The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-01-28
ALBERTA ILLS
RISE STEADY
Masses Demand Fulfill
ment Of Promises; Test
Coming Soon

EDMONTON, Alberta, Jan. 2S.
(UP)-Testing time for Premier
William Aberhart's experiment in
Social Credit Government, the
first of its kind in the world, is
drawing near. With the open
ing of the Alberta legislature on
Feb. 6, it is predicted the oppos-
ition will demand that the gov
eminent either take some def
mite steps toward putting into
effect promises made before the
election notably the S25-a-
month "basic dividend"-or ad-
nit the theory of Social Credit is
failure. To date, six months af-
ter the Social Creditors assumed
office, none of the economic the
Dries has been put into effect.
Harried on one side by the
"man in the street." who elected
him by an overwhelming major
ity on the strength of his prom
Use to pay $25 a month to every
adult in the province, and on the
other by financial interests, who
fear his revolutionary financial
policies will ruin the PROVINCES
credit, Premier Aberhart, ex-
evangelist and avowed enemy of
newspapers, steadfastly has re
fused to reveal what plan he will
follow in placing his theories into
operation.
Therefore, the Forthcoming ses-
sion of the legislature is expect
ed to be one of the most extraor-
binary in the PROVINCES history.
The legislation proposed by the
government will be watched with
great interest by the whole coun-
try. Successful operation of the
social credit theories would turn
Alberta into a working mans
utopia" Failure would bring
chaos to a province already on
the verge of bankruptcy.
1t is predicted, however, that
the government will make no eff
fort to implement it's prediction
promises at the first session of
the legislature, but merely will
seek to pass enabling" legisla-
ton that will make it impossible
TO establish social credit when the
time is ripe. Premier, Aberhart,
it is understood, has decided to
delay his plan until "a sound fl
nancial foundation has beed laid
and the chances for success are
bright" The first objective of.
the government will be to bal
ance the provincial budget.
Premier Aberhart's delay in
producing some concrete plan of
action is undermining the popul-
arity of the government. Alber-
tans who accepted the premier's
promises are reported to be los
ing faith, and rural centres are
deluging the government with in
ouiries as to when it will start
paying the dividend. . 20,
Tile Premier himself acknowl-
edged the growing dissatisfaction
| in a speech in Calgary recently
and asked the people to stop
your COMPOUNDED grumbling,"
Meanwhile, financial interests
are viewing the provinces eco
nomic future with foreboding. 1t
is freely predicted that the gov
ernment's efforts to carry out Its
theories will meet failure and II
will be forced out of office in less
than two years, but not before
considerable harm has been done
to the province. -,
One of the chief complaints of
bankers against. the governments
financial experts is that they are
treating the province like a pr,
vate company whose budget must
be balanced. :.
alberta is not a private cor
poration that can be dealt with
that way" one banker said. we
are a perpetual corporation VINO
must keep going no matter what
happens. It is Impossible to live
| on the income Of the province at
present and the only way the
balancing of the budget can be
achieved is by defaulting on our
obligations" .,
, 1t is pointed out that although,
the government has explored all
reasonable sources of revenue, II
| is still faced with the problem OF
finding 5000, 900 to balance tne
budget goal which must be at
trained before the government can
make any attempt to estapiisn