The principle on which the Government have acted in controlling
prices seems to have been that " something must be done," although the need for doing something was by no means proved. The danger of industrial unmet is alleged, but it seems to us that the Government were rather in the fussy spirit of those politicians so admirably described at the beginning of Disraeli's Coningsby, who came to the conclusion that the only solution of the situation was that " something must be written." Now that Lord Rhondda's scheme is practically in working order we have not the least intention of indulging in carping criticism. All we want to insist upon is that the need for economy was never eo urgent as it is now. The Army and the Navy are both performing the parts allotted to them. The rest remains with the civil population. It is with t'lem either to win the war, or to cover themselves with eternal &agree° as a nation that did not knew how to plunk the victory when it was well within its reach.
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