Lord Robert Cecil, who closed the debate, said that neither
he nor any other Minister advocated an economic war after the war. But there was a shortage of raw materials in the world, and if the war was prolonged, the stocks would be reduced still further. The Allies controlled most of these raw materials, and they would have the first call on them. There was nothing vindictive in that. For our part, we doubt whether there are any Englishmen so foolish as to think that we should voluntarily deprive ourselves of raw mate- rials needed in our industries in order that the German factories might be enabled to start work again. Yet that, in substance, is the meaning of the Pacificist suggestions. The truth is that we have in our hands an immensely strong economic weapon, of which WO have made far too little use.
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