TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1933, Page 4

TIMELY TOPICS

“WHEN IN DOUBT—EXPAND.” “When the question is raised whether a particular piece of expenditure will make it necessary to inerease taxation, it is not enough merely In compare the prospective money yield of the proposed investment with the interest payable on the money borrowed to finance it,’’ says Professor Pigon, of King’s College, Cambridge, in a letter to, “The Times.’’ “It is necessary also to bring into account the savings that are made in unemployment benefit. Thus, if a now ship costs £1,000,000, and beean.se of the new employment, diroetly and indirectly created in building it, the net cost of unemployment relief is diminished by, say, £200,000, the prospective return on that ship should, from

the point of view of the community as a whole, be balanced against the interest, not on a million, but on £800,00(1. • ~ ].ii different circumstances the savings on unemployment benefit duo to new enterprises will be different. If by indirect psychological reactions, confidence is stimulated and a cumulative movement toward expansion started, they may be enormous. These are matters of speculation. But there is enough of certainty for one definite conclusion. If an. enterprise is likely to fall short by only a little of Vicing directly remunerative to the investor, it is sure to be remunerative in a substantial, degree to the community as a whole. When in doubt, therefore, do not sns-, pend judgment: above all, do not contract. When in doubt, expand." S', s s s WORDS OF WISDOM. That a. man shall reap as he sows is too often seen as a threat rather than a promise.—Robert Brigham. I I g i TALE FOR THE DAY. Mistress: “I see a spider web in the corner, Mary! To what do you attribute that?” Maid: “To a spider, ma’am.”