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SIXTY-EIGHTH TZAR.
Monopoly Finds Final Expression in Socialism Alternative is Decentralisation, Self -Government for Industry attacks on monopoly, as exTHEemplified in the B.H.P., originally made by the Deputy Leader of the Federal Labour Party (Mr. Forde), have been continued by him and he has found a further supporter in Sir Charles Marr. While these criticisms have been well founded, as it seems to me, there are two points that seem to have been overlooked- The first is, that the proposed Labour remedy for
monopoly-nationalisation-may turn out to be worse than the disease. I do not see any reason to suppose that a junta of politicians will be any more interested in the just distribution of
1
wealth and the genuine welfare of the workers than their present masters. The solution seems to me to lie in the two principles of decentralisation and self-government for industry. As to the first, it is our common experience that the bigger a concern the more unwieldly it is to run, and it soon manifests inefficiency, waste, delay and (what is worse) an impersonal attitude towards the workers which is not always distinguishable from callousness and complete lack of Again the industrial understanding. troubles which are hampering the war effort would not arise so readily, nor be organised in such disastrous proportions if manufacturing units were Also, being less on a smaller scale. co....-4,1ex from the angle of organisation7a.tch disputes could be more As readily and quickly arbitrated. for the principle of self-government in apare readily -46 benefits industry, Employees will certainly preciated. give more whole -hearted labour if they realise (under a system of co-operative ownership) that they will actually share justly in the fruits of production. The root cause -of strikes and industrial contention-discontent-will be removed. In concert with those who supply the capital for production, they will recapture the sense of responsibility which the present wage system has almost destroyed. The excessive accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few would be brought under control by these Industrial Councils. For, by fixing the price of the goods produced by their respective industries, they would eliminate the profiteer; by fixing the dividends payable annually to shareholders, they would suppress the mad greed of money and place the rights of the worker before the reaping of profits, as justice demands; by planning production, both as to quantity
and quality, waste would be reduced and security would be attained as to markets through the standard of the goods produced. Further, under cooperative ownership, the workers would be able to plan their own social services, voluntarily financed out of the wealth produced by their own labour. Thus they could achieve security without a diminution of personal dignity and independence such as State social services must necessarily involve. In addition they would also greatly curb the growth of bureaucracy and prevent further usurpations of power by the political machine.
"For the Duration." Rut to revert to Mr. Forde and the B.H.P. Even if Mr. Forde could attain his ideal of nationalisation of the Company, he has apparently no notion of permanence in this regard. The governmental control is only proposed "for the duration of the war.' This, of course, may only be the diplomatic annroach to Labour's programme of wholesale socialism. Perhaps Mr. Forde is breaking the news gently. For it would seem extraordinary if it were claimed that Monopoly is bad in war time but a Good Thing in peace time. The supreme case against Monopoly is not that it has the nation at its mercy in a time of crisis such as war create% but that it is intrinsically bad from every point of view. It has the nation in its grip all the time. Competition was once the keynote of Capitalism, but it has yielded place to the more inhuman but more remunerative process of combination. Big business gets together and the small man is squeezed out. This process is already far advanced in Australia, and has the active support and blessing of the Federal Government. Yet it is no defence of monopoly to claim that it is "efficient," as against the charge that it is immoral or, anyhow, amoral. Birth prevention is suicidally efficient; so is murder, in the sense that these activities achieve their ends with dispatch. As a fact of experience, it might be noted that evil, of its nature, is more efficient than virtue. Its effects are more instant, and more widespread precisely because of its negative character. A house can more readily be wrecked than it can be built. And, furthermore destruction can be accomplished by anyone from the baby and the lunatic to the Bolshevist. But construction calls for an ordered reason, for skill of high
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standard, for qualities of heart and mind and judgment not everywhere to be found. Monopoly is evil because it is an organised, minority denial of the right of the masses to own property. That is why it is so difficult to believe that Labour's political leaders still believe in the socialisation platform. They protest quite justly against the anonymous and private control of industry, but their only solution is to invest it in yet fewer hands. They claim that public control would eliminate abuses, and so it would if it were true that the electors were really free and that politicians were really responsible to their electors. But this is a fiction which no politician certainly believes, whatever it might be expedient to say in public. Socialist Servility.
It is also interesting to note that the
Opposition forces to Labour which are now in political power have stolen their thunder in this respect. It began with the still -born National Insurance Act, went on the the Child Endowment, and now threatens to run riot with health, unemployment, and pensions for this and that. To be logical, Labour must acknowledge these things to be good in principle. Yet from the outlook of Catholic sociology they need to be treated with extreme caution. They offer a very facile solution to the immediate material injustices of the social order. But they do not touch the roots of the problem. And hence is set up the Servile State of social services wherein the people are treated from time to time to a slice of Government charity for which they have already paid and which they could co-operatively have organised very much better and cheaper themselves. Now if Labour accepts this trend towards what they call Socialism, and what I call Servility, it would seem that the fundamental differences between the political parties has commenced to break down. There seems no reason why they cannot all now combine on a platform of Socialism. There will perhaps be differences about methods of implementation, but these will be merely incidental.
In other words, it seems to me that Labour must begin to realise that Socialism is a double-edged sword.
It can be, and is being, employed as a final effort to bolster up the position of concentrated wealth and privilege. This perhaps was never contemplated -that the rich might rule openly and directly in their own interest. But whether Labour likes it or not, it is
obvious that this trend is under way and will advance a long way in a short time. The avalanche of "services" now being investigated by the Social Security Committees is evidence of For "The Record."
by FRANCIS
what is contemplated. When even this has been accomplished matters will he too far gone to be retrieved. Seeing that this is so, that Labour has had the plums of its desire stolen from right under its nose. it appears to me that Labour ought to have a stocktaking and inquire just whether Socialism is likely to be in practice all it appeared in theory half a century ago. Perhaps it would not be amiss at the same time to examine whether the social theories expounded in the Statement of the Australian Hierarchy is not a sounder and surer way of reaching the goal which is in the heart& of the' working mass, however it has been confused by the blessed word "Socialism." H.N.S. SEEKS 200,000 NEW MEM-
BERS IN ONE DIOCESE.
After intense organisation and individual preparation, 12,000 members of the Holy Name Society have been making a lightning campaign throughout the Chicago archdiocese to secure
200,000 new members. In a fortnight they have visited every Catholic household in the 417 parishes,
aiming to get at least one new member from each family. Returns received so far from 105 parishes show 36,535 new members. Practically all these parishes have secured more than the quotas fixed for them. It appears, therefore, that the complete returns will show more than 200,000. Archbishop Stritch himself *Want out to secure the first new members. The chief organiser, Father Edward J. Kelly, said: "We are for an 'all out' war effort against those interests that weaken the spiritual life of a nationapathy, indifference, unconcern for the spiritual welfare of Holy Mother Church-and we believe that only by strengthening and increasing the existing spiritual forces will the challenge of totalitarian and foreign ideological conceptions be met successful I
y"
Another priest said: "The Cale to think about more indulgences and benefits for the soul is now, not when bombs are raining in New York."
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