The Post - War World In his thoughtful speech at the Mansion
House last week Mr. Eden made at least one contribution to the definition of this country's war aims. He dwelt at some length on one of the " four essential human freedoms " of which President Roosevelt has spoken—" freedom from want." Social security, said Mr. Eden, will not only be the first object of our domestic policy after the war, but it will also be our policy abroad. He pointed out that Continental Europe at the end of the war will be starved of foods and raw materials; that its agriculture will be depressed by wasteful cultivation; that its credit will be at breaking-point ; and that the transition to a healthy economy can only be promoted by the British Empire, the United States and the free nations. It will be, he declared, the first task of the British Empire to put the food and materials of which it holds enormous stocks overseas at the disposal of the European nations according to the urgency of their needs, and he promised relaxations of war-time financial arrange- ments to permit the revival of international trade. No selfish national advantage will be sought by Great Britain, which realises that economic health in every country is in her own interests and everybody else's. The new economic world- order must be based on promoting economic well-being in all its parts. Social security abroad is for us the necessary counter- part of social security at home. Mr. Eden's speech indicates that the Government is already giving its mind to some of the lessons of the last post-war settlement, which resulted in the steepening of economic barriers and destructive economic rivalries. The economic unit of the future must be the whole world.
Previous page
