The Daily News. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1921. RESTORING PROSPERITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1921. RESTORING PROSPERITY.

The London Times, in an editorial, expresses the view that the present wave of unemployment is Hot merely a temporary evil solvable by palliations but a continuing problem, unless industry can be substantially restored. Although Britain is feeling this evil very acutely, as is evidenced by the fact that during the present year between sixty and a hundred thousand persons have been employed on relief works, and that besides forty-six millions having been paid out in unemployed benefits, a further sum of forty-five millions lias been set apart for relief measures, yet she has not a monopoly of the trouble, it being world-wide, only differing in its extent. Possibly Germany may be an exception, if so she is aggravating the evil by exporting goods at less cost than they can be produced elsewhere, and thereby competing uirfairly in open markets against the product of work for which higher wages are paid. Inasmuch as wages are. practically the crux of the present trouble in Britain, as well as in the Dominions, it is obvious that the cost of manufactures is the dominant factor in the problem. The less people have to spend the more restricted is their purchasing power, and it is that phase of the trouble which more immediately concerns the Dominions because it inevitably affects the market price of the foodstuffs they export. If British, trade and industry were substantially restored there would be an appreciable increase in the price of primary products, following the fixed, law of supply and demand. In the course of a recent interview, Dr. Maenamara (British Minister for Labor) stressed the. point that the only natural and permanent remedy for unemployment was ‘ ‘ to get the trade wheels going round.” The terrific smash of 1914.-18 threw icommeree off the rails, a disaster that, coming on the top of high wages and the unprecedented industrial activity in connection with the war, completely upset the :balance of the workers, who, ‘when the slump arrived, were 1 (quite unprepared to adapt them-; selves to the new conditions, and I became a burden on the nation, | tiuw whieh nothing can be more;

demoralising. That the British Governmeht is fully alive to the serious nature of the unemployed trouble is evident by the fact that as soon as the Premier returns to London he intends to hold a series of important conferences with traders, manufacturers and bankers, in order that they, with the Government, may make a concerted effort to restore British prosperity. Even if it were a right policy for the Government to meet the crisis solely by means of money payments to the unemployed—which it certainly is not. -—it would manifestly be impossible to provide the funds necessary for the purpose. Since the Armistice, the British Government has paid out one hundred and five millions sterling ih unemployment relief, while the Pool" Law Guardians have been unable to meet the ever-increasing demands under that head. To continue such vast and unproductive expenditure would be to acknowledge inability to deal with the problem on sane lines. There is only one effective way whereby the trouble can be satisfactorily remedied, and that is by the adoption of sound, economic measures, and it 'is satisfactory to find that is the course which the Government proposes to adopt. If any. scheme of this nature is to have a fair chance of success there must be a readjustment of wages and a satisfactory resultant in services rendered. In other words, the workers must cooperate with the Government in the effort to get the trade wheels going round again, for by that means alone can the problem he solved. It would be in the interests of the workers to make some sacrifice now in order to stimulate trade and industry so that they may benefit when better times arrive. No greater folly could be committed than to demand higher wages than industry can pay. It would merely be grasping at the shadow and losing the substance, while such a course might- drive, a large volume of trade abroad never to return. Under normal circumstances it is only right that the -workers should receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Beyond all question there is a large unsatisfied demand for manufactured goods at a price which the consumers can afford to pay, but no demand for goods at inflated prices, due to high wages and reduced output.