6 HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR

If all earnings are raised two shillings in the £and are spent on buying the same quantity ofgoods as before, this means that prices also willrise two shillings in the £; and no one will be aloaf of bread or a pint of beer better off thanhe was before.

Unless the whole cost of the war were to beraised by taxes which is not practically possible,part of it will be met by borrowing, which isanother way of saying that a deferment of moneyexpenditure must be made by someone. This willnot be avoided by allowing prices to rise, whichmerely means that consumers' incomes pass intothe hands of the capitalist class. A large partof this gain the latter would have to pay overin higher taxes; part they might themselvesconsume thus raising prices still higher to thedisadvantage of other consumers; and the restwould be borrowed from them, so that they alone,instead of all alike, would be the principal ownersof the increased National Debt, —of the right, thatis to say, to spend money after the war.

For this reason a demand on the part of theTrade Unions for an increase in money rates ofwages to compensate for every increase in thecost of living is futile, and greatly to the dis-advantage of the working class. Like the dogin the fable, they lose the substance in gapingat the shadow. It is true that the better organisedsections might benefit at the expense of otherconsumers. But except as an effort at groupselfishness, as a means of hustling someone elseout of the queue, it is a mug's game to play.