282

ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

country’s financial position is eased. But thisis not likely to amount to more than 20 percent of the total economies enforced. The re-maining 80 per cent is wasted, and representseither a mere transference of loss or unemploy-ment due to a refusal of British citizens to pur-chase one another’s services.

What I am saying is absolutely certain, yet Idoubt if one in a million of those who are cryingout for economy have the slightest idea of thereal consequences of what they demand.

This is not to deny that there is a Budgetproblem. Quite the contrary. The point isthat the state of the Budget is mainly a symptomand a consequence of other causes, that economyis in itself liable to aggravate rather than to re-move these other causes, and that consequentlythe Budget problem, attacked merely along thelines of economy, is probably insoluble.

What are our troubles fundamentally dueto? Very largely to the world depression, im-mediately to the unbelievable rashness of HighFinance in the City, and originally to the policyof returning to the Gold Standard without theslightest appreciation of the nature of the diffi-culties which this involved. To say that ourproblem is a Budget problem is like saying thatthe German problem is a Budget problem, for-getting all about Reparations.

Now as regards the world depression, thereis at the moment absolutely nothing that we cando, for we have now lost the power of inter-national initiative which we seemed to be