The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1914. WORK AND WAR: A CONTRAST

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2270, 2 October 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1914. WORK AND WAR: A CONTRAST

Considering the magnitude of the present war, the disorganisation of ™e industry and commerce of the British Empire is astonishingly small. A cable message tells us that the percentage of unemployed in Britain as a <result of the war . is very slight, whereas, according to another cablegram, no less than" half a million men anda similar number of women have been thrown out of work in Germany, and the number of unemployed is daily increasing. owing to the labk of raw materials. The whole industrial life of Germany has been practically paralysed, and its overseas commerce has been almost' annihilated. •The fact that Britain is, able to keep her population employed and to maintain nearly the whole of trade gives her an enormous advantage over her adversaries from the .financial point of view. In the midst of the struggle she is all the time earning the money to pay her share of _ the cost, and is theretore feeling the strain very much less than any of the other belligerents. _ The war has thrown. the industrial machinery of Franco out of gear, but the bottling up of tho German fleet by the British Navy has placed France- in a much better position than her adversary, for it has enabled her' ports to be kept open and has greatly lessened her anxieties as far as food supplies are concerned. The older men and the women and children are able to attend to the harvests, besides doing a good deal of other work usually allotted to the able-bodied men. I'rom the point of view of trade and laboui, Austria and Germany must be suffering far more severely than any of tho other belligerents. The satisfactory state cjf affairs in Britain is in a large measure due to the prompt/and far-reaching measures taken by the Government to prevent financial panics and-to help the people to keep the commerce and industry of the country as active as possible. A certain amount unsettlement was quite unavoidbut careful preparations were made at the beginning of the war to grapple with the problem of uncmployment, and the _ fact that the number out of work is comparatively small is accounted for by the foresight of the Government, the practical patriotism of employers of labour, and the good sense of the general public. It is the good fortune of very few nations to be able to .carry on a great war, as Britain is doing, without seriously dislocating the ordinary work of the country. Never in the whole of our history' have such elaborate measures been adopted to lighten the pressuro of war upon the people, and especially to safeguard the interests of the poorer section of the 'population. In the Overseas Dominions the ordinary citizen would hardly know that the Empire was one of the participants in a tremendous struggle were it not for the daily accounts of the fighting in the newspapers and tho unusual number of men in uniform to be seen in the streets. Generally speaking, things are going on much the same cis they did at this time last ■ year—thanks to tho power of the British- Navy. But the war is a much more serious" matter to tins people of Great Britain. They are closer to the battlefields, and their friends and relatives are in the fighting lines. A trial of strength between the two greatest navies of the world -may tako_ place any day in the North Sea. possibly within a hundred miles of the coast of England, or London itself might be -.attacked from the air. It must bo an anxious time for the folk at Home, but the nation's needs have never been so efficiently looked after in any previous war.' A surprising variety of pressing problems are being dealt with by public departments, , Cabinet committees, and numerous other organisations. _ These matters include the moratorium, banking facilities, war insurance risks for overseas trade, prices of necessaries, maintenance of supplies, production and continuity of employment, works for the pievention of distress, the distribution of-relief, use of home-grown supplies of foodstuffs, clothing for soldiers and sailors and assistance for their families, ambulance work, and hospital accommodation. All these things have been taken in hand in a vigorous and businesslike way, the "muddling through" policy being conspicuous by its absence, and the results arc demonstrating the effectiveness of organisation and foresight. The Labour Exchanges are doing excellent work. Many voluntary associations arc also helping those in need, and tho employers of labour deserve the highest praiso for their efforts to keep unemployment .within the narrowest

possible _ limits. Fortunately, the harvest is good, and it has provided work for many who might otherwise have been idle. It is of the utmost importance that the productiveness of the country should if possible bo increased, and that everything possible should be done by British manufacturers to capture and keep the oversea trade of Germany. The. future has to ho considered «s well as the present. Recruiting and the urgent demand for war material have done much to prevent the disorganisation of the labour market; but the comparatively small amount of unemployment is largely due to the intelligent, prompt, and systematic manner in which the whole situation arising out of the war has been faced and met.