"STRATFORD EVENING POST" FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1928. BRITISH CONDITIONS.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 81, 3 February 1928, Page 4

"STRATFORD EVENING POST" FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1928. BRITISH CONDITIONS.

•From different sources there comes cheering news of improvement in trade) conditions in Britain. A favourable turn ha s been taken in the trade balance; unemployment has decreased, and retail trade, which, has been good for a long time, has improved. There is also, according to a Ministry for Health report, a higher standard of health among children, while social workers state that the conditions of the working classes is much better than in the past. These are not the symptoms of any decadence in British prosperity, and those who go u little further into the question than is done by cabled reports are aware that while the statements are correct the inferences drawn from them are not. The outstanding feature of the past two or three years has been the number of unemployed, from which it has been supposed that British trade and industry had fallen away to a, great extent. The fact is. that a larger number are actively employed now than before the war. The youths who have reached an age to go to work greatly exceed the number of those who have died or- left work. There has been much, less emigration than beforel the war. Economists say it would benefit the Empire to distribute the population, hut the people of the Dominions shew no enthusiasm about receiving fresh arrivals, and the people at Hornet show little desire to leave. The unemployment figures sihould be considered in comparison with unemployment before the war. They are higher, but not greatly higher. Among some . millions of .workers there are always unemployed, from seasonal causes, changes in the direction of industry, 'from sickness and frcm other causes. There are to-day more people at work m Britain than before the war. The losses which Avar caused were stupendous—loss of life, health, of capital, of the work of a large part of the population for four years, and it is doubtful whether the harm done by all these

causes is equal to that which has resulted from the dislocation of trade. Currency changes have ruined Many, they hare injured business and caused unemployment. Protective tariffs have hampered trade, and caused many to attempt wqjs lor which they were not lit, while others who* understood, the work stood idle. Dr. Hight, of Ohristchurch, who is an economist oP reputation, points out the depression from which agriculture suffers, and says the high costs which hamper farmers are largely due to high protection. Before his experiences at Home he had (something mo-e than a leaning to protect! >n, so that his : testimony to the mischief which it cause*, is valuable. When we consider the trouble which Britain in common with other countries, has endured since the war, the fact that larger numbers than over can find employment i.s really wonderful. The truth is that the trouble was associated with certain leading industries, but did not by any means affect all. Iron and steel and all related industries suffered badly, and in consequence coal mining was pressed, and those railways which served the districts in which various branches of the iron and steel trade were carried on. The war caused an increase in the number of munition factories, and when war ceased them wi ,j re more of RUeh '.factories than could find employment. Tn the some war there were more m Poni n- >Ksion than were wanted for the flir.nil.-r t'-nde of the world and shmbu~ding was depressed. Thsee trades

account lor n large percentage of the unemployment. Another large industry which has been depressed is the cotton industry, partly through failure of the Eastern markets, partly because other countries have begun to make their own textiles, and also because the industry has been financed upon too speculative a basis. For many .years the success of (Tie cotton industry has been great, and men acted as if success were assured. Now that a pinch has come the weakness of the system be. conies apparent. But while cotton has been depressed a new industry has come into existence in artificial silk, and while several countries are carrying this on to a small extent the bulk od' tho trade is British. Electrical fittings and accessories are. another line in which Britain has been successful. The motor-car industry she has been late in developing on any large scale. She has always made the best motor-cars in the world, but until lately she did not cater for the multitude. Now it is being done on an immense scale, and when the home demand is met wei shall' see an effort to capture the trade of the Dominions. The bicycle trade and the motor-cycle trade have always been British, specialities, and in a few yeans we shall see) them holding the hulk of the motor-dar trade as they already do of the nn> tor-lorry. Industry, lilfc, farming, can always be carried on more successfully in a free-trade country because costs ara lower. 'Those who know most of Britain have the most faith in her recuperative powers. She has the capacity to develop new industries to replace those that decay. There is the same energy, capacity and perseverance as at any previous time. Capital is abundant. Then? are many problems and difficulties ahead, but there can be little doubt about the ability of the people to meet them adequately. The young people who fancy that the methods of the United States are better worth studying than those of Britain are putting: their mdney on the wrong horse, to borrow, the classic phrase of the late Lord Salisbury/