the social crediter, saturday, august 24, 1940. -thesocial

The Social Crediter, Saturday, August 24, 1940.

-"THESOCIAL CREDITERFOR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REALISM

Vol. 4. No. 24. 6d. Weekly.Registered at G.P.O. as a NewspaperPostage (home and abroad) Id, SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1940

"GUILTY

. " Vengeance is mine; saiththe Lord". But "Cato", anonymousauthor of the book Guilty Men, * thinksotherwise. The preface to this book hastwo paragraphs: -"On a spring day in1793 a crowd of angry men burst theirway through the doors of the assemblyroom where the French Convention wasin session. A discomforted figureaddressed them from the rostrum. 'Whatdo the people desire?' he asked. 'TheConvention has only their welfare atheart.' The leader of the angry crowd

. replied: 'The people haven't come here..,_/ to be given a lot of phrases. They de-

mand a dozen guilty men.'"'The use of recriminating about

the past is to enforce effective action atthe present.' - Mr. Winston Churchill,May 29, 1936, now Prime Minister ofBritain."

The "guilty men" are referred toas "the cast" and are named as follows:Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Sir JohnSimon, Sir Samuel Hoare, Mr. RamsayMacDonald, Lord Baldwin, Lord Hali-fax, Sir Kingsley Wood, Mr. ErnestBrown, Captain David Margesson, SirHorace Wilson, Sir Thomas Inskip(Lord Caldecote), Mr. Leslie Burgin,Lord Stanhope, Mr. W. S Morrison, SirReginald Dorman Smith.

Their "crime" is that "they wereresponsible" for the lack of armamentsof the B.E.F. and, in general, for theill-preparedness of this country for war.

The demand is that "those guiltymen" who still remained members ofthe Government should resign. Thereader will apprehend almost at oncetwo things about this book. Firstly,that Mr. Hore Belisha, War Minister

, for the first months of the war and for.,c-;\"ome time previously, and a member of

*Guilty Men, By 'Cato', Gollancz, London,1940. Price 2s. 6d.

MEN"By JOHN MITCHELL

the British Government for several yearsbefote the war, is not cast as a "guiltyman". Secondly that the publisher ofthe book is Victor Gollancz who, likeHore Belisha, is a Jew, and is thefounder of the Left Book Club, the maindisseminator of Communist ideas in thiscountry, and a warm advocate of analliance with Soviet Russia.

In the opinion of the author: "Warpreparation is fundamentally a matterof economics". And it is pointed outthat the Government's Economic Ad-viser during the early months of thewar, was Lord Stamp. But considerablecare is taken to exculpate him as far aspossible. We are told that one of thecauses of the trouble "was that LordStamp was only asked to give half histime to the job". We. are also told:"Whatever the true cause, the matter isacademic. The soldiers of Britain hadinsufficient tanks and areoplanes to pro-tect them for the simple reason thatinsufficient money had been spent tobuy them. It was not really LordStamp's fault. He was only half guilty.The Nation's railways must be carriedon." Having regard to the In percent. increase in railway charges in thebrief space of the last five months, wecordially agree at any rate that it wouldhave been a happy thing if the otherhalf of Lord Stamp's time had not beendevoted to the Railways.

It is, of course, very clear that thereal object of the book is to obtain theremoval from the Government of Mr.Chamberlain in particular, and of allthose Ministers who are not prepared toturn over this country completely andpermanently to Socialism.

This book, which went througheleven impressions during the first monthafter publication, is clever and speciouspropaganda. Someone has to bear the

heavy responsibility for what has obvi-ously not, but should have been doneduring past years. There is of coursesolid justification for placing a largemeasure of responsibility at the doors ofall those who are in this book dubbedthe guilty ones. But no attempt ismade to distinguish between the greysheep and the black so that it seemssuspiciously as if the black sheep wereincluded in the flock for the purposeof damning the grey. An examinationof the sheep in the next field wouldprobably show many of them to.be black (and not even grey) too; butthis is ignored. The occasion for theplay of such propaganda as this oughtto provide a first-class lesson for all thosewho are attempting to withstand themarch of Socialism in this country: thatthe fighting of rear-guard actions. willnot suffice to defeat these evil forces.

The charges "Cato" makes arebased on the assumption that the mainobject of national policy over the pastten years has been to prepare for war.Conveniently ignoring all other nationalaspirations, and starting from this pos-ition, it is not difficult to convince anuninformed public that those politicianswho have in earlier years preachedspectacular policies based solely on awar objective, are prophets and leadersto whom the nation should now turn.To the informed however, the utterdishonesty of the book is manifest; weare told that "War preparation is fund-amentally a matter of economics". Butit is not pointed out that the prophetsand leaders to whom "Cato" would now

•have us turn never once attempted towarn the nation of the real causes ofour economic troubles, nor does he him-self make any attempt to enlightenus in regard to this all-important matter.

This book is part of a deep

scheme of propaganda and revolutionaryactivity carefully planned in advance andadapted to English conditions. It isvital that people should take accoun~ ofthe special revolutionary technique nowbeing developed in this country. In linewith this activity is the propagandabeing disseminated by Sir RichardAcland and his associates, which has asits aim, "equality of standards" in lieuof "equality of sacrifice".

The British people do not want"Guilty Men". They want certainspecific results.

INSANITY"Among the Jews the proportion of

insane has been observed to be verylarge. From statistics collected byBuschan, he concludes that they are fourto six times more liable to mental dis-ease than are non-jews."

- Jewish Encyclopaedia, 'Insanity.'

• • •"The gradual movement of the

Jews from the Eastern to the Westernhemi-sphere, so that within three hun-dred years almost one third of the Jewishpeople have settled in the Americancontinent is one of the most significantfacts in Jewish history ...... "- Encyclopaedia of Jewish Knowledge.

• • •"The 'hospital hours' spent in the

United States on mental disease are nowannually one hundred and seventy-threemillion, against the hundred and twenty-three million spent on all other diseasesput together."

Gerald Heard in "Pain, Sex andTime," page 209.

"TAX-BONDS or BONDAGEand

THE ANSWER TOFEDERAL UNION"By JOHN MITCHELL.

Price - One Shilling.

K.R.P. PUBLICA nONS LTD.,12, LORD STREET, LIVERPOOL, 2.

THE SOCIAL CREDITER Saturday, August 24, 1940.

PLANNING AND"The most orthodox economists in

England, who condemn any governmentinterference in business, admit that evena victorious peace would be accompaniedby an extension rather than by a re-duction of government control andplanning .

"The European discussion aboutthe economic organization of the peaceis therefore no longer much concernedwith the basis, which is generallyadmitted to be that of a planned,government-controlled economy, whoeverwins. Only the methods are debated.Should, as the Socialists demand, gov-ernment actually own the key industries?Or should it just control them? Andwhich of the four major controls is themost important and efficient one-control of labour, of raw materials, ofcapital and credit or of distribution?Should the planning be national orinternational? And should it workdirectly through the planning of pro-duction-the German and Russian way-or through manipulation of themonetary machine, as J. M. Keynes, thefamous English economist, and his schoolsuggest? None of the proposals ..for thepost-war organization of Europethat hasbeen made by Europeans seems to regardas possible a return to the economy offree enterprise and free competition .

" in the event of a Germanvictory, three quarters of all the worldtrade will automatically be on a total-itarian basis. But would Great Britain,if victorious, be able to return to freeinternational trade?

"This question was a pressing oneeven before Mr. Chamberlain resigned.But Mr. Chamberlain at least wantedthe clearing system to be only temporary;he was fully convinced that democracycan be preserved only if the plannedtotalitarian economy of the war is abol-ished as soon as the war is over. Thereis every reason to think that Mr. FrankAshton-Gwatkin, Mr. Chamberlain'sadviser on international economics, wasabsolutely sincere when he declared inWashington last April that planning,restrictions and controls were nothingbut temporary emergency measures

• forced by dire necessity upon an un-willing British Government. And M.Reynaud, the French prime minister,was equally sincere when he said at aboutthe same time that the restoration ofeconomic freedom was precisely what his

THEgovernment was waging war for.

"But the management of Alliedeconomic affairs did not rest in hishands; it lay in London. And WinstonChurchill has entrusted key positions inthe management of international econ-omics to two men who did not see inplanned economics and controlled foreigntrade temporary measures but permanentsolutions. Mr. Robert Hudson, theBritish Minister of Agriculture, and Dr.Hugh Dalton, Mr. Churchill's Ministerof Economic Warfare, do not believethat democracy and planned government-controlled economics are incompatible.On the contrary, both are convinceddemocracy cannot survive without them ....

" Hudson, tall, well dressed,debonair, is the typical English gentle-man of independent means. Dalton,high forehead, high stiff collar, bald andwith a suave, slightly unctuous manner,looks like one of the absent-minded,impoverished English lords in a W ode-house story.

"These two men will not have it alltheir own way. Sir Kingsley Wood,Mr. Chamberlain's man Friday, who is \"i_.)1Chancellor of the Exchequer, and thuscontrols the purse strings, is, bitterlyopposed to all but the most necessaryeconomic experiments. Should he beousted, there is still the ultraconservativeMontagu Norman, who, as head of theBank of England, wields great politicalpower without being responsible to gov-ernment or parliament. But if the warcontinues for any length of time theplanners will get complete control notonly in England but everywhere inEurope. And then the British Empireis not likely to be able to scrap the poorman's economy-even if victorious.

"Discussing the attitude of thiscountry toward war and peace in Europe,the London Times said recently: 'Amer-icans must realize that when thefighting is over, all national economiesin Europe will be, in essentials, controlledeconomies; and there is little likelihoodthat the controls will disappear later as(largely at American bidding) they didafter 1918.' And if the London Timesis famous for one thing, it is for itsinfinite capacity for understatement."- From an article by Peter F. Drucker

entitled "Poor Man's War", published~in "The Saturday Evening Post," July .__,20, 1940.

Saturday, August 24, 1940. THE SOCIAL CREDITER

THE REAL WAR

No apology is necessary for arecapitulation of what is the mostimportant problem to-day. It cannotin fact be repeated too often that thepresent war is fundamentally a clashbetween the individual and the institu-tion. To be accurate, the present militaryconflict is a phase in a war extendingover centuries and millennia between theindividuals comprising mankind and avery few individuals controlling keyinstitutions.

Human history, progress as well asdecline, deals with human beings andtheir activities. Institutions are foundedand carried on only in connection withthose activities. This is merely to saythat institutions serve some human needor aim, or else do not exist at all. They{ire a means to an end and can in nocircumstances whatever be an end inthemselves, even where tendenciouspropaganda holds them up as such. Theapparent aim of an institution can ofcourse be very different from, indeed

1 just the opposite to, the real aim of its~ controllers. It is sufficient to mention

the League of Nations and the Bank ofInternational Settlements. The real aimcan be guessed at by an investigationinto the interests and mentality of itscontrollers and perceived by actualresults.

In testing the usefulness to mankind-and that is the only touchstone possible--of some institution, it is essential toexamine in an unbiassed way what arethe objectives, the real ones, for whichit exists. Whether we as a nation shouldfight for or against it must depend onwhether it benefits us personally as menand women or not.

After all, institutions are figments ofthe imagination, mere labels for ourconvenience, a sort of heading to chap-ters of our activities. They are, likemoney, mere conventions, a psychologicalprecipitation of thought and activity.An institution has in fact no physicalexistence. It is not a clearly defined andidentifiable entity. It can only exist asa number of human beings in associa-tion. To take a simple example, 3

tennis club is formed by individuals. so that they may satisfy their de-

~'\sire to play tennis in as congenial,.,. surroundings as is possible within their

means. The club house and groundsalone are not the club. The club is

By H. R. P.

unthinkable without the members. Be-sides, it has other amenities; a bar, acard-room, and so on. Non-playingmembers may join for the socialpleasures and advantages to be gained.But throughout there is the inevitable,essential condition that the association isformed and maintained for the benefitof the members. The latter are unan-imous on policy, on what they want.

This condition applies to every formof association, to every institution, andparticularly to the political institutioncalled the State. There have beeninstances where the institution has not,on balance, been a benefit to the majorityof its members; but only because thesedid not realise the fact. Evil men haveat times gained control of institutionsand exploited them for their own benefitat the expense of other members' benefit.To effect this they have had to resortto propaganda. They have had to instilin the minds of the majority an inflatedidea of the value of those benefits thelatter manage to get out of the institu-tion. Worse still they have succeeded,as in Russia and Germany to-day, inwarping the minds of others to such anextent as to elevate the institution intoa kind of divinity, claiming blind wor-ship and implicit obedience to its priests.It can be said without exaggeration thatever since the dawn of human historymost States have for most of the timebeen so exploited.

History tells us of a few instanceswhere fortuitous circumstances eitherprevented or stopped the domination bya few over their fellows. The irre-pressible vitality and intelligence of manwere given free play and the individualcame into his own, i.e. freedom of actionwithin the limits set by nature at thattime and place. Ancient Greece is amost notable instance, and the deter-mined though unsuccessful effort byXerxes to stop the Greek experimentmost significant. No doubt many minorinstances of such development havepassed into oblivion and only the mem-ory of major experiments has surviveddeliberate suppression and failure inappreciation of chroniclers. This is nodoubt particularly the case as theseinstances of human progress have occ-urred at the fringes of civilisation, awayfrom the dead hand of centralised power.

Now the British people are a syn-

thesis of mainly two races, Anglo-Saxonsand Celts. It so happens that both ofthese races were endowed with agenerous love of freedom. Their ancientinstitutions were designed to that endand jealously guarded. The spirit, atany rate, still survives. The maincharacteristic of the Briton, which findsexpression in a blend of tolerance to-wards others and a fierce regard for ourown rights, has been modified but notoverborn by the implacable and adven-turous spirit of the Norseman and thekeen and aristocratic mind of theNorman. The general character of theBritish people has on the one handenabled them to wrest from the forceof evil a greater measure of liberty thanis enjoyed by any other nation, and onthe other hand has attracted the dead-liest hatred of the British by thoseself-same forces.

This is the real war of which thepresent military conflict is but the latest,though perhaps the decisive, campaign.So far as the British are concerned, thewar extends back to before MagnaCharta. The effort expended in wideningour liberties little by little, is out of allproportion to the results. Thus can wemeasure the enemy's strength and hiscapacity for remaining unrecognised.Very few people are ever really consciousof the active resistance to all efforts atprogress in this field, so subtle and allpervasive is that resistance. All meansof communicating with the people asa whole are controlled by the forces ofevil. They put out continuous propa-ganda on this question of individualversus institution, with the deliberateaim of distorting' the human mind andlulling human intelligence into a druggedsleep.

It is well to remember that whereverand whenever we come across suchpropaganda exalting the institution overthe human being, we are face to facewith the agents, conscious or unconscious,of subversive forces; subversive tonational sovereignty, to legitimate humanaspirations and to man himself.

Trajan would say of the vain jeal-ousy of princes that seek to make awaythose that aspire to their succession:"that there never was a king that didput to death his successor."


Not Published in"The Times"

The Editor,The Times,Printing House Square,London, E.C. 4.Sir,

If your correspondent's descriptionof what the Germans have done inoccupied France is correct, it is incorrectto label it 'a sort of Douglas social creditscheme'. If his description is wrong,it affords no basis from which anyconclusion can be drawn. If, withoutyour correspondent's being able to under-stand its nature, the Germans have doneanything worth writing about, it is muchto be hoped that someone in this countryless irresponsible than your correspondentwill make a note of it.

Yours faithfully,TUDOR JONES,Deputy Chairman,

Social Credit Secretariat.August 17, 1940.

[In an article in the issue of August17, The Times stated:

" The Germans have instituted asort of Douglas social credit scheme uponwhich they base their mark-note issue. Thebacking for this spurious currency is said tobe not counterfeit capitalist backing of goldbut the more solidly founded reserve of workdone. As a temporary measure it may beall very fine, but marks printed, even withsuch a basis, cannot produce the food andnecessities of life which simply are notthere."]

CAVIARE LUNCHEON"Ambassador Maisky has done

everything possible to secure better .e-lations [of Soviet Russia] with Britain.Last weekend he gave a caviare luncheonat his palatial embassy in KensingtonPalace Gardens.

"On his right sat Leopold StennettAmery, Britain's ultra-Tory Secretaryfor India. On the Ambassador's leftwas Richard Austen ('Rab') Butler,Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

"Opposite them sat Major-GeneralE.L. Spears, M.P., a personal friend ofPremier Churchill, formerly his liaisonofficer with France's Paul Reynaud.

"Also present was Robert Boothby,Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministryof Food, whose attitude to Russia isin marked contrast to that of some ofhis Tory Party colleagues."

- News Review, August 15, 1940.

Letters to the EditorJULIUS STREICHER

Sir,I refer to the paragraph under the

above head published in your issue ofthe 10th instant.

As there are still people who ques-tion whether anti-semitism in Germanywas sponsored by Jewish internationalfinancial interests I enclose for yourinformation an outside cover of WorldService.

This was a bulletin edited by aColonel Fleischauer who I understandwas perfectly sincere in his intentions.

Nevertheless the contents, some ofwhich were undoubtedly true, were pre-sented in such a form as to merelyincrease the unreasoning hatred of theJew by the anti-semite while yieldingfurther scope for the ridicule of thosewho are ignorant of the Jewish questionand its menace.

As will be observed from the mar-ginal notes of this cover the Banksthrough which payment for the bulletinhad to be made are all directly or in-directly German-Jew controlled!

The object of the anti-semiticmovement was not only to purify theGerman people in preparation for thiswar but to assist the immigration ofrevolutionaries into Britain and othercountries for the promotion of the world-revolution which has been repeatedlydeclared as the ultimate aim of thepresent struggle.

In this latter connection a carefulscrutiny of the officering and trainingof the Home Guard is called for.

I shall be grateful if you will grantthe courtesy of space to this letter.

Yours, etc.,GUY N. ANDREWS.

Shortacres, Crozoborough, Sussex;August 14, 1940.

P.S.-The all-important part played bythe Dresdner Bank (the principal spon-sor of World Service) in connection withthe Marconi scandal and the Great Warcan be verified from Mr. A. N. Field'sAll These Things.

• ••"LET THE PEOPLE SING."

Sir,May I draw the attention of Social

Crediters to Mr. Priestley's latest novel,

Let the People Sing, which is. the storyof a successful Local Objective-thepreventing of a large hall being takenaway from the people of Dunbury. Forexample:-

"'Well,' said Jimmy slowly, 'I don'tknow much about democracy or any-thing, 'cos I've never bothered muchabout politics. You don't in theprofession, y' know. But it seems to meif they haven't enough about 'em tokeep this hall of theirs, they deserve tolose it.'

" 'My friend,' sighed the Professor,'never let anyone say you know nothingabout politics. You have arrived atonce at the heart of this and many,many other matters. What we will nottrouble to keep, that we deserve tolose.' "

As a novelist, Mr. Priestley requiresno recommendation, and I need onlysay that this story is fully up to standard.It is no less entertaining than salutory,and Social Crediters will not' only enjoy I.....iJit themselves but can put it to good useamong their acquaintances and friends.

Yours, etc.,

R. L. NORTHRIDGE.

Belfast; August, 1940.

ADVERTISING FREEDOMTo the unsophisticated it seems a

little ludicrous to advertise the value ofthe 'liberties' that remain in this laststronghold of liberty. What on earthare 'liberties' if by inspection we can-not recognise them without help and ifby experience not find them so muchworth having as to be notable?

To insist on the necessity for suchadvertisements to the extent of adver-tising it is still more unexplainable-until we see that the advertisement is

, done by an advertising company. Andfurther scrutiny of the quarter pageadvertisement in The Times reveals thefact that prominent in their formulationof the liberties that we are fighting topreserve is the freedom to form secret ~societies and to be freemasons (para-graph 2).


Canadian Mobilisation~ Mr. John Blackmore, the leader

of the New Democracy party in theDominion House of Commons, movedan amendment to the mobilisation billplacing the responsibility for financingthe war on the Bank of Canada, andurging the conscription of "corporations,industries and' financial instutions"before persons. He urged the adoptionof the principles of social credit.

The Bill, like the British EmergencyPowers Bills, was scheduled for immed-iate and swift passage, and in theCanadian Press great play was madewith the 'fact that this amendment wasthe cause of delay. Although in thenewspapers much space was devoted toreports of the debate, in at least oneAlberta daily there was no report of thespeeches in favour of the amendment,nor was the text of the amendment given.

The report was a triumph for"clumsy" journalism.

The amendment was defeated by147 to 17 votes. All the Conservativesand Liberals in the Chamber votedagainst it while New Democracyrepresentatives, C.C.F. (the Canadianequivalent to the Labour movement),and Mrs Dorise Nielsen, a 'Unity'

~. candidate, voted for it.

Unorthodox BankerOn another page it is pointed out

that the most orthodox institutions suchas The Economist are becoming carelessof maintaining appearances by support-ing financial orthodoxy. That bankersare similarly affected is shown by thefollowing speech of Mr. H. J. Kelliher,a director of the Bank of New Zealand,given at Darwin and reported in theBrisbane Courier of June 10.

"Avoidance of major part of theeconomic aftermath of the war shouldbe ensured by the replacement now ofprivately-created money by State-issuedmoney. By so doing the British Empirewould be freed from the crushing interestburdens that were mounting up underits present financial system, for State-created money would be interest free,"said Mr. H. J. Kelliher, a director ofthe Bank of New Zealand, when hearrived at Darwin in a flying boat fromSingapore to-day, on his way back tothe Dominion.

~ "To fight a war on privately-created~ ~oney is to fight two enemies - one

without and one within," he said. "Thelatter is the enemy of perpetual indebted-

America does not "Give"" There is a great and growing

gulf between American words and Amer-ican actions. There is no room fordoubt that an overwhelming majority ofthe American people are in agreementwith the policy which is usually statedas 'giving the utmost possible help toBritain short of war.' This movementof opinion sprang up in the dreadfuldays of May and June and in its firstaccess a number of things were donewhich were undoubtedly of immediateassistance to the Allies. Stocks of'surplus' war materials were sold andshipped to us; the rather absurd re-quirements for the delivery of aircraftat the Canadian border were waived;undertakings to buy raw materials wereentered into which had the effect, if notthe intention, of putting dollar exchangeinto the hands of the British Treasury.

"In the last few weeks, however,the tendency has been reversed. As thedemands for increased help to Britainhave grown, more and more obstacleshave, in fact, been placed in our way.Congress effectually stopped the disposalof surplus stocks. Embargoes wereplaced on the export of steel scrap andaviation spirit which, though they- weredoubtless intended to hurt others,certainly do not help us.

"Neutrality thus demands that thosewhom America herself regards asworthy of support should suffer withthe guilty. When, however, it comes tomeasures which, while treating all alike,would in fact benefit Britain alone, suchas the repeal of the Johnson and Neu-trality Acts, there is not a whisper ofthe possibility of action being taken.

The plans for assisting Latin America,though conceived with the admirablepurpose of keeping the purchases of rawmaterials from that continent. Even [heproposal to send American ships to takethe children to safety is made dependenton Hitler's permission and therefore fallsinto that category of empty moralgesture for which the English-speakingpeoples are famous. The substantialtruth is that once the last shipment ofsurplus material arrives (if it has notalready done so) we shall be getting less,not more, help from America than inApril. And none of it, of course, is'given'.

"This does not mean that wecannot look forward to massive assistancein the future. After the election is over,President Roosevelt-or President Will-kie-will be able to move with lesscircumspection, and even congress will,for a spell, be more anxious to pleasethe majority than to avoid infuriatinga minority The likelihood is that by1942 we shall be receiving a flood ofmunitions from across the Atlantic-including Lord Beaverbrook's 3,000aircraft a month. So far as this autumnis concerned, however, America can giveus very little help and-despite the verystrong wish of the majority of herpeople-will give us even less help thanshe can.

" .... .. Indeed, it has become ourhistorical mission to hold out in ourfortress and give the Americans time tothink things out. If we play our part,they will play theirs."From "The Economist," Aug. 10, 1940.

ness, which we have never conquered.The sums of private credit money beingborrowed are becoming so fantastic intheir magnitude that every one recognisesthe impossibility of ever repaying them.

"The ever-growing interest burdenseventually will enslave masses of peopleby depriving them of purchasing powerand creating large-scale unemployment.

"Contending that the tremendousmonetary expansion entailed by .heprosecution of the war must inevitably befollowed by industrial economic stagna-tion and unemployment, Mr. Kellihersaid that such repercussions would be allthe more severe when the money em-ployed was privately created and spenton wasting assets accompanied by large-

scale destruction of real wealth such (IS

occurred in war-time."The logical thing was to prepare

for a sound post-war footing andextricate ourselves from the debt inperpetuity system by instituting effectivemonetary reforms before it was too late.The State should replace private capitalby State-created money distributedthrough State banks, assisted by theexisting banks, backed by nationalresources, and placed on a commoditybasis.

"This money should be used fullyto develop national resources and putforth a maximum war effort."(Report from the Sydney "New Era"of June 21.)


be served. In this self-imposed task wecan offer; we cannot compel. We canconstitute ourselves a General Staff; butall we can say to the DivisionalCommanders is: "Weare .giving youthe best and most disinterested advice;but whether; you carry it out, or whetheranyone carries it out is a matter, thoughnot of indifference, yet quite beyond ourcontrol." Effective action is a matterof sanctions, and we haven't got 'em.

No one who reads this journalregularly and with discernment needmiss sighting the quarters in whichsanctions exist, or the directions in whichincreasing desire to apply power isshowing itself. A great deal of all thisis on our side, although obviously power-ful forces, identifiable with as much orgreater ease, are against us.

Readers of the all too brief extractspublished here from Hansard will beaware of a broadening situation. Thisshould be handled with painstaking care,individually, expertly, persistently. Itis clear that not every M.P. is either arogue or incapable of extricating himselffrom a situation in which he becomes in-creasingly uncomfortable. He is merelya man unfamiliar with the correctdefinition of his proper function or thenature of the predicament in which hefinds himself.

And so it is with other functionaries.Life becomes increasingly unsatisfactoryfor all. Those whose functions are nothighly elaborate are most conscious ofdiscomfort; those whose functions callfor higher creative powers are becomingconscious of something which might beappropriately called not so much dis-comfort as dis-ease. People fly fromdisease even more quickly than fromdiscomfort; they are imaginative as wellas sentient. If we set out to offer ex-pert advice, it should be expert advice.The post-card to your M.P. has hadits day (though it may have its IndianSummer). Arguments about the cost-less creation of credit have likewise hadtheir day. Money no longer mattersvery much-even The Economist islosing interest in the maintenance of theappearances! It will have another day,on a different plane. What holds thefield of our interest at the moment is theopportunities which are opening out forthorough and realistic service, advice

-that is intelligent, considered, compre-hensive. "If you would be heard speakwith the mind of your hearer". That~does not mean that you cannot inform it. ~-

. T. J.

THE SOCIAL CREDITERThis journal expresses and supports the policy of the Social CreditSecretariat, which is a non-party, non-class organisation neither connectedwith nor supporting any political party, Social Credit or otherwise.

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Vol. 4. No. 24.

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Saturday, August 24, 1940.

RATHEROne of the earliest and most dis-

tinguished converts to Social Credit isreported to have told Major Douglas:"You see you're introducing somethingunfamiliar to us. Cost and price havealways been exactly the same thing tous." That is the whole root of thematter. What a thing costs is not nec-essarily the price which has to be paidfor it without loss being sustained byanyone. If there is an excess of produc-tion in any accounting period overcurrent consumption in the same period,true cost is a fraction, less than unity,of the apparent, or financial cost whichmust be recovered (in prices if there isno other source) to prevent loss to theproducer. A simple example of a kindfamiliar to economists (who like desertislands even when they take good careto live where they can do more harm)is a desert island where coconuts growin profusion and have only to bepicked in order to provide food (thepulp) clothing (the fibre) and housing(the shells) for pickers. Assuming asurplus of fifty per cent. the true costof one coconut is half a coconut, not awhole one. This seems at first sightparadoxical and economists under press-ure to consider it will be found to fleeprecipitately from the scene of the coco-palm's labours to some other scene-usually that of the labours of anotherforest of coco-palms on another desertisland (and so ad infinitum)Like Newton's Laws the truth of thismatter is not demonstrable by mathe-

.matics but by experience.

But the statement, nevertheless,remains unfamiliar, that where there isexcess of production true cost is afraction of financial cost. The true costof supplying the earth's population withthe necessaries of life and with the mun-itions of war as well is the necessariesof life. When populations want wars at

DOMESTICthis cost, they can have 'em. When theyare free to get them at this cost, theywill make a wiser choice probably indeciding what to do with their sparetime and energy. They may not; butin any case the choice will be their ownnot that of a self-interested minority.

The Social Credit movement hasfor many years, been trying to makethese truths familiar and has exoeriencedgreat obstruction from quarters bettersupplied with powers (or sanctions)-better supplied because for the present thesuppliers control the supply, their ownand other people's. While: thismatter was being brought to an issue,the war supervened, and it is now morethan ever apparent that a general argu-ment takes precedence over one that isprimarily technical. This general ar-gument rests upon the assertion thatunity of intention is more important forthe securing of satisfactory results thanunity of control. This notion is just asunfamiliar as the Social Credit notionof the Just Price; but the world is be-coming more inquisitive concerningcontrol than it is ever likely to"becomeconcerning the mysteries of prices andtheir construction.

The Social Credit movement cannotdo anything about this question of con-trol. It has not got the oower. It has nosanctions. It cannot say to those whowield power: "If you don't do this, weshall do that." Nevertheless it has its partto play. It is its business to urge uponthose people who can do things or getthem done lines of action consonant withtheir own desire for results-lines of ac-tion considered with the greatest care inthe .lizht of matters with which we havemade'- ourselves wholly familiar. Ourservice is dependent upon this banishingof unfamiliarity which hampers otherminds, even those of people who wish to

Saturday, August 24, 1940. THE SOCIAL CREDlTER

THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTYWeare repeatedly assured by all

the agencies of propaganda that this is awar for liberty, and it is certainly truethat we shall not have liberty unless thewar is 'won. That is to say, victory inthe field is only the first step towardsliberty; after that, we must face againthe enemy that won so decisive a victorybetween 1919 and 1922.

That campaign was a signal exam-ple of how a very small number ofpeople, whose sale superiority lay inknowing exactly what they wanted andhow to set about getting it, were able toimpose their will upon infinitely superiornumbers without a recognised objective,without cohesion, and without technique.If that is not to happen again, someknowledge of the objective and enoughtechnique to avoid certain obvious trapswill have to be fairly widespreadthroughout the country It need bepossessed only by those individuals whoby temperament and training are fittedto act as an example to those aroundthem.

To be clear upon what you wantis the first step towards obtaining it;liberty itself has been defined by MajorDouglas as the ability "to choose orrefuse one thing at a time." That is tosay, your alternatives must have noconditions attached other than thenatural consequences involved. Forinstance, a "free" choice between unem-ployment and peace on the one handand employment and war on the other,is not liberty.

There are, however, at least twofactors modifying an absolute socialliberty for everyone. The first is theliberties of others; obviously, completefreedom to drive on whichever side ofthe road you please would render theroads unuseable, with a consequent re-duction in the freedom of everyoneincluding the offender. The second ismore subtle, and consists in the desirabil-ity for a universal refusal to make achoice, free or otherwise, between rivalmethods. It has frequently been pointedout that there can be only one head inany efficient enterprise, productive orotherwise, and that the other individualstherein must surrender their libertiesand carry out their orders. It is evenclaimed in certain quarters that thisundeniable fact makes liberty a delusion

By R. L. N.

and a dictatorship the only possibleeffective organisation in the world asit is.

FREEDOM AND EFFICIENCYThe fallacy here resides in a con-

fusion between ends and means. Theformer is the concern of the entirecommunity, as individuals; the latter,the province of relatively few personswho are qualified technicians. The rankand file in each organisation require tohave, as was stated in EconomicDemocracy, "absolute freedom of choice,not of conditions, but as to whether suchconditions are acceptable." The tech-nician, then, in the interests of efficiency,lays down the conditions under whichthe work shall go forward; the rest ofthe community, considering the hours ofwork, rates of pay, the purpose of theorganisation and kindred matters, mustbe able to decide in absolute freedom(which presupposes a "private" incomeat least sufficient to maintain life) whetherthey will or will not co-operate. If theydecide to do so, then they are underorders in -aU matters relating' to theorganisation and the sole liberty in thatrespect remaining to them is liberty tocontract out of the organisation whenand if they please. On the other hand,if in sufficient numbers they decide thatthe conditions offered are unacceptable,then by their non-co-operation theyforce a modification of those conditions.

Liberty on the part of the rank andfile to interfere in the technical runningof the organisation-in short, to meddlewith methods-is merely liberty to des-troy liberty, or the material basis of it.It may be argued that any man shouldbe free to hang himself but, as mostpeople desire to remain alive, the'objection is mere academic.

Liberty of the individual, therefore,is perfectly possible without any sacrificeof efficiency in the productive or socialorganisation, no matter how complicated,and efficiency applied to correct endsis of course highly desirable. It is theart of getting things done with the leastpossible expenditure of material, timeand energy-and time and energy arelife itself. Indeed, efficiency increaseswith liberty, for psychological reasonsthat need not be discussed here. Whatwe have now to consider are the methods

by which communities are preventedfrom attaining the liberty, otherwiseentirely possible, whose structure hasjust been described.

Stupidity, "unawareness", was,according to Buddha, the first of theSeven Deadly Sins and indeed, judgingby the results (which is the only meanswe have of judging at all) there arestrong grounds for believing this assess-ment correct. Most men are reasonablywell-meaning and well-doing citizensand if were not for ignorance, and itsoffspring inertia, the activities of theevil-minded few. would come to verylittle. As it is, by a perversion of thetruth, and especially the truth concerningliberty, these few have been able to setone-half the world at the throats of theother half.

The perversion usually appears totake this general form: The obtainingof liberty is delegated to one man orgroup, either by formal election or bypassive acquiescence, and the idea ofliberty itself is permitted to be divorcedfrom its personal application and appliedto an institution, usually the state. Inspite of a uniform series of failures, theordinary man will still attempt thatimpracticable but alluring "short cut"to liberty which consists in vesting thepower belonging to each individual ina sufficiently energetic and vociferous"leader" or party.

THE LEADER AND THE LEDIt is illogical to blame the leader

for the deplorable results of such apolicy; he becomes almost as much avictim of the faulty technique as hisdupes. Starting very often with the bestand most patriotic motives (withoutwhich he would hardly have the driveand gain the following necessary forsuccess) he is very early in his careertaken up into a high place by the deviland shown the glories of a very consid-erable section of the world. When hehas thrust his way to power, i.e. wrestedthe liberties of his fellow-men eitherfrom themselves or from their presentmasters, all that will be his. The reallysubtle part of the temptation lies in thethought of all the good he will be ableto do (i.e. force upon) his fellow-menonce his power is absolute, In a passionof altruism he succumbs-and is cor-


rupted. For the devil (or hisrepresentative) does not vanish once thebargain is struck; he proceeds to harvestthe fruits of his cunning by manipulatinghis puppet. Thereafter it is the great-ness and freedom and power andprosperity of men-in-the-mass, i.e. thenation, that the dictator is concernedwith and can be condemned with,These are the things he wants forhimself, and he seeks to confer themupon the nation-at least partly becausein so doing he confers them upon him-self. But the "nation" is an abstractionwhose interests may well be made roseem to run counter to' those of the in-dividuals comprising it, and who are thesole reality.

Moreover, these qualities that heseeks to confer upon' his country are notin anyone's gift. It appears to be a lawof nature that one man cannot make it

practice of giving others anything with-out pauperising them, spiritually ormaterially--except an example of correctconduct. That is a truth which showsitself in a hundred ways to-day, and yet

is obstinately disregarded by rulers and or permitted the setting up of, a leaderruled alike. Men have always desired a or an oligarchy to obtain these things \._Messiah who would give them or win for them. The best opinion and all ""for them, freedom and prosperity, and experience proclaims such a course dis-they will actively resent being told to look astrous and we are now in process ofwithin themselves for the Kingdom of receiving one more lesson.Heaven. Yet they will find it nowhere It will be dearly bought, but it willelse, and it must (and can) come from be cheap if this time we really learntheir own efforts or not at all. The two it. And we may have good hope that~nton~es were the wisest and most ul2- the years of patient, unremitting worknght dictators the world has seen or IS in education and example done by theever likely to see, yet the benefits they : men and women of this movement willbestowed upon the Roman Empire did shortly bear fruit; for such work willnot survive the death of the second. in any case not be lost, whateverSuch benefits were not, and could not happens. Great as is the resistance tobe, of any permanent account: they were change of habit, particularly of mind,given, and had not those roots in the and formidable though the power ofwill and character of the people which vested interest may be, the immensealone could make them an enduring momentum generated by correct action'possession. must in the end prove victorious, pro-

THE PRESENT WAR. vided that a suf!1cient number ofexamples, over a WIde enough area, ofsuch action can be given. Only thuscan permanent individual liberty beestablished, and only thus can a realand a stable civilisation be at lastachieved.

In a fundamental sense, this is thereal cause of the present war. Meneverywhere have taken, through ignor-ance or sloth, what seemed the easy wayto freedom and security, and set up,

COMMENTARYUNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS (Grade A).

"The elimination of Chamberlain-of the Hoares and Simons-would giveus the confidence necessary to producethe enthusiasm we need if we are tocollaborate with England adequately,without reserve, and put our hearts init" .- Magazine of Wall Street, New York.

Isn't it odd that Wall Street and theCommunists want the same thing? Orisn't it?

• • •UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS (Unclass-ified).

"After our own President RooseveltMr. Churchill is America's greatestRadio Star".- Miss Elva Williams, San Francisco.

No comment.

• • •Charles Rist, Governor of the Bank

of France:"This process continues from stage

to stage (of production); in other words,the continuation of production at thesame level is only possible if the creditsare increased from stage to stage"(Professor Rist's italics).

But Social Credit is founded on a

fallacy, you know-that credits have tobe increased from stage to stage.

• • •No, Clarence, we aren't: going to

have a Capital Levy just yet. The Gov-ernment is only increasing postage andencouraging the "Bank of England"controlled railways to put up their fares,so as to give a hint to everyone to raiseprices and ask for more wages, so thatthat hundred pounds you saved for yourold age will only be worth fifty pounds.Not a capital levy, Clarence.

• • •Etcetera.

Stella, Marchioness of ReadingRt. Han. Leo. S. Amery, M.P.Miss Rosa RosenbergEmmanuel Shinwell, M.P.

WALTER LIPPMANIn one of his books Wyndham

Lewis expressed the view that politicalcolumnists such as Madame Tabouis and"Pertinax", so freely quoted in the pressof this country, come by their publicitychiefly in order that their views may bequoted and used abroad as typical ofthose of the people of the country forwhich they work. Both are now in theUnited States of America and perhapsin a few months time we shall be sayingwisely "But according to 'Pertinax' .... ,

as a limitation of American opinion.In the absence of the two French

commentators the most quoted columnist \"on international events in the EnglishPress is now Walter Lippman theAmerican.

Born in Manhattan of Jewishparents Walter Lippman was educatedprivately, sent to Europe to gain 'back-ground' and then to Harvard. Afterleaving Harvard he tried his hand :·,tjournalism but left in 1912 to becomesecretary to George R. Lunn, a crusadingparson who had been elected Mayor ofSchenectady on a Socialist programme,and after a few months wrote a bookcalled Preface to Politics. At 25 hebecame a star writer on the Liberalweekly review New Republic, which in.those days more or less reflected theideas of President Woodrow Wilson.Lippman was made assistant to rhesecretary of War, Newton D. Baker, andafterwards joined the American Expedi-tionary Force as a captain in the MilitaryIntelligence, later attending the VersaillesPeace Conference.

After the war he wrote for the NewYark Worid, and when that paper wasdiscontinued the New York H eraid-Tribune invited him to contribute a dailyindependent article on world affairs.To-day Lippman's column appears ~simultaneously in 160 United States andCanadian organs.


EYE

ON PARLIAMENTThe following passages are taken from the House of Commons Official Report (Editor, P. Cornelius), known

as 'Hansard'. The date and occasion of the words are given above each section, and the speakers' names bythe side. The number of columns occupied by the printed report of each section cited is also given. Lackof space imposes a severe limitation on the selection of matter for reproduction.

August 7.Written Answers (21;1 columns)

Ministry of SupplyCONTROL OF INDUSTRY (DEFENCE

REGULATION 55).Sir '1. Mellor asked the Minister of

Supply the number of instances in whichhe has, under paragraph 55 of theDefence Regulations, 1939, purported toauthorise persons appointed by him tocarryon existing undertakings as agentsfor the undertakers; whether any personsso appointed have pledged the credit ofthe undertakers; and whether he intendsto indemnify undertakers against con -sequential liabilities?

Mr. H. Morrison: Such action hasbeen taken in respect of 11 undertakings.As regards the last part of the Questionit will not be expected that I should beable to supply information as to the

r¢ details of the day-to-day transactionswhich may have been entered into onbehalf of the undertakers. Nor can Imake any general statement on thesubject, as the position of paragraph 4of Regulation 55 of the Defence (General)Regulations is now under considerationby His Majesty's Government.

• ••Appropriation Bill (117 columns)

Mr. Stokes: The right hon. Gent-leman spoke about American purchases.Again, I did not follow all that he hadsaid, but I will call his attention to thefact that since the beginning of the warthe prices of American machine toolshave gone up by 300 per cent., and itlooks as though someone on the otherside were making a good thing out ofthe business .

Mr. Austin Hopkinson (Mossley):Can the han. Member tell us the averagerise in the cost of English machine tools?

Mr. Stokes: My impression is thatit is about 50 per cent., but it does varyenormously in the type of the tool. I havenot found that machine tools produced inthis country have gone up in price nearly

.' as much as I expected they would, hav-?" ing regard to all that has happened since

the war started, but they are difficultto get and one has not been able to

make many purchases. Another pointthat I wish to put forward concerns thesad economic plight of many small busi-nesses of £500 or £600 a year. It seemsto merit the attention of the EconomicPolicy Committee. All up and downthe East Coast there are small businessmen, retailers of one sort and another,who are really all "broke." They haveplenty of stocks, plenty to sell, but every-body who comes into the shop says,"No, I must not buy, because I havebeen told not to." I question verymuch whether the policy of restrictingpurchases is as right as people like tobelieve it is. My question is answered'by the bare fact that there are over800,000 people unemployed. It seems tobe thoroughly bad economics to suggestthat people must not make purchases ifthere are both goods and materials avail-able and idle men who could producemore wealth to keep the whole economicsystem in action. The whole ..thing isbased on a profound misconception ofthe meaning of money, but I do not wantto go into a long dissertation upon whatmoney is. I do not want to start thathare.

• ••The Parliamentary Secretary to

the Ministry of Supply (Mr. HaroldMacmillan: I do not think that theGovernment can complain of the toneand character of the Debate, which hascovered very wide grounds .

The other subjects dealt with haveranged over monetary policy, inflation,the system of' land tenure-upon whichwe have had the advantage of the rivalviews of the hon. Member for Ipswich(Mr. Stokes) and my hon. Friend theMember for Brigg (Mr. Quibell)-prop-erty in general, State capitalism, Statesocialism, and syndicalism, and we haveeven seen the delightful spectacle of anagreement between my hon. Friend theMember for Mossley (Mr. A. Hopkinson)and other Members of the House thatfor the purpose of conducting a war somesystem of State socialism must be re-garded as necessary. It is still leftuncertain whether that is to be regardedas an argument against State socialismor in favour of the war.

The hon. Member for Stoke (Mr. E.Smith) gave a very interesting speech, 'ishe always does, well thought out andconstructive, and he went into widerterritory. I must disappoint him as to theGovernment's exact plan for announcingto the world our intention of making afederal union between the British Com-monwealth of Nations, the United States,Mexico and the Union of Soviet SocialistRepublics. Although the persuasiveeloquence of the Prime Minister mightpossibly carry that rather ambitiousscheme, I am sure the han. Member willregard it as beyond the function of aParliamentary Secretary to plunge intosuch dangerous waters.

• • •August 13.

Oral Answers to Questions(36 columns).

Mr. Stokes asked the President ofthe Board of Trade whether he is awarethat the balance-sheets published bybanks do not, in fact, give a true returnas they do not reveal the extent ofauthorised overdraft; and, as the conceal-ment of any relevant figure is a breachof the Statute, Companies Act, 1929, willhe consider taking steps to regularise thepresent practices?

Sir A. Duncan: Section 124 of theCompanies Act, 1929, requires that everybalance-sheet of a company shall containits liabilities and its assets, together withsuch particulars as are necessary to dis-close their general nature. Section 134requires the auditors to report whether,in their opinion, the balance-sheet isproperly drawn up so as to exhibit atrue and correct view of the state of thecompany's affairs. I am advised thatthe present practice in regard to balance-sheets published by banks strictly con-forms to these statutory requirements.

BANK OF ENGLAND.Mr. Stokes asked the Prime Minister

whether he will give time for thediscussion of the Motion standing in thename of the han. Member for Ipswich,regarding the revocation of the BankCharter granted to the Bank of Englanq

THE SOCIAL CREDITER

in the reign of William and Mary?... [That this House calls upon His

Majesty's Government to revoke theCharter of the Bank of England wherebythe right to issue money was passed toprivate interest in the reign of Williamand Mary, and to repeal all Acts ofParliament passed in support thereofsince its granting, so as to take back forthe benefit of the people the power whichrightly belongs to them, whilst still em-powering the Bank of England to con-tinue to function in the capacity of ajoint stock bank for legitimate bankingas different from issue activities.]

Mr. Attlee: I can hold out no hopeof a special opportunity being affordedfor the discussion of the Motion standingin the name of my hon. Friend.

Mr. Stokes: Is it really becausethere is no time, or is it because theGovernment are obeying the dictates of

influential people who do not want it?Mr. Gallacher: Is it not time there

was a discussion on the banks and therobbery they are carrying on?

AGRICULTURE (CREDIT FACILITIES).

Mr. Craven-Ellis asked the Chan-cellor of the Exchequer whether consider-tion will be given to the formation of anagricultural discount bank whose chiefbusiness would be to make 80 per cent.advances to farmers on the security ofnine months commercial bill guaranteedby the Government to enable farmers tofinance their crops, such bills to bediscounted at a rate not exceeding 2per cent.?

The Parliamentary Secretary tothe Ministry of Agriculture (Mr. T.Williams): I have been asked to reply.The answer is in the negative.

Mr Craven-Ellis: May I ask why it

Saturday, August 24, 1940.

is that agriculturists cannot get someassistance in carrying out the Government "'-programme to provide more food? Is it 'not unfair to expect the joint stock banksto give further facilities, having regardto the decay which has taken place inthis industry?

Mr. Williams: The proposal of myhan. Friend would involve a very largeindirect subsidy to farmers' credits, whichat the moment is not necessary and hasnot been called for by the NationalFarmers' Union.

Mr. Granville: Is the han. Gentle-man completely satisfied with the presentsystem of extending credits to farmers?

Mr. Williams: I am not completely,satisfied with anything.

Mr De la Bere : Is it not a fact thatno real assistance is intended? Whynot be honest about it?

Lectures and StudiesSection

The following awards have beenmade as a result of the 1939 Examin-ation:

DIPLOMA OF ASSOCIATE:(HOME CANDIDATE)

J. O. Gibson.

(AUSTRALIAN CANDIDATES)

R. R. Brazier.C. F. Claasen.R. Fulton.Roy Head.H. A. Hotchkiss.H. S. Langbridge.J. M. Macara.Miss G. A. Marsden.B. W. Monahan.A. C. W. Porter.H. J. Souter.C. K. Teakle.

B. M. PALMER.

LECTURES AND STUDIESThe correspondence course

will be ready for distribution inSeptember, on the same termsand conditions which heldpreviously.

The syllabus (3d. post free)may be had on applcation to:

Mrs. B. M. Palmer,35, Birchwood Avenue,

Sidcup, Kent.

The Russian QuestionThe Polish Foreign Minister, M.

Zaleski, has been speaking about "thegame which for some time now has beenplayed by the dictators of Moscow andBerlin". He said:

"Both these autocrats, who in themain work in perfect agreement, tryto make the world believe that thisharmony does not exist in reality.Whenever they come to an under-standing about the division of newspoils they try to explain that thetime of struggle between the twopartners is at hand. Berlin agentstry to offer to the Right Hitler's helpagainst Bolshevism, whereas Moscowagents propose to the Left Stalin'scollaboration against Fascism. Onewonders if there are people who canstill fall a prey to such a game, whichoperates right up to the far East."

• • •Well, there may be: you never

know!• • •

"Our dilemma vis-a-vis Russia isthus that, while her assistance in theconflict might well be extraordinarilyuseful in the military sphere, it wouldbe a fatal slur upon the probity ofour cause. Russia is not our onlypotential ally, nor even the mostimportant. The United States' re-pect and support now are an essentialpreliminary to active intervention at

a later time. Mr. Sumner Welles'strong condemnation of Russia's actionin the Baltic States is a reminder that,if in our search for allies we betraythe principles for which we stand, we "'"may compromise our military chancesas well as our good cause. There isobviously only one basis upon whicha rapprochement would be conceiv-able: that of strict realism-a realismin which military expediency andsincerity of purpose both play a part.If we can secure the assistance ofRussia without compromising ourchances of securing the ultimateacceptance of the principles wesincerely believe in and withoutalienating American opinion, there isa case for an entente. But this is amatter for statesmen and militaryexperts, not for ideologues."

- Imperial Policy Group,Memorandum on Foreign Aiiairs.

ALBERTA ANDUNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

When all provinces except Albertahad agreed to the necessary all1endmentto the British North America Act whichwould permit the Dominion governmentto institute a federal scheme for an-employment insurance, Alberta waivedobjections previously raised to such anamendment, on the ground that it desired -~to take no steps that would interfere withany action by Canada as a whole.


European Background(VI) THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH~

By NORMAN F. WEBBThe modern interpretation of history is purely materialistic. In the world to-day we see the results of this

attitude to life as a practical proposition, and no one appreciates them.These notes represent an attempt to see history from the Christian point of view-the metaphysical, as

opposed to the physical interpretation of events.

The tendency of all this was to minimize racial diff-erences-national differences in our modern European sensehardly existed. Notwithstanding the break-down of Romantravelling facilities there was a great deal of coming andgoing in the affairs of the Church. Indeed, taking Christ-endom as that heterogeneous and major portion of Europeunder the influence of the Western Church, we have at thistime the nearest, in fact, the only approach, to true "inter-nationalism", as it is called, that has ever existed amongmen of differing races-that is, one founded on communityof needs and objective.

Leaving out altogether the difficult and controversialquestion of the intellectual level of the age, there waswithin Christendom a common knowledge, in a commonlanguage, Latin, and a common inspiration,-the Christ-idea; and there was a community of social aims in thecity communes, and of cultural expression in the buildingof churches to the worship of the one Christian God. Thislast must have been the foundation of a real technical free-masonry, in a literal sense, such as only scientists understandto-day.

It might be asked: If all the main impulses of Life,and of intellectual life in particular, were so universalizedin Medieval Christendom, was the result not a tendencyto stereotype existence? The answer to that not unreasonablequestion is in facts. It is true that in the departments ofphilosophy and scientific speculation the Middle Agesappear to our modern eyes academic and narrow, alwaysremembering that a point of view is a very unstable thing.The age, like every other age, not excluding our own, wasin reaction, and the mood of its earlier and somewhat des-perate phase may be summed up very broadly in the wordsof St. Ambrose: "To discuss the nature .and _po_siti.oJl_ofthe earth does not help us in hopes of the life to come." Itis enough to know what the Scripture says that "he hungup the earth upon nothing." That spirit leaned away fromReality on one side, but no more than did the 18th and 19thCentury Rationalists on the other, when they in their turnreacted.

But apart from this lack of variety and adventure inthe realms of material speculation, the conspicuous featureof the Medieval landscape was just exactly its variety anddiversity. Its basis and impulse and objective were as unifiedand controlled, as organic, almost, as that of a flowergarden; and its effect, its visible, tangible results were everybit as diversified and unstereotyped, and it may be added,as beautiful and satisfying to look at.

A great deal of sentimental nonsense, one way andanother, has been written about Medievalism by those whopersist in believing that the same result can be attained bydifferent means, and under wholly different circumstances;but no one in possession of his faculties, looking at the

*The first instalment of Part VI of European Background appearedin The Social Crediter of August 17.

survivals of this age in say, Chartres Cathedral, or suchcities as Augsburg, or in the abbeys of Yorkshire and theEnglish West Country villages could deny their almostmysteriously natural beauty.

It has frequently been the case that the only reallyreliable facts about a bygone age are aesthetic facts. Ifwe include the Eastern Byzantine Empire within Christ-endom, as, in spite of dogmatic feuds, it must certainly be -included, then judged by modern aesthetic standards, whichare much less narrow and prejudiced than were those ofthe 19th and previous centuries, we are forced to admitthat the architecture of this epoch with which we are dealing,stands on a level, with that of Classical Greece, and farabove anything comparable produced in the last fourcenturies. That is an historic fact that has to be accepted.The Christian church of St. Sophia, built in Constantinopleby the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century ranks with theParthenon in Athens as being the most beautiful buildingin the world. Wherever Byzantine and Norman and EarlyGothic architecture is to be found, from Durham to Syracuse,or the Adriatic to Syria, you have recorded in stone, thetangible results of the impact of the Christ-Idea of Unityon the European, Gentile mind; and there are no worksof Man more lovely anywhere.

Now, where in all this was the Christian Church?Uuquestionably somewhere very near the centre. Notwith-standing the unhappy schisms between East and West, itcan probably be said with truth that during the greaterpart of this period there really was a consistently ChristianChurch-that is, at the level of Christianity attained by theamalgamation of the Roman state and the Early Christiancommunities, The symbol of this amalgam in the Westwas the bishop of _~Ql!1~;_ and steadily _ throughout tneseearlier centuries the power-the spiritual power-of the Popeas he came to be called, increased. Through social disorderand disaster to what at its political best could only be calledturbulent truce, the Christian Church held firm to what ithad of the Light, and gradually, without either arms, orsanctions other than moral, dominated and ultimately quelledthe tumult. This is the historical fact, leaving out allcontroversial questions of aims or methods; and to beaccepted along with that other fact of architecturalachievement.

That there was obscurantism and superstition and aconsiderable degree of mental tyranny cannot be denied;these abuses, however, have always existed in society andin more or less close association with whatever has beenthe existing authority; it is only their form that changes.But it is not necessarily upholding either tyranny or super-stition to suggest that civilization did actually, andconsiderably move forward in the Middle Ages. Notperhaps in the straight line of Truth-what age has?-butstill forward, and in a special sense, when the legal andmilitary co-ordination of Rome was replaced by theco-ordination of an idea, however roughly presented.

./ t f"

,,;

Page ,12 THE SOCIAL CREDITER Saturday, August 24, 1940.

Books to ReadBy C. H. Douglas:-

Economic Democracy ...•........(edition exhausted)

Social Credit 3/6Credit Power and Democracy •.. 3/6The Monopoly of Credit •...••••• 3/6Warning Democracy ......•...•....

(edition exhausted)The Tragedy of Human Effort •.. 6d.The Use of Money .. ....•• •.•.••.. 6d.Approach to Reality ...........•... 3<:1.Money and the Price System 3d.Nature of Democracy 2d.Social Credit Principles . Id.Tyranny ............•.......•.•..••... id.

By L. D. Byrne:-Alternative to Disaster .. .... 4d.The Nature of Social Credit 4d.Debt and Taxation ...........••... 2d.

.ALsoThe Douglas Manual ...•.....•.. 5/-The Economic Crisis:Southampton Chamber ofCommerce Report 6d.The Bankers of Londonby Percy Arnold •..........•...... 4/6Economics for Everybodyby Elles Dee 3d.

All fromK.R.P. PUBLICATIONS LTD.,

12, LORD STREET, LIVERPOOL, 2.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND MEETINGSWill advertisers please note thatthe latest time for accepting copyfor this column is 12 noon Mondayfor Saturday"s issue.

BELFAST D.S.C. Group. Monthly GroupMeeting on First Tuesday in each month,in the Lombard Cafe, Lombard Street, at8 p.m." Correspondence to the Hon. Sec.,

17, Cregagh Rd. Belfast.

BIRMINGHAM and District SocialCrediters will find friends over tea andlight refreshments at Prince's Cafe,Temple Street, on Friday evenings, from6 p.m., in the King's Room.

BLACKBURN Social Credit Association:Weekly meetings every Tuesday eveningat 7-30 p.m. at the Friends Meeting House,King Street, Blackburn. All enquiries to168, Shear Brow, Blackburn.

BRADFORD United Democrats. En-quiries to R. ]. Northin, 11, Centre Street,Bradford.

CARDIFF Social Credit Association:Enquiries to Hon. Sec. at 73, RomillyCrescent, Cardiff .

DERBY and District-THE SOCIALCREDITER is obtainable from Morley's,Newsagents and Tobacconists, MarketHall.

LIVERPOOL Social Credit Association:Meets regularly. Enquiries to Wav~rti-ee 435.

LONDON LIAISON GROUP.Enquiries to Mrs. Palmer, 35, BirchwoodAvenue, Sidcup, Kent.

NEWCASTLE and GATESHEAD SocialCredit Association. It is important thatall Social Crediters on Tyneside should main-tain contact. Write W. Dunsmore, Hon.Secretary, 27, Lawton Street, Newcastle-on-'Tyne.

Name ....................................................................••.•.••..•••.••••••

Address .

TO THE DIRECTOR OF REVENUE,THE SOCIAL CREDIT SECRETARIAT,12, LORD STREET, LIVERPOOL, 2.

I wish to support Social Credit Policy as defined in the terms of association ofand pursued by The Social Credit Secretariat under the Advisory Chairmanship ofMajor C. H. Douglas.

I will, until further notice, contribute

{per month,

£ : : , per quarter,per year,

towards the funds of the Social Credit Secretariat.

Signature ., as a donation towardsI herewith enclose the sum of £

the above mentioned funds.

Signature ..(Cheques and Postal Orders should be crossed and made payable to the SOCIALCREDIT SECRETARIAT.) -

PORTSMOUTH D.S.C. Group: Enquiries \.,.".to 115, Essex Road, Milton; 16, St. UrsulaGrove, Southsea; or 50 Ripley Grove,Copnor.

SOUTHAMPTON Group: Secretary C.Daish, 19, Merridale Road, Bitterne,Southampton.

WOLVERHAMPTON: Will all socialcrediters, old and new, keep in contact bywriting E. EVANS, 7, Oxbarn Avenue,Bradmore, Wolverhampton.

MISCELLANEOUSTO LET-Proportion of rent to

Expansion Fund. Two very sunny andcomfortable furnished cottages in NorthDevon, glorious views. (I)-has electriclight, bath and h. & c., indoor san., oilcooker, large living room, kitchen-diningroom, 3 bedrooms (sleep 3-4). Garage-available. (2)-has 2 sitting, 3 bed., (sleep5), kitchen, oil cooker, lamps and radiator;garage. Also a large one-room hut,completely furnished for two. Elsan sani-tation. Water, oil cooker. On the NorthDevon Coast.

WANTED. Has anyone a spare copy of"Economic Democracy" and of "WarningDemocracy"? Please reply to Advertiser,c/o The Social Crediter, quoting conditionand price for either or both books.

The Social CrediterIf you are not a subscriber to THESOCIAL CREDITER, send this order "-without delay.K.R.P. Publications Ltd.,12, Lord Street, Liverpool, 2.

Please send THE SOCIALCREDITER to meName .Address ..

For Twelve Months-I enclose 30/-"Six " ,,15/-"Three" ,,7/6

(Cheques and Postal Orders should be crossedand made payable to K.R.P. PublicationsLtd.)

EXPANSION FUND1'0 the Treasurer,Social Credit Expansion Fund,c/o The Social Credit Secretariat,12, Lord Street, Liverpool, 2.I enclose the sum of £: ,as a donation towards the Social CreditExpansion Fund, to be expended bythe Administrators at the Sole Discretionof Major C. H. Douglas.Name ..Address ..(Cheques and Postal Orders should becrossed and made payable to the SOCIALCREDIT EXPANSION FUND.)

Published by the proprietors, K.R.P. Publicajions,Ltd., at 12; Lord Street, Liverpool, 2.

Printed by J. Hayes & Co., Woolton, Liverpool.

the social crediter, saturday, august 24, 1940. -thesocial

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