* * * * AN UNFOUNDED CHARGE.
It is only right and fair that this view of the position should be clearly recognized, because in some quarters the present industrial depression has been attributed in very vociferous language to our return to the Gold Standard and the consequent imminence of dearer money. I am far from asserting that in this matter we are out of the wood, for the past month's trade returns alone should make us realize that to keep our gold and to maintain the exchanges it will be necessary that industry should be making a greater con- tribution to the position, for until we are commanding the exchanges, not by the ingenuity of Bank Rates, but by the labour of hands and brains throughout the whole com- munity, we can never feel secure in the matter of our economic strength. Nevertheless, we should not ignore the fact that our return to the Gold Standard has increased confidence
• in the financial stability of this country, and I think that a little later on it will be recognized, as it cannot be recog- nized now, that it has even prepared the way for an industrial revival upon a sound basis. * * * *
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