36 
Iabour must go. Every able-bodied man 
who ig willing to work must have freedom 
to work. Every one who will not must 
bave freedom to starve. All the workers 
who now waste ' their energies in the 
futile activities of rival firms must go to 
useful work and swell the volume of pro- 
duction. The useless trades must be 
abolished, and the parasities of all sorts 
who infest the present system be given 
the chance of doing something useful. Ine 
creased production would not, as at pre. 
sent lead to unemployment, but to a great 
and general prosperity. 
Foreign Trade ~ 
would be put on a. proper footing, If 
for geographical or other reasons a given 
article could not be made in a given coun- 
try, a surplus of something else would be 
made in order to exchange for it and for no 
other reason. Now, a surplus is made, or 
attempted to be made in any case, and as 
it cannot be sold at a profit to the workers 
who make it, it has, in order to give the 
owner his profit, to be sold outside. The 
struggle for foreign markets which ensues 
has been the root cause of all recent wars. 
A sane social system would therefore make 
for international peace. In fact, it is the 
only thing which ever will do away with 
war with any certainty. Co-operative 
owaership, production and distribution is 
the only effective remedy for the indus- 
juiot, economic and international evils of 
o-dav 
As to the means of accomplishing the 
necessary change it will suffice here to say 
that events during the Great War showed 
that. given the will, there would be no 
insuperable difficulty. ven the capitalist 
British Government found when it wag 
confronted by the armed might of Ger. 
many that it could, and in fact had to, 
organise industry on a national basis. The 
consequence was, that during the war, 
even when the greater part of the British 
people was engaged, not in constructive, 
but in destructive labour, most of them 
were better fed and clothed than they. had 
ever been before—or unfortunately—sinee. 
We may well ask what may not be done 
by a Government sympathetic to such a 
Tipe dnd by a population engaged in 
useful constructive work with an intelli- 
gent and enthusiastic perception of the 
henefits to be derived 
However, so far as Australia is con- 
cerned, there is one direction in which 
some industrial improvements could for a 
time be aclieved without a change of sys- 
tem. Our adverse trade balance shows 
that our production is far too low. In a 
cneral way it is hizh production which is 
Fable ta aenvee ynemploviment. but | we 
Our Industrial Problenis, 
reach the same result by excessive Inds 
ports, paid for by increasing our external 
lebts, which has exactly the same effect zg 
so-called over-production—really under. 
consumption—has in normal cases. 'Thig 
vesults in just the same way mm unemploye 
ment, uncertainty and unrest. There i 
therefore in our case a margin between our 
present production and the point where 
sur, manufacturers would have to seek 
their profit by exporting, or rather there 
would be if only our imports were reduced, 
Recent Customs returns begin to show a 
decline in imports, but the case is urgent, 
both to merease employment and to stop 
the growth of the external debt, new 
'oans abroad beng now raised mainly to 
pay interest on old ones. It would theres 
‘ore be well to put 
An Absolute Prohibition 
on varoms articles which do not assist in 
she production of the wealth ‘necessary 
to check the dnmft towards insolvency. Of 
these articles, those worth while making 
should be made here; the rest could be 
done without for the present. We badly 
need a motor industry and another for the 
production of industrial alcohol. The ime 
portation of motor cars used for mere 
pleasure should be prolibited, the same to 
apply to motor trucks, tractors, and petrol 
ag soon as we had our own industries. 
Pianos, gramophones, cxpeusive apparel, 
foods and drinks, and a host of other 
things should also come under the ban. 
These measures would tend Lo inerease ems 
ployment, to encourage immigration, to 
provide a better local musket for our 
primary products, to improve our internal 
finances, and enable us to make a start to 
pay off bur external debts. They would 
therefore make for industrial peace go fap 
as it can be hoped for nnder the existing 
system. And these conditions would last 
until the usual Nemesis of production for 
profit was reached, that is. the necessity 
ior export to find a profit. 
_ As for further suggestions. any one who 
desired to urge on both employers and 
workers the practice of goodwill and 
mutual forbearance should be encouraged 
to do so. But all the sume. in fairness 
it must be said, that the empinyers are ene 
tangled in a systems for which they are not 
cesponsible, and can thepelne hardly be 
expected to act much differently, As for 
the workers, they are its chicf vietims, 
The strikes and lock-outs are estremely 
vexatious, and it is no doubt easy enough, 
though not very profitable, to point to 
vagaries, inconsistencies and objectionable 
featurés in the methods fyliowed by either 
side, but if we choose to retain the capital- 
st system we must pnt up with the con. 
equences 
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