ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

248

and, therefore, they are justified in defendingthemselves. Nor can the classes which are firstsubjected to a reduction of money wages beguaranteed that this will be compensated laterby a corresponding fall in the cost of living, andwill not accrue to the benefit of some otherclass. Therefore they are bound to resist solong as they can; and it must be war, until thosewho are economically weakest are beaten to theground.

This state of affairs is not an inevitable con-sequence of a decreased capacity to producewealth. I see no reason why, with good manage-ment, real wages need be reduced on theaverage. It is the consequence of a misguidedmonetary policy.

These arguments are not arguments againstthe gold standard as such. That is a separate dis-cussion which I shall not touch here. They arearguments against having restored gold in condi-tions which required a substantial readjustmentof all our money values. If Mr. Churchill hadrestored gold by fixing the parity lower than thepre-war figure, or if he had waited until ourmoney values were adjusted to the pre-warparity, then these particular arguments wouldhave no force. But in doing what he did in theactual circumstances of last spring, he was justasking for trouble. For he was committinghimself to force down money wages and allmoney values, without any idea how it was tobe done. Why did he do such a silly thing?

Partly, perhaps, because he has no instinct-