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HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR

would render any attempt at price fixationexcessively dangerous. The low prices for theminimum ration would merely release morepurchasing power for use in other directions,which would drive up other prices to an excessivedisparity with that of the fixed ration. To attemptto fix consumption prices whilst allowing anindefinite increase of purchasing power in thehands of consumers would be an obvious error.

For the Trade Unions such a scheme as thisoffers great and evident advantages comparedwith progressive inflation or with a wages tax.In spite of the demands of war, the workerswould have secured the enjoyment, sooner orlater, of a consumption fully commensurate withtheir increased effort; whilst family allowancesand the cheap ration would actually improve,even during the war, the economic position ofthe poorer families. We should have succeededin making the war an opportunity for a positivesocial improvement. How great a benefit incomparison with a futile attempt to evade areasonable share of the burden of a just war,ending in a progressive inflation!

CHAPTER VI

DETAILS

I have avoided in the previous chapter precisefigures of the proportion of earnings to be deferredand of the minimum standard which should be