DETAILS

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free from deferment. Those who agree on theprinciple may differ on the details. It is better,therefore, to separate them so far as is possible.I put forward the following as a basis of discussion.The details are a question of degree and of opinion.If these proposals err, it may be in the directionof making concessions to the income-group below£5 a week, greater than it will be easy to maintain—concessions which are, I believe, still possibleon the assumption that output is adequatelyincreased and that government expenditure doesnot exceed the estimate given above, but no longerpossible if either of these assumptions fail.

The basis on which the details have been arrivedat is the following:—

(1) The aggregate real consumption of thegroup with £5 a week or less should be maintainedfor as long as possible at or near the pre-war level.

(2) Those who remain in the lower half of thisgroup are likely to have benefited least, or not atall, from the aggregate increase in war incomes,and cannot afford, therefore, to have any importantpart of their current earnings deferred if they areto maintain their standard of life.

(3) Since some rise in the cost of living relativelyto wage-rates (though not to total earnings) isinevitable, and since it is impossible under anyscheme to avoid individual inequalities of treat-ment, we should make sure by means of familyallowances that the inequality will work out infavour of households with families, so that thesewill be for certain better off.

(4) Since the increased war incomes of the lower