In these parlous times the buying of Australian goods becomes more than ever a patriotic duty.

Now Smith is patriotic quite;
He likes to do just what is right,
   Like you, or I, or any man
   Who lives upon a social plan
Enlightened,and as civilised
As, so far, mankind has devised.

He pays the tax, obeys the laws,
And, keen to aid his country's cause,
   He's ever vocal, unafraid
   To barrack for Australian made.
Indeed, Smith is, like many men,
A true "right-thinking citizen."

And so are Black and White and Brown
   And Robinson and Green and Gray,
And thousands more about the town
   Who tread the law-abiding way.
They truly love their native land,
And not a man would lift his hand
   To do her fame or credit harm;
   And each resents with quick alarm
Hurts to her industry or trade,
And each upholds Australian made.

Smith, for the most part, buys and wears
Australian goods, and wisely shares
   This predeliction with his wife
   Who orders their domestic life
So that their country, in the end,
May benefit by what they spend.

Yet, once in every little while,
Intrigued by some smart tradesman's guile,
   Smith falls, and buys some costly thing
   That foreign vessels hither bring,
Saying, "To what does it amount?
My little slip will never count."

But so do Black and White and Brown
   And Robinson And Green and Gray,
Staunch patriots who throng the town.
   Yet, when each stumbles by the way
Over some trifle of expense
   The final total grows immense;
And so, thro' little slips in trade
Our adverse balances are made,
   As each man asks, "Why does trade fail?
   My little bit can't tip the scale?"

"Den"
Herald, 15 July 1930, p6