20 OCTOBER 1923, Page 2

Finally, in this connexion, we must mention Sir Montague Barlow's

letter to the Times of Wednesday in which he said that he had been misunderstood as having promised a Government scheme of currency inflation. There was no such scheme. If that means that the Government see no need for any modification of financial policy they will do well to reconsider the matter. The association of financial policy with the problem of unemployment has become urgently necessary. We venture to say that Mr. McKenna's declaration, which we publish elsewhere, will create a new situation. He, of course, does not speak of inflation as a good in itself ; all he says is that the balance needs to be corrected. Deflation has been too much hurried.