The danger is that competition would soon arise in getting
State-aided labour because it is the cheapest labour. Recognizing that danger, Sir Alfred Mond pro- noses that the dole should be handed over to an industry as a whole—say the shipbuilding industry—and that the employers in that industry should arrange for the allocation of the money among themselves. That, we suppose, is a possible solution, but it seems to us that com- petition for the cheap labour .would hardly be lessened thereby. It would be a very mad and bad thing if any employer came to regard unemployment and the system of doles as a kind of blessing in disguise. Sir Alfred Mond's reply, of course, is that the dole would be avail- able in the form of wages only for men who were taken on over and above the number at present employed. But what about new firms, or unsuccessful old firms which would be helped to the disadvantage of more efficient competitors . Sir Alfred Mond, however, is quite aware of these difficulties and would allow new firms to draw only 75 per cent. of the subsidy.
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