America's New Relief Plans Mr. Lloyd George's so-called New Deal
proposals, which the Cabinet has now under immediate consideration, find a close parallel in the public works and recon- struction programme for the United States outlined by President Roosevelt on Wednesday. The President has at his disposal the equivalent in dollars of £1,000,000,000 (the parallel is not to be extended into this sphere) and he proposes to expend it on roads and the abolition of level crossings, which are far more numerous relatively in America than here ; rural electrification ; housing ; afforestation ; rural settlement, including the trans- ference of whole communities, such as we should desire for the industrial populations of our depressed areas ; and unspecified relief for " white-collar " workers. There is not a great deal for this country to learn from the programme, for the reason that practically all the items of it figure in our own. It is largely a question of volume and driving-power. Mr. Roosevelt possesses the latter to a conspicuous degree and Mr. Lloyd George is capable of supplying some of it here. Broadly speaking what is asked of the Government is to do what it is doing already but do more of it
