Evening star., 1928-11-04
AUSTRALIA SEEKS STATE
CHILD ENDOWMENT FUND
Land of 'Few MilliOnaires but No
Poverty Is Ready for Experiment
in Social Field.

in the factory. shop or feld, they are
assured of certain wage for them
selves and their dependents
When the commission got down 10
determining the cost of child endow-
ment it was the practical men dealing
in pounds, shillings and pence that at
tempted to throw a wet blanket on the
scheme The secretary to the federal
treasurer testified that it would seri-
ously affect Australians credit. He said
that to provide child endowment Of 5
shillings a week for the 100000 de-
would cost f14.690,000, and it would
| cost SPA, 10000 If the scheme we're ex-
| tended to the 1,860000 dependent chill
dren of all classes in Australia.
Total taxation by commonwealth and
states was E87, 100000 year, and If an
additional E14,OO0.O0 had to be provlo-
ed from the earnings of the people the
| government would be able to raise prac-
tically no loan money in Australia.
| Higher taxation would absorb all the
capital now available for investment.
| The only thing left to do in such an
event would be to increase interest rates
or to go abroad for loans. So seriou.
might the position become that it nigh
be found impossible to convert wa
| loans as they matured and Australi'
would have to go overseas to redeer
loans. Thus credit would be affecte
| seriously.
Foes Point to United States Scheme
Perhaps the most unusual argumen
propounded against child endowmen
paid from the public revenues was ont
based on an American experience-th,
so-called company union" The gen
tleman who advanced the idea. H. w
Gepp, chairman of the DEVELOPMENT
and migration commission lone Of the
most important of the federal bureaus),
never used the expression company
union" In land where labor is so
strongly organized as in Australia the
latter concept is anathema maranatha
What he did say was that child endow-
ment, like all similar schemes must bc
worked out privately by worker and EN-
ployer together:
The organization of industry is rnoy-
ing toward closer partnership between
employers and employees. and that can
not be achieved by act of Parliament
The task of giving additional bene-
f1ts to the wage earnerS with de-
pendents is most economically and sat-
isfactorily achieved by measures of COM
munity benefits undertaken by an IN
dustry or an enterprise itself.
1t is suggested. therefore, that the men
VII l1AC JOU, GIlc HldIldSeIIlSI1C ana q CO.
operative council, representative of the
employees. should work together in any
industrial enterprise to insure that the
money available for communal benefits,
as the share of labor, should be most
eGuitably distributed"
When the eugenist appeared on the
scene he gave to the discussion a broad,
philosophical aspect, a cropping for be-
ginnings or first principles" Lik'
Plato. who. to determine what justice il
had first to create an ideal state,
Australians were invited to plan a DC
feet society before providing for cn
endowment
The federal director general of heal,
DR.. CumpSton, told the royal comm
sion:
For Selection.
IF the assumption be correct that 1t
is the intention of the government to
treat children as national assets, it is
economical to consider two factors
that, so far as is possible, the right kind
of children shall be born, and that the
children who are born shall be preserved
as national assets to the state. The
rules of heredity have not been clarified
sufficiently to permit the enunciation of
general principles on which a universal
system of selective mating could be de-
| fAoNNs Oub OCA tdAA SGCRO may UC COIl-
sidered practicable. 1t might be possible
to require that no person with such
recognizable conditions as deaf-mutism,
feeble -rnlndedne6S, etc, should be per-
mitted to marry. A statutory declara-
tion should be required at marriage
stating that the parties are free from
conditions specified. necessary corol-
larry to the proposal is that false decla-
rations should not only be punishable
as an offense, but should be declared a
ground for divorce. 1t would also be
desirable to revise the position In regard
to feeble -mindedness and the segrega-
ton and control of those individuals de-
clared to be feeble-minded The i'm
portant aspect of conservation of the
life and health of each child endowed
introduces the consideration of cleanIi-
ness of environment. ante-natal advice
for mothers. care of infants in the first
year of life, etc"
That sturdy PERENNIAL tax on the
unmarried-wasn't long in turning up.
! Certain interests appeared before the
commission to advocate taxation of
bachelors and spinsters more than 81,
with an increase every year they re-
| manned single. Twelve months notice
of intention by legislation to impose
the tax could be given, so as to ac-
celerate marriages. Many bachelors
and spinsters were now leading wasteful
lives and were trending toward national
| Sterility, If not worse. Every woman
settled in life should readily bear her
natural increase or be taxed. When
a couple married instead of paying two
| taxes, as previously, they would then
| have to pay one tax. which in turn
would be automatically reduced with
| the birth of each child. With the
birth of the fifth child the mother
would become entitled to a special en-
dowment of los per week for each of
her children. Thus a mother of five
would be entitled to 60 los week.
and mother of 10 would be entitled
to f5 a week.
Uphill Battle.
Thus the situation stands. The pro-
ponents of endowment are fighting an
uphill battle. but they are Of good spirit
because their "Children's Charter" bears
the Declaration of Geneva" ratified by
for Australian purposes as follows:
THE child must be given the means
requisite for its normal development,
both materially and spiritually.
The child that is hungry must be
fed, the child that is sick must be
nursed the child that is backward must
be reclaimed and the orphan or the
waif must be sheltered and succored.
THE child must be the first to re-
ceive relief in times of distress.
THE child must be put in position
to earn livelihood. and must be pro-
tected against any form Of exploitation.
THE child must be brought up in
the consciousness that It's talents must
be devoted to the service Of its fellow
men,"
pO1on1 IN 0heorUo