• Mr. Baldwin's speech in the unemployment debate on Tuesday
was disappointing to niany of his supporters in the House of Commons. It is not enough to congratulate ourselves on the reduction of unemployment to two millions ; nor is it very reassuring to know that trans- ference of labour from the depressed to the prosperous areas is continuing. The country is now looking for a sign from the Government about the next constructive step for dealing with the kernel of the problem. Is it prepared to. apply. on a. generous scale the method which it has adopted in a single case, where it guaranteed a loan of £85,000,000 for 'developing London transport ? Sir Basil Blackett suggests on another page that ten times that amount. might profitably be devoted to electrifica- tion and other major projects elsewhere. A comprehen- sive scheme of national development for equipping the whole country as it should be equipped is what is wanted, not haphazard application of the stimulus here and there to some favoured neighbourhood, tending, as it is likely to do, to emphasize the difference between the de. pressed' and the prosperous regions. The speech 'as whole was negative and disappointing.
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