16 UNEMPLOYMENT AFTER THE WAR 



mate welfare of our nation can view with equanimity 

 the tendencies of the last half-century, the continuous 

 depopulation of the country and the growth of the towns. 

 If the process continued our State would become 

 economically parasitic upon the more primitive food- 

 producing countries; and a parasite, however highly 

 organized, cannot continue to exist if the connection 

 with its host is severed. 



To attempt the adjustment of the future occu- 

 pations of our population may appear too remote 

 an enterprise and one too liable to disturbance by 

 unforeseen factors to be contemplated ; but there is 

 before us the immediate practical question of the 

 employment of our returned soldiers at the close of 

 the war. We must be prepared for a great industrial 

 depression following the war, even though there may 

 be a temporary demand for labour for reconstructive 

 purposes. Still, the enormous destruction that has 

 been wrought and the burden of taxation that will 

 be resting on all European countries must cause all 

 industries to languish, especially those producing 

 articles which are not universal necessaries of life. In 

 consequence many of the men returned from service 

 will find no places open in the industries they have left, 

 even allowing for the vacancies created by deaths and 

 disablement, and this shortage of employment will be 

 intensified by the considerable replacement of men by 

 women that is daily going on. The men themselves 

 will, in many cases, be seeking an outdoor life ; the 

 routine of their occupation in the factory or the office 

 has been broken ; some of them will have acquired an 

 antipathy against the monotony of manufacturing or 

 commercial wage earning, and will look for employment 



