EMERGENCY ECONOMICS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—M. Reynaud's economy decrees should not be allowed to pass without attention being drawn to the striking and alarming resemblance they bear to the emergency decrees of Bruning which seven years ago so intensified Germany's economic crisis, and thus materially contributed to Hitler's rise to power. The large scale cut in public works (except for purposes of National Defence and for relieving the economic situation in Alsace) cannot fail to make the unemployment situation worse, and it is no use saying that there is no un- employment problem in France ; the absolute figures are low as compared with Great Britain, but we must not forget that France is still to a large extent an agricultural country and also that French unemployment figures are not as comprehensive as British.
By intensifying the slump amidst a not very favourable world economic outlook the Reynaud decrees play directly into the hands of the extremists. In fact the French Govern- ment implicitly admits that such measures must aggravate the unemployment problem, since they are willing to grant a special public works loan of two milliard francs to alleviate the very acute unemployment situation in Alsace ; and surely if public works are held to cure unemployment in Alsace their curtail- ment elsewhere must increase it. As a result of these decrees less work is going to be undertaken in France than would be the case if they had a more expansionist direction, and surely if less work is being done the country is more likely to " live on its capital " than in the reverse case.
It seems that for those who know the French political problem and appreciate the effects of the Reynaud decrees, no course is left open except to hope and pray.—Yours, &c., P. T. BAUER.
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
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