All this was excellent, but unfortunately at the end of
his speech he let drop a most misleading, and therefore dangerous, word. He hinted that the suggestion that " profiteering " might be partly responsible for high prices of food might be sound. The use of the word " profiteering " by the Prime Minister was, we venture to say, a blunder of the worst kind. It will give strength to a blind and foolish crusade that is now going on in the Press under which the rise in prices is attributed, not to the true cause, a greatly increased demand plus shortage of supply, or at any rate a failure of the effort to increase supply, but to some mysterious force or " hidden hand " which has been designated " profiteering." The Prime Minister, like the Daily Mail and other persons who so often have the word " profiteering " on their lips or at the end of their pens, has made no attempt to define its exact meaning. Until, however, it is defined, how can we deal with it ? Until those who use the phrase tell us what they mean by it, nothing but prejudice can arise from its repeated use.
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