A Fairy Story for Young and Old
Page 23
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Many Readers Engagal in the Haulage and Manufacturing Sections By of the Industry Will Discern the Truth in This Contribution " Briet )) • 0NCE upon a time there was a far country where
all the people Were industrious and could earn their living in any way they liked, so long as they behaved nicely and obeyed the law. This was called Liberty.
One of the ways in which people earned a living in that country was by carrying other people's merchandise in motor vehicles, and people who did that were called hauliers. Being a haulier was nice work if you could get it, so that after a time more and more people Wanted to be hauliers, and in the end there were so many of them that there was not enough work for all.
, Things might have been better if there had been more roads, but the Prince of that country had seized the money which was paid in taxes by the owners of the vehicles in order that roads could be built. He did that because he wanted to balance his Budget, which is another way of saying that he wanted to spend the money on something else. So he could not build the new roads which were needed.
It was very naughty of the Prince to take the road money, but hardly anybody took any real notice, because most people were less interested in what the Prince did than in games played on Saturday afternoons by people-who were paid to play games.
When the leading hauliers and some of the Prince's courtiers saw how things were, they went to the Prince and said: " Your Highness, the condition of the road haulage industry is chaotic," which is a polite way of saying that it was in a frightful mess.
The Prince thought for a moment and then said : "1 will 'tell you what I will do. I will make it a law that nobody can have a motor vehicle for carrying other people's merchandise unless he can prove that there is enough work for him to do. That will save you from irresponsible competition." All the hauliers gave three cheers, and, when-the Prince, had bowed his acknowledgment, he said: "And-you, too." The hauliers .did not understand what he meant, but did not like to ask him They found out soon afterwards.
The new law having been made, the hauliers who had enough to do had a very good time, and the hauliers who had not 'got enough to do did not like to say too much about that in case their vehicles should be taken away under the new law which the Prince had made.
The Wise Men Asked For It Now there were in that country some very good and earnest men who wanted to make. everybody and everything better, and a lot of people thought they were right. Others did not like them very much, because the earnest men were always interfering with everything, and, anyway, the doubters did not think that people could be made as good as all that.
One of the things the earnest men became angry about was something they called a " vested interest." It is not easy to 'explain what a vested interest is, but it is almost always something which somebody else has got and you have not got...
The good 'and earnest men went to the Prince and said : "Look here, Your Highness, there is a very bad case of vested interest in your dOmain," The Prince said: "Go on." So they went on and said : "We mean the road haulage industry, and' it is a very blatant case of vested interest, because the only people who can be hauliers are the people who are hauliers already, and nobody else can be a, haulier however much he may want to be and however good he may be at it."
The Prince said "This is terrible. What ought I to do about it? " The earnest men replied : "You ought to take over the road haulage, industry yourself," The Prince then said: "Do you think I should get away with that?" To which they replied: "If you could get away with taking the road money you can get away with anything." The Prince did not like very much the way they put it, but he saw what they meant. And so he took over the road haulage industry.
Now there were in that country some people called motor manufacturers, and they made money by producing vehicles for carrying merchandise, and they sold these to the hauliers. Some of the vehicles were big, some of middle size and some little. Some worked one way and some worked a slightly different way. Each of the manufacturers tried to make his motors as good as he possibly could, so that he could sell more than the others. Thus, the vehicles became very good. • How Production Was Rationalized When the Prince had taken over the road haulage industry he found it a nuisance to have so many different kinds of lorry from winch to choose, and it gave him a lot of trouble. The spare parts of one kind would not always fit another kind, which made things worse.
So the Prince -sent for the manufacturers and said: "Look here, haven't you ever heard of rationalization of industry?" Without giving them time to answer he went on: "You must form yourselves into three groups. One group will make the big vehicles, another group will make the middle-sized types, and the third will make little ones. All the big lorries Will be the same, all the middle-sized similar, and-all thh little ones likewise."
The manufacturers did not like that very much, but they could not do anything about it, because there was not anybody else, besides the Prince, in all that country to whom they could sell the vehicles which they had sold before to the hauliers.
By and by the good and earnest men came to the Prince and they said: "Look here, -Prince, there is a frightful case of vested interest in this country." And the Prince said: " Go on, .tell me what it is," all in a gasp like that; and they said : "We mean the motor manufacturers. It is a particularly bad case, because they are the only people who can sell vehicles to you for your haulage industry." The Prince said : " How right you are, and what's more, the motors they make are not so good as they used to be. I will take over the whole motor manufacturing industry." So he did.
Now you know how it is when you have a slab of chocolate. You take a little bite, and then you feel like having a bigger bite, and in the end you eat up the whole of the slab. This is what the Prince of that country did. Finally, he took over all its trade and industry. 'Consequently, the people in that country could not ear'n their living in any way they liked. They all had to work for the Prince. In the end there was much less Liberty thaii there had been before.
Don't cry, children, it was all their own fault, the sillies I