LORD MAYOR OF LONDON

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 26, 31 July 1939, Page 9

LORD MAYOR OF LONDON

(British Official Wireless.) (Received July 31, 9 a.m.) RUGBY, July 29. The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Frank Bowater, arrived today in Zurich, where he has been invited to

ture to national income in tne same five countries increased froni 3 per cent, or 4 per cent, in 1928 to 15 per cent, or 20 per cent, sometimes even 30 per cent, or more, in 1939-40. M. Marlio gave examples of what could be done with all the money spent on arms "on economically and socially valuable undertakings." "In France, for example, at an average cost of 50,000 francs per working class dwelling, 1,200,000 such houses could be built every . year with the 60.000,000,000 francs spent on armaments. In the case of Germany the argument is even more striking. According to recent estimates published in the bulletin of the Universal Economic Archives, Hamburg, shortage of housing in 'Germany demands the construction of 4,200,000 dwellings during the next ten years. The cost of these 4,200,000 dwellings would be about 17,500 million Reichsmarks, in other words, less than the Reich spends on armaments in a year. "It should always ; - be remembered that this absolutely colossal expenditure on armaments does not represent merely a lost opportunity of profit but an absolute loss for the economics of the various countries affected. Work- i ing at full pressure on producing arms means attracting a large part of available capital and labour to the armaments industries, and jeopardises an increasing number of other activities. Indispensable work of upkeep is neglected —buildings, roads, railways, equipment in general, fall into disrepair." ECONOMIC DISARMAMENT. In the second part of his speech, M. Marlio examined the means whereby the transition from a war to a peace footing might be bridged. Assuming a state of lasting peace following, either with or without war, on a state of war economy, he considered how noi_nal economic recovery would proceed in a world genuinely pursuing a policy of disarmament in all fields. He gave reasons to show that such an economic recovery would be exceptional in its intensity—namely, a drop in interest rates, a reduction of taxation, a rise in turnover, a fall in cost of living, a resumption of international trade, and a gradual relaxing of inc. barriers to international trade and emigration. Finally, re examined to what extent and how a general plan providing temporary measures to ease the transition from a war to a peace-time economy could be devised. He recommended a programme of international co-operation to enable extensive schemes to be put into effect, such as lai'ge-scale public works, indemnities for factories which would be of no further use, retraining of the unemployed, transformation of factories, and international agreements for the gradual disposal of stocks accumulated in preparation for war.