ECONOMIC NATIONALISM Sut,—In your issue of July 17th, just received,
you have an interesting note of the week entitled "A Record Wheat Crop." An arresting sentence therein is the following, referring to new British war wheat- fields: "Will they disappear again, as they did after 1920, or will the promises of statesmen prove this time to be less like pie-crust?" Since these wheatlands, if economically profitable, would need nothing from statesmen, you evidently assume they will not be so and will require some form of protection. Here in Canada one often hears it said that the great war industries we are building up must not pass away with victory, that the many new factories must not close when the war is won. I notice that the implications, when understood, are never mentioned.
In your issue of the week before (July Toth) was an interesting and forthright article by Sir Andrew McFadyean on the rubber situation. He writes strongly about what will happen if, after the war, the great new synthetic rubber factories of the U.S.A. continue with government assistance. He says of this that "it would be economic nationalism, naked and unashamed, and the pursuit of autarky." Evidently Sir Andrew has already felt the nip of a chill wind from that quarter. Here are three different examples of the same sinister tendency, which can easily be detected in a thousand other directions. Under war condi- tions, we are forced to build up new large, very specially privileged industries, and already there is propaganda for continuance of these Privileges after the war. And this propaganda does not come by any means only from "interested parties," but is largely spread by people Who see the great evils—and they are great—that would result from dosing down these industries, but do not see the far greater evils that will result from continuing them artificially. Common sense, as displayed in the Atlantic Charter and in multitudes of pronouncements by serious and informed statesmen and economists, condemns economic nationalism. It tells us that, to bring about that much desired higher standard of living for all men, the interdependence of peoples must be increased, not diminished. It tells us that only so can the world move towards lasting peace and make really efficient use of human energy and ingenuity. If, in beating the Axis, we, the United Nations, load ourselves with a great new set of special privileges and protected industries, we shall be little better off than if we were defeated. The signs show that we may easily so burden ourselves.
Encroaching privileges and economic nationalism will be very powerful and have some strong advantages in the struggle, but all those persons who have a loyalty, not only to their own country's best welfare, but to peace and liberty, must become aware of the danger and prepare to combat it. Great courage, tenacity and broad-mindedness will be re- quired, but, apart from the actual winning of the war, this is certainly much the most important question before us. It is far more important than planning the rebuilding of ruined cities, settling boundaries, or deciding forms of government. We must realise this, and do our part to overcome these deadly policies which could so easily rob us of the
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