Cuts for Consumers
A further sign of the Government's determination to switch over the country's manufacturing power to war production was given in the Order restricting supplies of goods from manu- facturers and wholesalers to retailers. Supplies of hosiery, pottery, glass-ware, cutlery and many other goods will be cut by one third, and after September retailers of cotton piece- goods will only be able to get one quarter of the pre-war supply. This means that everyone must reduce his purchases of most of the articles in everyday use, and to that extent release industry and labour for the production of things essential to the conduct of war. The House of Commons welcomed the Order as a sign that the Government meant business, and the ordinary consumer will not be in the least inclined to grumble at small deprivations which facilitate supplies to the fighting services. Another Order issued simultaneously forbids the supply of some types of new machinery except under licence. The machinery is needed for war industry, and the skilled workers employed on it must be diverted to Government work. The things that are urgently needed now are guns, aeroplanes, tanks, shells, clothing and other equipment for the troops. If the troops are to have enough of these, and quickly, the rest of the community must forgo its claim on things which once it thought essential. Many persons already regarded these sacri- fices as inevitable owing to the necessity of paying taxes or the intention of buying Savings Certificates.
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