ORIGIN OF INQUIRY.
I suggest that this central fact of political influence should be kept carefully in mind by all readers of the Macmillan Report. It is a simple statement of fact that the origin of the formation of the Committee more than eighteen months ago was to be found in the pressure brought upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer by members of the Labour Party to make a close inquiry into the relations between banking and industry, for many extreme Labour members maintain that our industrial de- pression and unemployment could be mainly traced to defects in the monetary and banking systems. In particular it was urged that industry suffered both from lack of adequate loan facilities and from excessively high interest charges. Again, when the composition of the Committee became known, it was recognized that while men of strong and even opposing views had been appointed to the Committee, many of them were already committed to the idea that the explanation of our indus- trial depression was to be found largely in shortcomings in the banking and monetary system and in monetary policy. Accordingly it is not surprising to find that the most strenuous endeavours were made by the Com- mittee to discover the connexion between our prolonged depression and banking and monetary policy. Con- siderations such as the oppressive and depressive effect of Trade Union restrictions, State interference with private industry, the discouragement of human effort by the gross abuse of the Dole system, seem to have been pretty well ruled out of consideration. The only member of the Committee giving real prominence to some of these practical points was Lord Bradbury.
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