Ova OWN EXPERIENCE.
Can there be any doubt in the mind of any impartial person that the main cause of the enormous growth in our national expenditure since the War -was the fact that three rival political parties were each tying to outvie the other in bribing the proletariai with offers of expenditure for social services ? And can it be denied that it was only when we were face to face with something like national bankruptcy the situation was effectively dealt with? And how was it effectively dealt with ? By Sinking for the time all ques- tion of political parties and by forming a National Govern- ment pledged to the establishment of national economy. When that step was taken, and when Party strife was silenced, it was found that the nation, although already overburdened with taxation, was still willing to make a further effort to improve the financial situation by a balanced Budget. At that moment of crisis there was, in short, a clear recognition that whatever other remedies might be required to deal with the situation, the first essential was the balancing of the Budget and the stoppage of the financial and moral nit expressed in the abuse of the dole, an abuse directly ministered to by this conflict of parties, to which conflict national interests were subordinated.
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