WORK FOR ALL AFTER THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, 15 November 1917, Page 3

WORK FOR ALL AFTER THE WAR.

Famine and shortage of raw materials for production will be the terrible sequel of the war, said Mr. Sidney Webb, the well-known writer on economies, speaking on Industrial Reconstruction at the Hampstead Garden Suburb recently. There would be , he said, plenty of 1 work for everyone after tbe war. There must bo no cancellation of war bonuses, for these were not given for the duration of hostilities, but to meet the increased prices arising from them. If they were tampered with there would be national trouble. Unemployment must be prevented, not relieved, just as one would prevent cholera. There was no excuse for either in a continuous or epidemic form, and the Government must step in. There would be an enormous amount of Government everywhere. It would be necessary to ensure an aggregate level of wages and demand for labour. There would be an insurrection if wages were reduced by employers. There was going to be a' world Portage in raw materials, and this country would have to wake up and produce. Twenty million of men had been taken from production to engage in destruction, and no amount of interatiopal borrowing of pawning would replace loss. Famine would probably occur, and all the nations must agree that there must be an equitable distribuion of their exportable surplusses to those other countries needing them. There must be no priority, either in class or country. It must bo a case of nobody having cake till everybody had bread. It would bo vain to speak of tariffs, preferential treatment of the colonies, or even boycotts of the Central Powers all these things rvould shrivel up. International Government co-operation was absolutely essential.