DEFERRED PAY, ALLOWANCES AND RATION 27

CHAPTER V

A PLAN FOR DEFERRED PAY, FAMILYALLOWANCES AND A CHEAP RATION

I have now reached a stage in the argument whereI have to choose between being too definite orbeing too vague. If I set forth a concrete proposalin all its particulars, I expose myself to a hundredcriticisms on points not essential to the principleof the plan. If I go further in the use of figuresfor illustration, I am involved more and morein guess-work; and I run the risk of getting thereader bogged in details which may be inaccurateand could certainly be amended without injuryto the main fabric. Yet if I restrict myself togeneralities, I do not give the reader enough tobite on; and am in fact shirking the issue, sincethe size, the order of magnitude, of the factorsinvolved is not an irrelevant detail.

I propose to run the risk of giving too manydetails and estimates rather than too few,—rely-ing on the reader's benevolent understanding ofmy method. But I may help him to distinguishbetween principles which are essential and detailswhich are illustrative if I begin, in this chapter,with some generalities (though not entirelydivorced from figures), leaving to the next onethe blueprint.

We have reached the broad conclusion thatallowing for the increase in war output and taking