The New York herald., 1922-10-22

ing IN TOT Lnat SORT Oh Wilu paper
printing to get out ofSits temporary
difficulties. It faces them as It al
ways has in the past, and British
credit not only in cash. but in char
acter stands highest throughout the
world. N
Exchange Conditions.
Follow sthe other countries. 1t is
no use talking OF Germany. II you
had gone to Germany eight years
ago with sovereign in your pocket
you would have had 20 marks. II
you go to-day what would you get?
Seventeen thousand. marks. But
there is no use talking Of that. Take
rich country like France. steady
country like France. a very indus
trious people, very thrifty, frugal
race like the French.
Our purchasing power of the dol
lar has fallen from 100 to 90 per cent.
We have only eight points to go to
get perfect equality. What about
France? Frances purchasing power
Of the dollar was 100 per cent. before
the war. It Is now down to 1851.
Italy has fallen to II per cent. And
when you remember the difficulties
of all these countries there Is no
country. had greater difficulties than
ours. (Cheers.)
We are pulling through largely
!. owing to the statesmanship, Of men
like Chamberlain and Horne.
Tells of Economy Practiced.
Now that combination that was
pulling through our trade, our COM,
merce and our credit throughout the
world has been smashed. 1t is Ia
crime against the nation. (Cheers.)
In economy know what has been
done. Never In our history has there
been such ruthless examination of
every item Of expenditure, great and
small. The business Of the Govern
ment is a gigantic one., Take an or
dinary business, go through the
whole accounts. cut down every item
1t takes a long time. But in the
business of great country like this
Z you can imagine what time 1t takes.
Every item, great and small. was
examined scrupulously to see
whether we could cut here and there
without damaging the efficiency ,of
the> services. AS every business
man iknows, when you are cutting
down you never get the full benefit
at once. 1t takes time. Last year
we got very considerable reductions.
This year we have still more Con-
siderable reductions from changes
made last year.
More Economy to, Come.
And next year you win have still
more considerable reductions from
the changes made this year and last
year. Everything was done with
the assistance Of the ablest officials,
f. aided by q committee of business
men under Sir Eric Geddes. which
accomplished so much to reduce the
expenditures Of the country to the
lowest possible level.
That has been aided by the de-
struction OF the German army and
the arrangement about ornaments
/, with the United States. Let me say
! also. aided by the cheerful way in
which Winston Churchill (cheersl
handled the problems Of Mesopo-
> tamia and Palestine. ! am sure
may in your behalf wish him
speedy recovery [Cheers.l
Next year in view of the recent
economy the country will face the
future with greater confidence: even +,
woman interrupting: What about
Bonar Law?"1-
Mr.. Lloyd George smilingly re-
piled: Hes a very old friend of
mine. He was friend of mine be-
fore the war, and has been a friend
mine since. He is still a friend
of mine, and I SHOULD be sorry to
say anything to put an end to our
personal friendship" =
Industrial Troubles.
We have also had to deal with
the industrial situation, and it was
full of difficulties, full OF dangers.
You know how difficult is a period
of transition between the time of a
great boom in trade, when wages
are very high, and depression. There
were two things that made IL more
difficult than ever. The first was
that the boom Of the war was abso-
lutely exceptional--never anything
like it--and then, when the war was
through, the reaction was excep-
tionai. ~-. 4
1t was very difficult, but it had
to be done to save>the country from
disaster. Another thing was very
difficult. There were many revolu-
tionary movements more or less
creeping over the world. The tenn
perature was high. and when the
temperature is high people talk
very wildly and incoherently. That
is what revolution Is. You had
them in Russia and you had them
in central Europe. There was a
good. deal Of. It even here, Don't
forget this is the most highly in.
dustrialized country In the world
little topheavy. with no great
peasant population such as they
have even in Germany.
IndustriaI Crises.
And IL the situation hadn't been
4 handled very carefully, anything
might have happened. 1t was indus
trial crisis after industrial crisis,
and some Of them very menacing.
I'VE got through them--we got peace
throughout the Industrial world,
and claim the much abused Coaii-
ton Government has to be borne>in In