THE QUESTION OF THRIFT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21242, 24 January 1931, Page 10

THE QUESTION OF THRIFT.

There arc two skies to every medallion. In Great Britain it is the more sombre side, which is most frequently represented, that side which envisages the depression of industry, widespread unemployment, and a ruinous taxation equivalent to between £.15 and £l6 per head.. The reverse aspect is that which is presented in the actual monetary resources of the British people, their national income and accumulated savings, and prominence is apparently being given to it at present with the object of encouraging more spending and less thrift in the interests of trade. Mr Reginald M'Kenna, chairman of the Midland Bank, and Mr J. M. Keynes, who speaks with authority as an economist, seem to be lending this movement or agitation their support,

and the Sunday .Express has been emboldened to offer the sweeping declaration that “‘Housewives can wipe out unemployment,” .and that “the thrift complex is killing industry.” “ Put a little bit away for a rainy day ” run the words of a once familiar ditty, and adherence to, the counsel thus expressed has marked from time immemorial the difference between the prudent and the improvident types,of mankind. It may perhaps seem rather curious that anybody should be urging- the practice of less thrift at a time when the. need of economy both in public administration and in the curbing of extravagance in the national manner of living is being rather painfully demonstrated at our doors and in our midst. But only in a superficial view need there appear ■ to be any inconsistency in the argument advanced, for instance, by Mr Keynes. The spending of the kind that is advocated has, of course, no kinship with improvidence and extravagance,' and would mean no more than the maintenance of a normal outlay upon those things which people require or which they can reasonably afford. Nor is there any suggestion that the thrifty should spend in order that the thriftless may benefit. . What is desired is that the normal activities of buying and selling should. be maintained as far as possible so that industries may be kept going and an accentuation of depressed conditions avoided. Governments, unfortunately, are not generally affected .by any thrift complex, and, when the necessity comes to urge upon them the stringent application of,principles' of economy, so far from having anything to fall .back upon, they are hard put to it to cut their coats according to their cloth. There is fortunately a vast amount of wealth in Great Britain, and those who wish to see some of it circulating a little more freely for the. stimulation of industry make out a -reasonable enough case. For, clearly, the general position is not helped when, at a time of depression, those who are not immediately affected show a disposition to become more careful and saving/ In an interesting survey Sir Josiah Stamp has estimated the gross national capital of Great Britain as £24,945,000,000, and the net wealth, after deductions on , account of the national debt and what is owned by foreigners, as £18,045,000,000. As £14,310,000,000 represented the national ■ capital in 1914 it is apparent that, though the country spent its savings during the war, the ground has been more than regained, and the accumulated wealth now considerably exceeds the 1914 level. It has . been estimated by the Daily Express that in bank deposits, post office savings, and savings certificates—of which the thousand millionth was recently issued —there, is an amount of £2,786,000,000, practically “ cash in the pocket,” available in the Old Country, and it is suggested that an expenditure by every individual of 10 per cent.’ of his savings on Britishmade, .goods would banish unemployment. ~ Sweeping generalisations of this kind are to be viewed with caution. No doubt it would be very easy .to draw fallacious deductions based upon such figures as we have been .quoting. Yet, while if is very satisfactory to know that thrift is more a characteristic of the people of Great Britain than some of their critics have conceded, it is a reasonable argument that “ intensive thrift” on the part of a section of the community which is not hard-pressed is calculated to accentuate the conditions the improvement of which is so much a matter of national concern. “ Whatever blessings thrift may confer on ■ the individual, there are times when, judged, by the interests of the general economic welfare, it may,” Mr M'Kenna says, “ be earned to excess.” The psychological aspect of the present economic situation has been pertinently emphasised,’ and the counsel that people should spend what they can, and refrain through the promptings of mere. apprehension from the curtailment of their reasonable purchasings, is basic d on mere conimonsense, for obviously it is all-important that the wheels of commerce should be kept turning as briskly as possible.