the people had
money. They went to work again,
industry recovered, and the inh abitan ts of the is land regained
their former state of comfort. This
situation recurred several times in
th e cou rse of a long per io d of
years, the plight of the people becoming worse each time of scarcity,
yet no remedy was found. A visitor
to th ese sho res , du rin g on e of
these seasons of depression, was
astonished at what he saw—people
starving in a land where food was
p len t ifu l, fo r w an t o f sh ar k s '
t e e th . H e po in t ed o u t to th em
how lu dicrou s their attitude w as
in the eyes of a stranger, and they
came to see that another standard
than sharks' teeth could be used
without d estro yin g an y of the
w ealth of th e coun try. At last,
th ey understood th at the material
of which money was made mattered
little, an d th at an other medium
th an sh arks' teeth could be used
an d th e in tegrity of the money
would remain; that it was the relation of their medium of exchange
to produ ction which really mat-
TO OUR READERS—
Y o u m a y o b t a i n y o u r c o p y o f " T H E N E W T IM E S " fro m a n y
a u th o rise d n e w sa ge n t. S h ou l d you r a ge n t n o t h a ve s u p p l ie s, p l e a se
a s k h i m t o c o m m u n i c a t e d i re c t w i t h N e w T i m e s L td., B o x 1 22 6,
G .P .O ., M elb ou rne , C .I. ('p h on e M 5 38 4).
If y o u w i sh t o h a v e y o u r c o p y p o s t e d d i r e c t fr o m t h is o ffi c e ,
p le a se c o m p le t e t h e fo r m b e l o w a n d m a il i t, a c co m p a n ie d b y
re m itta n ce p a ya b l e t o N e w T i m e s L td .
SUB SC R IPT IO N
FORM.
T o N e w T i m e s L t d .,
B ox 1 2 2 6 , G .P .O ., M elb o u rn e , C .1 .
P le a se fo r w a r d m e "T h e N e w T i m e s " fo r … … … … … … … … … … .
m on t h s, b e gi n n in g w ith issu e d at e d … … … … … … … … … … , 193…
cheque
p o st a l n o te fo r t h e su m o f… … … … … … … … … … … ..
m one y order
N am e… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
F u l l P o st a l A d d r e s s… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .
JU LY 15 1938.
E L E C T O R A L C A M P A IG N N O T E S
KOOYONG CAMPAIGN. —
The executive met on Tuesday
night, and reports that preparations for the Kew meeting are
progressing very satisfactorily.
Clergymen and other leading
citizens are being interviewed,
and, judging from present indications, this meeting should prove
as successful as the previous
meetings. Once again all supporters who can help are urged
to get in touch with headquar-
VICTORIA
THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN. —The Electoral Campaign is based on the fundamental principle of democracy: "Parliament exists to make the WILL
of the people prevail."
The purpose of the Campaign
is to assist the people to present
their WILL to Parliament.
This is effected by the "Elector's Demand and Undertaking,"
which enables electors to instruct
their parliamentary representatives to re-present to Parliament
the electors' demand that pov- ters. There is a lot to be done,
erty be abolished.
BENALLA. —A report from
A GLORIOUS
Benalla shows that they are doCHANCE
ing very excellent work. At a
meeting of selected persons comFinance for the U.E.A.
prising over fifty new people, the
idea of the Electoral Campaign
How would you like to see
was greeted with great enthuthe U.E.A. free from the stress
siasm. Eric Butler had a talk
and strain of money shortage,
with the local supporters over the
which is cramping our efforts?
week-end, and is very impressed
You would! Well, here's the
with the progress. He says that
plan: —
Rev. Wilkinson is doing splenWe have under offer a lease
did work, and that Benalla is one
of land suitable for four tennis
of the most advanced centres in
courts. These could be laid
the State. This shows what
un der expert supervisio n
persistent effort can do. Other
(free) by the voluntary efforts
centres please copy.
of our young men. The usual
YOUTH SECTION. - - From
cost per court is £250, but our
reports which we have, it would
total is estimated at £700 for
appear that the youth are getting
the four. Everyone knows
down to some very sound work.
what a popular game tennis is,
New recruits are being obtained,
and is likely to remain. The
and the first really big effort will
situation of the land is in a
take place at the Nepean Hall,
thickly populated section of
Brighton, on July 26. "Youth
Camberwell, which is at preMeets to Tackle the Problems
sent short of tennis courts.
Which the Elders Have Shirked"
The revenue from the four
is the advertisement for the
courts, on a conservative estimee ting. This s h ou ld be a
mate, would be £250 per year.
unique meeting, as the eldest
So it is a sound investment,
speaker on the platform will only
which would at the same time
be 22 years of age. This age
be an immense help to the
limit also includes the chairman.
U.E.A.
All supporters should make a
point of being present to hear
We are calling for an indiYouth in action.
cation of approval from supNOTE. —All members of the
porters and sympathisers of
Youth Section are asked to be
the U.E.A. If that is forthpresent at the corner of Highcoming by a provisional apstreet and Cotham-road, Kew, at
plication for debentures, the
10.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
project will be taken in hand
Distribution of copies of the New
and established on a business
Times for the Kew meeting will
basis, and prospectus explaintake place. This is important.
ing debentures, interest and
redemption, etc., issued. Please
write in to Hon. Sec., United
tered. Money is for the purpose
Electors of Australia, Mcof exchanging goods, so its relaEwan House, C.I, immediatetion to the production of the
ly, AS THE OPTION OVER
country should be sound, and any
THE LEASE EXPIRES ON
other foundation for money is esJULY 20.
sentially unsound . . ..
Price Control.
Cancellation.
"If th e pr ice of go ld can be
fixed at 35 dollars an ounce, why
should not the price of wheat, or
beef, or of other necessities of life
be fixed at an equal standard of
valu e? . . . Some say that this
creative money would pile up and
never be cancelled. It is an extraordinary thing that the same people
never complain of a system under
which debt piles, up and is never
cancelled."
and, of course, the more work
put into the meeting the bigger
the results.
SOUTH MELBOURNE. We have no detailed reports from
this centre, but we understand
that there are big developments
in
the
air.
Thorou gh
grou ndwork is being carried
out, and within the near future
things will happen.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
TRANSPORT WORKER'S
ACT. —Two delegates from the
United Democrats (non-Party)
attended, by invitation, a meeting at the Trades Hall on Tuesday, June 29th, under the auspices of the Trades and Labor
Council, at which wa ys and
means were discussed for stirring up widespread interest in a
petition for the repeal of the
Federal Act under which the
waterside workers in several
States are licensed. That the
penal clauses of this Act bring
unwarranted hardship and restriction on the waterside workers
would be admitted by anyone
with
even
a
rudimentary
understanding of the democratic
principles; so that supporters are
advised to become acquainted
with the facts, and to do all in
their power to accelerate this
useful exercise in pressure politics t owards a worthy end.
Through the help likely to be
forthcoming from such organisations as the Women's Non-Party
Association, the W.C.T.U. and
t he Uni te d De mocra ts , t he
Trade and Labor Council should
be able to effectively canvas a
wide field for signatures to the
petition. Copies of petition are
available at Head Office, 17
Waymouth-street.
ANNUAL CONVENTION.—
Financial members are reminded
that the Annual Convention will
be held at the rooms, 17 Waymouth-street, this Saturday, July
16, at 2.30 p.m. Tea, provided
by the Women's Division, will
be available after 5.30.
MR. BRUCE BROWN. —The
e ve ning will take the form o f
a welcome to Mr. Bruce Brown,
of New Times fame, who has
been transferred to Adelaide.
Melbourne's loss will indeed be
Adelaide's gain. Mr. Bru ce
Brown possesses many "spiritual"
friends in Adelaide, so is assured
of a hearty welcome. Members
are asked to come along in time
for tea and bring their friends.
The evening is open to everybody—members, potential members and non-members. Interesting discussion on current topics
is anticipated.
DRUNK AND DISORDERLY.
(Continued from page 5.)
conduct, as long as there is treason
in high places.
The trouble is, so few can be
disorderly without being drunk.
And it would be hard to decide
whether or not a "drunk and disorderly" was disorderly before he
was drunk, or vice versa. Society
in its orderliness knows how to
deal with th at question. It i s
ready to assume drunkenness
wherever there is disorderliness.
However, that may be, I'm ready
to stack a nice little bet, that the
next person to do us any national
good will be a disorderly person.
At any rate, the newspapers will
say he is.
Printed by H. E. Kuntzen, 143-151 a'Beckett
Street, Melbourne, for New Times Limited,
Elizabeth House, Melb.
ELECTORS OF KOOYONG!
H e ar
D R . JOH N D A L E and ER IC D . B U TL ER
Launching
THE KOOYONG CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH POVERTY
Recreation Hall, KEW, (Near Kew Railway Station)
D a te … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ..
The subscription rate to “THE NEW TIMES” is 15/- for 12 months; 7/6
for 6 months; 3/9 for 3 months, post free.
Tuesday, AUGUST 2nd, 8 p.m.