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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1072.PDF
on the permanent establishment is likely to be, after all allowances have been made, far in excess of pre- War figures. The standing army, instead of being reduced, is, apparently, to have a peace establish ment well above that existing at the outbreak of war, and, as in the case of the Navy, increased pay threatens to double its cost as compared with the period ending in August, 1914. Additional to these services, we now have the Royal Air Force, the great deciding factor of the future. If we are to per manently carry all these extra estimates, it looks as though we had fought to rivet the chains of militarism more tightly about our necks. Instead of the burden of armaments being lightened, it appears as though it were to be more than doubled. We have always been the first to argue that we must have an adequate air force. Indeed, we have gone much farther and laid it down that it is essential to our existence as an Empire that we must be supreme in vthe air as at sea. But supremacy is a relative matter, and we must see that we do not over step the bounds of what is actually requisite to safety. Also, if we are to be compelled to maintain such an air force as will be able to maintain an unchallenged superiority over possible enemies, reductions must be made in the other services to compensate. It seems to us that the whole question of the relative size of each of the fighting Services is a matter that can only be settled by a central authority, able to view the necessities as a whole. Naturally, the sailor, the soldier and the airman each takes his own view of the needs of his particular Service, and so estimates are swollen at the dictation of the experts. Here, we think, is a strong argument for grouping the Services under a single Ministry of Defence which is able to visualise the general problem of defence as one and not three. We agree that there are counter-argu ments, but in the present state of the country's finances it is urgently necessary to seek out every road to economy and to pursue it, provided always that it does not jeopardise our safety as a nation and an Empire. The Profiteering is a theme which interests Profite^i £ every°ne- since in some shape or form Bill it touches us all. Indeed, this is far top mild a statement of the case, since it is safe to say that there is not a single article of commerce or a single commodity which has not been profiteered to the utmost possible limit of what the public will stand. The action of the Government, therefore, in bringing in a Bill designed to stop the wicked exploitation of the public is timely enough, though it may be doubted if it will be effective. Profiteering by the retailer is easy enough to stop. To do that it is only necessary to lay down a scale of prices for commodities and to prosecute where these prices are exceeded. But although the retailer has shown himself to be as bad a profiteer as any, profiteering does pot begin or end with him, and to punish him while the bigger fry are allowed to slip through the noose is neither justice nor utility. If profiteering is to be killed, it must be sought out and killed at its source. There has been to the full as much profiteering in raw materials as there has been in the finished article,, and it is perfectly obvious that unless profiteering can be checked at every stage of production it is quite useless to lay down maximum prices of sale to the public after the worst of the profiteering has been done. It is not the actual costs, after a dozen or so profiteers have taken toll at as many stage of production, which matter. It is the costs as they should be, after showing a reasonable margin of profit at the various stages, which require to be dealt with. That would be a colossal work, and one which we fear would be outside the bounds of practice. Even if it were not, we doubt if this Government dare go the whole way and go for the trusts and combines which are mainly responsible for keeping production down and prices up. If they did, the probability is that they would find some unexpected and decidedly embarrassing fish in the net. That they know, and therefore the net they are casting is one designed to catch the small fish only. If the Government is sincere in its desire to stamp out profiteering, let it bring in a Bill declaring trusts and combinations illegal, as they are in America, and thus inaugurate a new era of unrestricted com petition between individual manufacturers and dis tributors. Then production would increase and prices would fall again. Unfortunately, there are too many of the trust magnates in high places, and this is one of the things the Government dare not do. If they dared, they would surely have acted on the presentation of the Report of the McCurdy Committee on Trusts, which is as illuminating a document as we have seen for a considerable time. This much is certain, that if Parliament does not act before very long and check the tendency to the formation of trusts and combines, the people will take matters into their own hands and force the issue. What is probably the biggest single- A Big handed purchase of aircraft has just Private been made by an Australian, Mr. S. W. rurcnase Copley Beyond the fact that Mr Machines Copley is well known in insurance and financial circles, no one seems to know what interest he has in aviation or the purpose for which he has just become the biggest private owner of aeroplanes. However that may be, he has bought from the Government 300 aeroplanes, and intends to embark on a commercial flying enterprise,, about which all he will say is that it primarily concerns this country. Interviewed by an evening newspaper, he said that some of the machines would be resold, while others would be devoted to the encouragement of commercial aviation. As Mr. Copley apparently desires to keep his intentions to himself for the time being, we shall not presume to attempt to speculate on them. We should probably not succeed in penetrating his plans in any case, so it is just as well. It seems to be quite obvious, however, that he has a plan, for without some concrete idea of what use such a number of machines are to be put to, no one but a lunatic millionaire would or could purchase them—and Mr. Copley is certainly not a lunatic, though he may, for all we know, be a millionaire. As a matter of fact, he seems to have some very definite and sound ideas on commercial flying. It is bound to come, he says, and bound to pay in the long-run, and he means to be in it. Well, we most sincerely wish him all success in his enter prise. The movement badly needs men with money, initiative and faith to get it going and help it through the two or three lean years it must encounter before aviation takes its place as an established factor in transport service. IO74
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