TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION P, 619 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 

 The following Paper was read and discussed : — 



Economic Problems after the War. 

 By the Ven. Archdeacon W. Cunningham, F.B.A. 



There can be no accurate forecast of the conditions after the war ; but as 

 we have borrowed largely and spent the money unproductively, there is sure to 

 be a heavy burden to fall on some one, though we cannot foresee exactly how 

 it will be borne. We can only indicate hopes and fears as to the possibilities 

 of the future. 



During the war there has been an immense outburst of the sense of national 

 duty ; we may hope that men will continue to view the affairs of the country 

 with public spirit, and that the laissez faire school which identifies national 

 prosperity with the pursuit of private interests is dead. 



There has been a great increase of governmental activity, and the experi- 

 ments made in regard to the nationalisation of railways and the fixing of prices 

 and profits and wages by the State are remarkable. They mark an increased 

 sense of the nation as a unit, and indicate that cosmopolitanism has received a 

 check. It is probable that each nation will be on the guard against the 

 risk of being exploited by countries which are more advanced industrially. 

 Great Britain was enabled by the age of invention to use her industrial 

 superiority so as to control the resources of other countries ; and though 

 Great Britain has now left her Colonies free to pursue their own development, 

 German organisation and her carelul application of science to industry have 

 given her the opportunity of pursuing the same policy. 



It is of the highest importance that the problems of the increased burden 

 caused by the war should be clearly stated ; and there may be some misgiving 

 lest the habit of mind which has been recently cultivated by English economists 

 is the best for dealing with broad issues. Both consumption and production 

 are necessary parts of the economic pi-ocess, but the war has shown once 

 more the importajice of production — the production of munitions and ihe 

 organisation of employment ; the new school of economists, which gives an 

 exaggerated importance to consumption and leaves production in the back- 

 ground, is not well fitted to deal with the questions. Many economists before 

 the war took a short-sighted view of British interests, and helped to create the 

 impression in Germany that Great Britain was so committed to neutrality that 

 she would present no objection to the invasion of Belgium. By exaggerating the 

 importance of consumption the same school of economists has given an 

 apparently scientific basis to the claims of those who are taking advantage of 

 the war to stand out for higher wages. In so far as the struggle at the 

 Dardanelles has been due to political rather than military considerations they 

 have laid undue stress on the possibility of importing corn from the Black Sea, 

 and have raised the question as to whether cheapness to the consumer may not 

 be obtained at too great a cost in lives. 



The following Report was discussed : — 

 Report on Fatigue from the Economic Standpoint. — See Reports, p. 283. 



