Mr. J. G. Winant's first report as Director of the
Inter- national Labour Office points out an economic dilemma towards which the world is now steering. The economics of war-preparedness imposes on the living-standards of all countries an increasingly intolerable pressure which may soon " cause actual starvation in the lower income groups." But the very removal of that pressure will raise tremendous problems of readjustment. Demobilisation is always a ticklish business, and no war prior to 1914 produced such problems of demobilisation as those inherent in the " white war " which the nations are now waging. Absurdly enough, an " outbreak of peace " might now well be an economic disaster second only to open war unless it is prepared for in advance. For this essential preparation the International Labour Office is particularly well equipped. A clearing- house of information and expertise, an international civil service, it is necessarily internationally minded when paro- chialism is the arch-enemy. " It may be," says Mr. Winant, " that by full use of the world's experience some of the trials and errors of the past need not be repeated." If, when the hoped-for opportunity occurs, its services can effect a smooth transition from a war to a peace economy, the I.L.O. may well succeed, where the League itself failed, in eradicating the seeds of conflict.
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