The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 6, 1919, Page 5

How Government Sueeeeds as Producer States in Australia and New Zealand Successful in Business Operations for the People—Many Leéague Planks in Operation There . The fourth of a series of 10 art:cles by Mr. Mllls, well-known writer and lecturer, on “New Zealand Before th_e War.” BY WALTER THOMAS MILLS N THE Australasian world rail- 7| ways are not only publicly own- ed, but ‘the nation itself, after many years of experience, has entirely abandoned the contract system both in constructing the roads and in the purchase of roll- ing stock and other equipment. Railroads* are built -at a sav- ing of from one-half to two-thirds the cost of their construction under previous private contracts. The. rolling stock and the locomotives show a saving of fully. 50 per cent. The last American locomotives purchased from privately ownéd American shops, as compared with locomotives produced in the state-owned shops at home, showed a cost of $400 per ton in the purchased locomotives, as compared with $200 per ton in the cost of production in the state-owned shops. Besides this there has always been shown a very marked difference in the cost of upkeep and in the life of rolling stock, always in favor of the state-produced equipment. FORESTRY . AND FINANCE Tree planting has been undertaken on: quite a wide scale. American pmes planted more than ‘a quarter of a century ago in South Australia have averaged a growth of 1,000 feet of lumber for each acre, for each year since the planting. -It is claimed in New Zealand that the products of the govern- ment forests alone, during the next century, even if no additional plantings are made, would pay off the total national debt, interest and all. The New Zealand debt represented then almost entirely in- vestments in productlve property. A correspond- ing indebtedness in the United States i in proportion to the population would mean an indebtedness of 45 billion dollars. This indicates how great'is the na- tional interest in the national forests. 7 In South Australia the govemment—owne«\l forest is equipped with a sawmill and its products manu- factured by the state and made du'ectly available for individual use. COAL MINES AND PACKING HOUSES Throughout both countries state-owned coal mines are in operation. So far, however, they have pro- duced coal only for the use of the state-owned rail- ways, except that in-New Zealand the'state product was sold in the market, but only at prices fixed by. privately owned enterprises. The superintendents of the mining plants-in both countries have offered repeatedly to deliver coal for private use at one- half the current price charged if permitted to do so. produeers without bank profite 4 fllan ls avallable to . An Australian da:ry herd By havmg greater power in the gove:‘nn}ent,"th& farmers and other common people in Australia and New Zealand have' .their prosperity by state ownerslup of marketing facilities to get their products to market cheaply, and by staté banking methods which give money to actual o g and- in. larger' “amounts that country, in New In South Austra- lia the government has built: and is operating a plant at the cost of $2.250,- . 000, * It manufac- tures butter and cheese, slaughters and freezes lambs, sorts and packs wool, gorts, grades and packs fruit, puts the state seal ° - on every package and guarantees its contents. The gov- ernment ships these products to the .markets of the’ world. An advance payment. is made, with a ' final - ac- counting directly to the farmers for total returns less the cost of the service. Since my return from South Wales a $7,000,- 000 government plant has undertaken the same sort of service with the same satisfactory results. It has enormously in- creased the prices realized by the farmers and has at’the same time greatly reduced the selling prices “ to the consumers. A BREAD AND BUTTER QUESTION In New South Wales the government. has be- come the only grain buyer; the grain is stored in state-owned warehouses, shipped over state- owned railways, ground in staté-owned flour mills, baked. in state-owned bakeries, and de- livered from state-owned shops, with the re- sult that the farmers have doubled the receipts:: for their harvests and the housewives have secured bread, the same quantities' as before, at ~ one-half ‘the 'prevmus prices,"and on last report these lower prices for bread had prevailed throughout the war. - Quite as remarkable has been the record of achievement in the subdividing -of the city lots, building of the streets and sewers, and the con- struction of modern homes for working people. A workingman who wishes to obtain one of these homes may make a payment of $50 down and after- wards pay in monthly installments at a rate run- . ning from one-half to two-thirds of what he would be obliged to pay for-a rented house with anything like the same accommodations. He would pay out in 26 years, and his home will cost him nothing as compared with paying rent—in fact- it is cheaper, by from one-third to one- half, for him to buy his home than ‘it is to rent it. - In all of these under- takings these public en- prises hdve resulted in a standard day’s work of eight hours. In hazardous or especially disagreeable tasks, like ,nnderground work in mud- and water, the . . working day is six hours.” Trade union wages have been secur- ed for-all workers and .at the same time the . selling prices to con- sumers 'greatly decreas-- ed. The same is true of passenger fares, freight rates, and es- pecially of excursion rates, with free trans- portation for. school built up : S race horses, .children, fertilizers, stgg}lion§,“'- A flock of South Australian sheep. and freezes the lamb and mutton for domestic use and export. packs. the wool. road from farmer to consumer. lia gets the world price less much lower costs and without the costs of profiteering. and wasteful or unnecessary middlemen. L It sorts and Other state enterprises lower the cost of various steps in the The result is that the farmer of South Austra- bulls, boars, and members elected to parliament. In every instance the building of railways and wharves, thé opening of mines, the building of packing houses, flour mills and bakeries, have not only reduced the selling prices, but at the same time these enterprises pay the cost of their own construction out of their.own earnings, and in this way they cost the nation nothing; in fact, as the nation appropriates considerable proportions of the earnings of these enterprises for public purposes, it is costing the national governments less to build and own and operate these enterprises than it would cost them not to do so. So far as I know these are the only countries ~:which_ consume the highest grades of their own ,ploducts and make available for export only the lower grades. It seems to be the only country where the producers are prosperous enough so they can afford to do this, and this has been made possi- ble only by the publicly owned enterprises. DRAWBACKS TRACEABLE 7 TO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP ; There are serious evils in connection with these undertakings. ‘Complaints made by unfriendly critics are frequently based on facts, but after four years’ residence in the two countries and after following -up any number of such complaints, I found in every instance that they were based on either survivals of old abuses taken over with the business from previous private owners or on the In that state the government slaughters ” e L g e results of private interests still in control of some - share of the public service. ' No one in New Zealand is misled by these com- plaints. In every instance it is contended by the progressive people who are on the ground, that these disadvantages are not because of public ownership, but for- lack of public ownership at some point in the process of public service; for in- stance, the railways were owned by the state; the steamship lines and ferryboats' were in private hands. Transportation frequently involves the use of both kigds—of shipping service. BUILDING A CITY FOR THE PEOPLE The evils yof the transportation system are traceable to the expenses and to the political power of the prlvately owned steamship com- panies. . There is no demand ‘whatsoever that the rallévays shall be turned over to the steam- ship companies, but the demand is urgent, and in Australia it has since been ‘accomplished, that the steamshlp lines be turped_over to the railways. ‘When ' the govemment of New- Zealand opened up a state-owned mine at Runanga, the state first of all established a sawmill timbers for the mine and the lumber for bulldmg housgs for the miners. The houses were rented at reasonable rates; bu both houses and lots were sold to mmers and other, (Contmued on ‘page 14) Here it produced the °