C. H. Douglas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Major C. H. Douglas MIMechE, MIEE
C. H. Douglas in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1934
Born	Clifford Hugh Douglas (1879-01-20)20 January 1879 Edgeley or Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Died	29 September 1952(1952-09-29) (aged 73) Fearnan, Scotland, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Edith Mary Douglas
Institution	Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Institution of Electrical Engineers
Field	Civil engineering, Economics, Finances, Political science, History, Accounting, Physics
School or tradition	Social Credit, Distributism, Conservatism, Toryism, Nationalism, Christian Democracy, Integralism,
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Cambridge
Influences	Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas, Alighieri, Montaigne, Erasmus, More, Fisher, Milton, Smith, Hume, Montesquieu, George, Burke, Maistre, MacDonald, Chesterton, Belloc, Tolkien, Lewis, Benson, Carlyle, Maurras, Newman, Marx, Veblen, Gesell, Pareto, Keynes,
Contributions	Cultural heritage as factor of production, Economic sabotage, Unearned increment of association, Money as means of distribution of production, A + B theorem, National dividend, Practical Christianity
Signature

Major Clifford Hugh Douglas (1879 – 1952) was a British engineer and economist. He is best known for starting the social credit economic movement. He was also a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

Early Life and Engineering Work

C.H. Douglas was born in either Edgeley or Manchester, England. Not much is known about his early life. He likely trained as an engineer. His engineering career took him to many parts of the British Empire. He worked for electric companies and railways.

Douglas taught at Stockport Grammar School. Later, at age 31, he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge. He worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. He also held roles with the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Company. He was a railway engineer for the London Post Office Railway. During World War I, he worked at the Royal Aircraft Factory Farnborough. He was a temporary captain in the Royal Flying Corps. His second wife, Edith Mary Douglas, was the President of the Women's Engineering Society.

What is Social Credit?

While working during World War I, Douglas noticed something important. The total cost of goods made each week was more than the money paid to workers. This included their wages, salaries, and dividends. This observation went against common economic ideas of the time. These ideas suggested that all costs were paid out as money that people could spend.

Douglas was puzzled by this difference. He saw that money flow didn't match the goal of industry. He believed industry's goal was to deliver goods and services. So, he decided to use his engineering skills to study the economic system.

Douglas looked at information from over 100 large British businesses. He found that most businesses paid less in wages and salaries than the cost of the goods they produced. This meant workers didn't earn enough to buy back everything they made. He wrote about his findings in a magazine called English Review. He suggested that the way money was counted made it impossible for a country to buy all its own goods and services.

Douglas believed the economic system was set up to make the most profit. This was for people with a lot of economic power. He thought this system created an unnecessary scarcity of money. Between 1916 and 1924, he wrote several books about his ideas. These included Economic Democracy, Credit-Power and Democracy, and Social Credit.

Douglas's Solutions

The main idea behind Douglas's reforms was to help workers. He wanted to make sure people had enough money to buy what was produced. This idea became known as social credit. He suggested two main things:

• National Dividend: This would be money given to all citizens. It would be extra money, on top of what they earned. This would help close the gap between what people could buy and the prices of goods.
• Just Price: This was a way to adjust prices. It would lower retail prices by a certain percentage. This percentage would show how efficient the production system was. Douglas believed that the true cost of making something was the resources used up. As production became more efficient, the "just price" would make products cheaper for buyers. This would allow people to buy what they wanted. It would also help control what was produced based on what people bought. Douglas's main goal was to increase individual freedom, especially economic freedom.

After World War I, Douglas stopped engineering. He spent the rest of his life promoting his economic ideas. His ideas inspired movements in other countries. The Canadian social credit movement even gained control of Alberta's government in 1935. There was also a short-lived Douglas Credit Party in Australia. The Social Credit Political League lasted longer in New Zealand. Douglas also gave talks about social credit in many countries. These included the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway.

In 1923, he spoke before the Canadian Banking Inquiry. In 1930, he spoke to the Macmillan Committee. He toured Japan in 1929, where his ideas were well-received by businesses and the government.

Later Life and Impact

Douglas passed away at his home in Fearnan, Scotland. His ideas are mentioned in some books and by other famous thinkers. For example, John Maynard Keynes, a well-known economist, mentioned Douglas in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. The poet Ezra Pound was also influenced by Douglas's theories. Even science fiction writer Robert Heinlein wrote a novel, For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs, that imagined a future where social credit principles were used.

See also

• Monetary reform
• Monetary reform in Britain

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