The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-13

which we have hitherto nibbled. Two 1 things have to be secured: First, work secondly, an effective income which i. being provided by scheme of insurance if work cannot be provided. That i, roughly the situation. There is not tn, least doubt about it. Whatever govern ment faces this problem. of unemploy the idea of putting unemployed mer far as the government can influence trade this should be the first point ol attack. We shall, therefore, concen trate not, first of all, on the relief o unemployment, but on the restoration of trade. /
 q wish to make it clear that tn, government have no intention of draw ing off from the normal channels oi trade large sums for extemporizet members which can only be palliative That is the old sound socialist doctrine and the necessity of expenditure fol substituting schemes in direct relief oi unemployment will be judged in rela tion to the greater necessity of main taining undisturbed the ordinary finan cial facilities and restorer of trade ant industry. .H
 Rushing Trade Facilities
 T am highly gratifed to find hon orable members opposite cheering sucf good sound socialist doctrine. hop, they will cheer the supplement to it it is this, that while we have to bt economic and scientific in dealing with mi fnriol co nifol hA economic and scientific in dealing with human capital. Therefore, any scheme dealing with unemployment must dc both, and at the same time, give ade quate maintenance to those who are unemployed, pending the revival oi trade. We therefore propose to speed up the trade facilities which lapsed in 1923 and which require to be reinyig orated, deal with the export credits and extend the period for which they will operate. There were unexpected balances that would practically convert the extended period of the operations Such a letter as that addressed to the late prime minister by Sir Alan Smith has already been taken into considera. tion and will be the subject of propo. sals later on.
 OhC ol thC SiCdt IiOuDiCo III COll- nection with this is the financial posi-. tion of the country. Owing party to our national debt, the cost of produc. ton of the country: Owing partly to condition of Europe international ex- change is against honest countries that are paying their debts and balancing their budgets. We are paying our debts and balancing our budgets.
 Value Of Currency
 Therefore, our industry is being somewhat hit by the fact that the cur. rency in certain countries when spent in these countries has a relatively high, CT value than when it was spent abroad and translated into sound currency.
 ''The cabinet must consider the whole question of the national debt and how far certain forms of taxes enter di- rectly into the cost of production and hamper the trade of the country, and how for other taxes are only taxes upon luxuries and by their imposition do not in any way hamper the industrial de- velopment of Great Britain. The best way to do that is by the appointment of really authoritative committee. If ever a completely honest, able, and scientific survey of our national finances was necessary it is now. l believe it is possible to get men of busi- ness, economists, men of experience and of thought whose judgment would be accepted by the whole of the business community. Relief works have to bt taken into account, land drainage, light railways, and wise expenditure of tht road fund would be dealt with. That fund is not for unemployed work alone hut if xxyn,1IA thu nff1cion.vr ouI utility of our roads. If all this is sue. cessful it will vastly increase the wealth of the country, more particularly land values. It would put in the hands oi owners of land power to exact an en. hanced rent out of a capital expenditure found by the nation at large. That would have to be tapped. Some of il will have to come back again into tht national resources.
 Russian Recognition
 "The government has decided to rec ognize Russian. That will mean, I an sure, a considerable impetus to trade a. soon as complete recognition come! about. But we must not be too impa tient in repeating the harvest. Int great regret I have to express is that we have had to wait until February 1924 to take the first step in policy which is absolutely essential for tn, revival >of our foreign trade. There i. also the especially difficult question oi enabling women to benefit under oul unemployment schemes. In the eff sure they will not be allowed to suffer Every department concerned with in surance is working full steam ahead tt l y,ynIrna fha Schnn,ao Un rd r. doles, or insurance, two expedients have been adopted which never had ( rational foundation and would sooner or later have had to be abolished On, is the expedient of the "gap," and tho other is that of a selected uncovenantec benefit. The zap" is that the unem ployed person shall, at certain times for a period of three weeks, be off un employed benefit. Why? He has tt go on the rates or make his living som, how, it has no moral or economic valu, to him. It cannot be defended upor sound principles. As to uncovenanteC benefit we get men and women who be long to insured trades. falling out o their uncovenanted benefit becaus, committees had a right to decide whether they ought to receive. that un coyenanted benefit of charity ana good will or whether they should fai to pay it to them. I imagine persor who is refused it as soon as he returns to work, he, from his wages, has tt pay for the uncovenanted benefit en ioyed by his neighbor but refused tC himself
 "The government proposes to abolisi both the gap and the selection of un covenanted benefit Viscount Curzor asked what the cost would be-
 Children's Benefit
 Question of Buchanan of Glasgow Will any change be made in benefit for children"