As for the long-term schemes Sir Oswald ridicules the idea
that unemployment can be ended by capturing foreign markets. He produces figures to show, that an increase of 50 per cent. in foreign trade would not find work for one half of those now unemployed. He condemns such forms of Rationalization as depend upon banking support. Having written off foreign trade as useless for his purpose, he inevitably turns to the home market as offering the only real solution. He says that the export trade should be maintained only in so far as it is necessary to pay for imports. If we cannot extend our exports, he argues, we must reduce imports. Apparently the State would regulate exports. The correct balance between exports and imports could not be determined without a survey of the productive power of the whole nation. Agriculture would have a very prominent place in this reorganization. The Planning Council, Sir. Oswald says, would have to bring every available acre under cultivation. The farmer would be protected from foreign competition by a National Import Board, which would buy only what we could not produce ourselves. * * * *
Previous page
