2 HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR

More lucidity, therefore, is our first need. Thisis not easy. For all aspects of the economicproblem are interconnected. Nothing can besettled in isolation. Every use of our resourcesis at the expense of an alternative use. And whenwe have decided how much can be made avail-able for civilian consumption, we have still tosettle the thorniest question of all, how to dis-tribute it most wisely.

We shall, I assume, raise our output to thehighest figure which our resources and our organi-sation permit. We shall export all we can spare.We shall import all we can afford, having regardto the shipping tonnage available and the maximumrate at which it is prudent to use up our reservesof foreign assets. From the sum of our ownoutput and our imports we have to take awayour exports and the requirements of war. Civilianconsumption at home will be equal to what isleft. Clearly its amount wiU depend on our policyin the other respects. It can only be increasedif we diminish our war effort, or if we use upour foreign reserves.

It is extraordinarily difficult to secure the rightoutcome for this resultant of many separatepolicies. It depends on weighing one advantageagainst another. There is hardly a conceivabledecision within the range of the supply serviceswhich does not affect it. Is it better that theWar Office should have a large reserve of uniformsin stock or that the cloth should be exported toincrease the Treasury 's reserve of foreign currency?Is it better to employ our shipyards to build war