A REMEDY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--My letter that appeared in the Spectator of July 28th was written before the publication of the report of the Industrial Transference Board. May I therefore ask for space to supplement what I then said ?
The report makes a very general appeal for effort to relieve the present lamentable situation. This, I believe; is wise ; but it is essential that our efforts should be co-ordinated. Some of us think we see good opportunities for employing men if the necessary capital can be found, but it is not for us either to assume the role of company promoters, or to go about soliciting contributions as though for a charity. I submit that the logical step to be taken next is for a National Committee to be established, con sisting of the members of the Industrial Transference Board; prominent bankers and business men, and representative statesmen. Any scheme for providing employment would be submitted, in the first place, to a sub-committee of experts ; it would then come before the National Committee, and, if
it met with their approval, could be placed before the public as an authoritative scheme meriting their support.
For instance, I suggest that poultry raising is the one branch of farming which has been really profitable recently. There are thousands of acres of heath land in East Anglia which are well adapted for poultry raising ; much of this land could be bought at a very reasonable price, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of families settled on it. For two or three years these families could be employed by a company which would provide expert supervision. They could then be encouraged to purchase a moderate amount of land them- selves, and carry on poultry farming on the co-operative system.
I could not undertake to promote a company to carry out such a scheme as this, but I could formulate a fairly detailed scheme which could first be considered by experts appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture, and then by the National Committee. If the National Committee, which included leading bankers, recommended the scheme as both good business and timely charity, it could hardly fail to be put through to a successful issue.
It is only by establishing some central authority such as this that it is possible to meet the situation, comprehensively and judiciously.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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