DISCOVERY 



83 



the better chance there is of forming a " ring " to inflate 

 prices, and even where this is not so, the percentage is 

 so small that it only benefits those people who are highly- 

 delighted at saving a halfpenny on an expenditure of 

 about half a crown. 



Yours, etc., 



Geo. McL.\gg.\n. 

 39 Morris Road, 

 Lewes, Sussex. 

 January 1922. 



To the Editor of Discovery 



Sir, 



To the Editor of Discovery 



Sir, 



Professor Knoop's article summed up very well 

 the main causes of unemployment, except that, like 

 other economists, he left out the one which one thinks 

 should most readily occur to a contributor to Discovery. 

 That is the demonstrable fact that unemployment is 

 an inherent condition of the existing method of produc- 

 tion. I am not attacking that method ; it may, or may 

 not, be the best we can use at present, but we should, at 

 least in a scientific journal, analyse the method, and see 

 whether it is reconcilable with the full emplojonent of 

 wage-earning workmen. 



In a manufacturing country like ours the incentive to 

 production is profit. " Can I see a profit in it ? " is the 

 question upon which hangs the establishment or continu- 

 ance of a business which involves the emplo^Tiient of 

 " hands." If, after all expenses are paid, the article 

 produced costs me a pound, and I can sell it for twenty- 

 one shillings, well ; if not, I invest my capital elsewhere. 



Now this implies that, when the article has been pro- 

 duced and placed on the market, the wages paid — directly 

 and indirectly — for its production will purchase only It 

 of the article. They cannot purchase the whole of it if 

 there is to be a profit. One twenty-first [h) of its value 

 goes to the man who finds the money. What does he do 

 with it ? 



If he consumes it, all may be well ; but on the whole he 

 doesn't. At least a part of it accumulates, keeps on 

 accumulating. It must, seeing that there is no possible 

 purchaser of it. Week by week, month by month, the 

 product and the purchasing power continue as 21 to 20, 

 and the accumulation of unsaleable products goes on. 



But it is of no use pa\-ing for the production of new 

 goods while we have these old ones on our hands. Evidently 

 common sense directs us to curtail new production for 

 a time until the accumulated goods have been sold. 

 And there is your unemployment — your inevitable 

 unemployment. The ignorance, selfishness, and credulity 

 of men, both operators and employers, may be trusted to 

 increase this inevitable amount ; but to say, as Mr. Ellis 

 Barker does, that " there need not be any unemploy- 

 ment in this country," displays a want of understanding 

 concerning the capitalistic, sale-and-purchase-of-labour 

 system of production. 



Yours, etc., 



E. BiLTON. 



January 1922. 



Mr. McLaggan is quite right in pointing out that 

 many big businesses, such as Messrs. Lipton and Messrs. 

 Lever Bros., have developed from small beginnings, if 

 not actually from " one-man undertakings," but in these 

 cases the necessary capital has been raised by converting 

 the private undertakings into limited liability companies 

 and inviting the public to subscribe for shares on the 

 strength of the financial record of the firms. So far as 

 the economies of large-scale production are concerned, I 

 think that Mr. McLaggan underestimates them ; the 

 difference in price between a machine-made watch and a 

 hand-made watch is much greater than a halfpenny in 

 every half-crown. In the case of a few articles, a "ring" 

 of big manufacturers may succeed in retaining for them- 

 selves many of the financial benefits of large-scale pro- 

 duction, but that is probably the exception rather than 

 the rule. In most industries there is keen competition 

 between big producers at home and abroad. 



With regard to Mr. Bilton's argument, it does not appear 

 to be quite sound. It rests on the assumption that money 

 is not actually spent, if it is received by a business man 

 who does not lay it out on the purchase of necessaries, 

 comforts, and luxuries for his immediate use, but saves 

 and accumulates it. As a matter of fact, unless the 

 business man hoards his savings, which is unlikely, they 

 will be spent, directly or indirectly, in one way or another ; 

 e.g. (i) on buying new machinery, etc., for his works, 

 with a view to extensions ; or (2) on subscribing for new 

 issues of governments or companies, which in due course 

 use the money for the purchase of goods or services ; 

 or (3) on making a deposit at liis bank, in which case the 

 bank will employ the money in financing industry and 

 trade, and the manufacturers and traders will use it for 

 making purchases. Money that is " saved " is not a 

 cause of unemplojmient. 



Yours, etc., 

 Douglas Knoop. 

 The University, 



Sheffield. 

 January 1922. 



RACIAL INTERJVIARRIAGE 



To the Editor of Discovery 

 Dear Sir, 



I should be very much obliged if you would let me 

 know of an article, pamphlet, or short book dealing 

 with the effects of the intermarriage of Europeans and 

 Asiatics, and of Europeans and Africans. 



Yours etc., 

 Girton College, (Miss) E. M. Ruthbinter. 



Cambridge. 

 November 1921. 



[Notwithstanding the frequent references in popular 

 literature to the character of the offspring of racial crosses, 

 and, in particular, of crosses between civilised and back- 

 ward races, little attention has been given to the 

 scientific study of the mental and physical characters 



