16 MARCH 1929, Page 2

When we turn from the Melehett-Turner Report to Mr. Lloyd

George's scheme we turn from what is daring and reasoned to what is audacious and only slightly reasoned. The one possible justification for Mr. Lloyd George's extraordinary pledge that he' would reduce unemployment to the normal in a year without spending a penny of the taxpayer's money would be that it incited people to the necessary deep thinking. But, as• usual, Mr. Lloyd George, in his search for a com- manding strategic position, overreached himself. The difference between men who weigh their words and Mr: Lloyd George is• that Mr. Lloyd George assumes that vast sums of money, when borrowed, will cost the tax- payer nothing, that V untrained workers can be turned on to almost any work as though they were skilled, and that men who would be sent to various parts of the country to do the work provided by the Liberal programme would have no difficulty in housing themselves.

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