RAPID DEMOBILISATION 71 



years," something might be done to create additional 

 employment in agriculture. Is it possible to conceive 

 a more disastrous contingency for the country ? Is 

 the Nation to attempt to force vast numbers of men 

 who have enlisted for the war to remain in the army 

 for years after the war at a cost of, say, £2 per week 

 per man ? Whereas if they were set free, they could 

 earn wages and, at the same time, do productive work. 

 We accordingly refuse to assume that demobilisation 

 will be anything but rapid. It must be carried through 

 as quickly as possible after the war is over. The great 

 bulk of the men will insist on their release, and it is the 

 business of the Nation to make the necessary provision 

 in advance to meet the difficulties of finding immediate 

 employment for the men as they are discharged. It 

 is with a sense of the urgency of this necessity that we 

 have approached our task. Much has to be done ; 

 many measures taken ; great difficulties surmounted ; 

 and drastic means may be necessary. But the occasion 

 requires it, and we disagree with the Majority, who 

 seem to think it impossible. 



3. The whole Committee defined its position in 

 paragraphs 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the Introduction to 

 both parts of the Committee's Report (Settlement — 

 Employment), published in February last (Cd, 8182). 

 And, as these paragraphs — particularly the sentences 

 we have itahcised — go to the root of our difference 

 from the present Majority on the larger part of the 

 problem, we reprint them here : 



" We also desire at the outset of our Report to state 

 our profound and unanimous conviction that a scheme 

 for attracting a large population to the land is urgently 



