26 HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR

of the class with £5 a week or less. For thisincome group accounts for about 88 per cent ofthe population, for more than 60 per cent ofthe total personal incomes of the country afterallowing for war increases (due to greater outputbut allowing nothing for higher wage-rates) anddeducting pre-war rates and taxes, and for abouttwo-thirds of current consumption. Moreover theincomes of this group will have been increased onthe average by some 15 per cent as a result of thewar. Is it seriously expected that those with lessthan £5 a week will be allowed to increase theiraverage consumption by 15 per cent, while allthose with more than £5 a week will be left on theaverage with only a quarter of their incomes toconsume? The only question is, therefore, howlarge the contribution of this class must be,and how it can be obtained with least sacrificeand most justice.

If we have a deliberate plan, considerationsof social justice can be weighed and considered.Without such a plan (as at present) they go bydefault.

As a basis of discussion I offer in the next twochapters a proposal, capable, I expect, of amend-ment and improvement in a hundred details, butembodying a principle which will achieve moresocial justice than any other plan. It should bejudged by comparison, not with some imaginaryalternative or unattainable counsels of perfection,but with what is actually happening before oureyes.