financial resources. Their manufacturing power has not been reduced by invasion, 

 their cities have not been destroyed, their ports have not been shut off from the rest of 

 the world, and their income has not been diminished. Indeed, the income of the 

 British people has been maintained at a very high level. Their exports, though not 

 as great as before the War, are greater than they were as recently as 1909, their income 

 from interest on capital invested abroad has been reduced but little, the earnings of 

 their ships are greater than ever, and their factories are working full time. Moreover, 

 the effect upon the production of the nation of the mobilization of a great army has 

 been largely neutralized by the more vigorous and effective work of the civilian popu- 

 lation in general and of the women in particular. Lastly, the average individual 

 income is much in excess of any total hitherto reached. Thus the power of Great 

 Britain to meet her own expenditures and the sums needed by her Allies is very great. 

 What is it, then, that the country has to do? The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 has informed the nation that the Government expenditure in the fiscal year will be: — 



Navy £190,000,000 



Loans to the Allies and Colonies 423,000,000 



Army 715,000,000 



Miscellaneous 92,000,000 



Interest on Debt 67,000,000 



Civil Services, Post Office, Local Taxation, etc 103,000,000 



Total £1,590,000,000 



And that in 1916-17 the expenditure will reach £5,000,000 per day, or 

 £1,825,000,000 per annum. 



Therefore, the work that the British people are called upon to perform is to provide 

 out of all their financial resources a sum of nearly £1,600,000,000 in the current fiscal 

 year, and over £1,800,000,000 in the next fiscal year. In the current calendar year 

 (1915) the British people will spend about £1,300,000,000 upon war and government, 

 and next year (1916) will need to spend about £1,800,000,000 in place of a sum of 

 about £200,000,000 a year before the war. To raise this vast sum is a stupendous 

 task, and one that will try the mettle of the nation as it has not been tried for a hundred 

 years. Not only has the nation to find this great sum of £1.800,000,000 in 1916. 

 but it has to find it with several millions of its most active sons in the fighting line. 



No one can realize the vastness of the task before the nation without becoming 

 keenly conscious that it demands the strenuous co-operation of every man and woman, 

 youth and maiden in the country; that the nation's energies must be completely con- 

 centrated upon the production of really essential things; and that the production of 

 all non-essentials must be wholly stopped. Moreover, not only must the nation avoid 

 the consumption of all non-essentials, but must even restrict the consumption of 

 essentials to the limits of efficiency. Furthermore, individuals possessing securities 

 marketable abroad must sell them in order to pay for goods and munitions purchased 

 abroad for which no other means of payment can be provided. Lastly, the credit 

 of the nation and of individuals must be employed in order to pay for goods and muni- 

 tions purchased abroad for which payment cannot be made in goods, services, or 

 securities. Only by all classes, employers and employed alike, adding to, and most 

 carefully husbanding, income, by selling foreign securities and by creating foreign 

 credits, will it be possible to provide the vast sum needed by the nation and the nation's 

 Allies. 



The work of mobilizing the whole of the nation's financial resources must now be 

 undertaken with courage and with vigor. 



With everyone anxious "to do his bit," the task of financing the War can and 

 will be accomplished and ultimate victory assured. 



11 



