THE REST OF OUR LIVES
StR,—By thinking in terms of tokens (i.e., money) instead of in terms of real wealth (i.e., goods) your contributor has suc- ceeded in creating a confused and gloomy picture of future post-war impoverishment.
But is there not, surely, another side to the picture? For some years now it has been the policy of successive Govern- ments, in co-operation with prime producers and industrialists, to restrict production, and to destroy so-called surpluses. Throughout the empire, and in almost every field, there have been determined, continuous and successful attempts by means of restriction schemes to reduce potential wealth and to create artificial scarcity.
If, after the war, the same forces and interests operate for the same ends, then we may expect poverty all right. But if we are wise enough to remove all the elaborate and artificial restrictions on production and industry, there appears to be no reason in nature why a comfortably high standard of living for all should not be maintained ; though the luxury of destroy- ing and restricting wealth will be one which we shall probably not be able to afford in the future, and ought never to have afforded in the past —Yours faithfully, G. W. KNOWLES. 33 Haling Park Road, South Croydon.
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