RATIONING, PRICE AND WAGE CONTROL 53

roundabout and wasteful method at the sameresult as if that fraction of their incomes had beendeferred from the outset.

If our object is to prevent a certain proportionof consumers' incomes from being spent, the only-sensible thing is to start at that end, withholdingby deferment or by taxation that proportionwhich is not to be spent and then allowing a freechoice to the consumer how he shall divide whathe is allowed to spend between different articlesof consumption. A world of trouble and an oceanof waste will be avoided, and the consumer willenjoy far more satisfaction. A recent cartoon byLow, in which Sir John Simon was depictedstruggling with a belt unable to decide whetherhe should constrict " the pantry or the pocket ",conveyed profound comment on this matter.Constriction of the pocket is the alternative whicha free community should prefer. The abolitionof consumer's choice in favour of universal ration-ing is a typical product of that onslaught, some-times called bolshevism, on differences between oneman and another by which existence is enriched.

A well-conceived policy of rationing has quitea different object from this. Its purpose is not tocontrol aggregate consumption but to divert con-sumption in as fair a way as possible from anarticle, the supply of which has to be restrictedfor special reasons. For example, interruption oftrade with Denmark and the Baltic necessarilyrestricts the supply of bacon below normal, andreplacement is only possible by purchases inU.S.A. which would compete with more important