BRITAIN'S TROUBLES

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3472, 29 May 1934, Page 8

BRITAIN'S TROUBLES

“BLINDNESS TO FACTS.” AN ECONOMIST S SURVEY, London, April 13. Britain’s troubles must be attributed in the main to blindness in facing facts even when they are obvious, said Sir William Beveridge, director of the London School of Economics, in an address to the Universities Congress at Edinburgh. There are six new facts which must be faced: — 1. Rejection of Cobdenisni by humanity; 2. Changed character of unemployment; 3. Changed character of money; 4. Changed character of war; 5. Birth control and death control; and 6. Late emergence and longevity of political leaders. “Nearly all countries, including our own,” he continued, “are engaged in praising international trade and destroying it by national tariffs. International trade is praised to the skies and left to freeze on the doorstep.” Empire Free Traders described as their aim a United States of Britons, but they were barking up the wrong tree for thi’ee reasons: 1. The Dominions are hot economically the best complement to Britain; 2. The Dominions have become high protectionist countries, more bitter by economic materialism than most; and

3. Tariff bargaining between blood relations was more apt to breed bad blood than good. Premiers Who Stay On, Sir William did not regard the outlook for Britain in the near future as a rosy one, and the idea of reducing everybody’s hours of work to four was just bunk —we were not nearly rich enough to do it. Under modern democracies men were apt only to attain leadership when they had lost all desire to lead. The good nature of the British led to them never deposing anyone —once leader always leader; once Prime Minister always Prime Minister, whatever party was in power. A possible way out would be to send every Prime Minister to the House of Lords after five or seven years. After asking if Britain wanted a new ideal, Sir William said her troubles must be attributed in the main not to bad intentions, but to good intentions gone wrong—not to malevolence, but to blindness in facing the facts.