Evening star., 1934-10-14
ENGLAND BUCKLES DOWN
TO CONQUER DEPRESSION
Willingness of individuals to Return to
Labor Held Sign of National
Determination to Win.

! pOSlClOn. IL Is 1ee0lng ltSeu. IL Is
supplying its own market with prac-
| tically all that that market desires and
can absorb in the way Of goods. Its
imports are largely rubber, tin, man.
ganese, nickel, coffee, etc.-things
which do not exist in North America
and therefore cannot be provided at
home. When the world stops buying
its goods. it cannot exclude foreign
| goods and supply the demand itself.
1t must take its losses.
But it is obviously not fair to COM
| pare the British situation with the
/ American, because the basic factors
are SO different. A family which is
/ spending a lot of money for servants
/ can, in time of stress, discharge the
servants and do its own work. But a
| family which is already doing its own
| work will have no such recourse when
/ hard times come. The British were
| doing a considerable part Of the
worlds work before 1929 and letting
the world do an even larger share Of
its own work. We were doing our
work and considerable share of the
worlds as well. When the British lost
their foreign job, they fired their ser.
| wants and went to work at home.
When we lost our foreign job. that was
| the end of it.
British wisdom was disclosed rather
before than after the great depression.
BY their system Of banking they pro-
| tected themselves from the disaster
which overlook the United States in
March. 1888. BY their system of un-
employment insurance they avoided
the tragic Winters of 1882 and 1879
IN America. On the other hand. thev
experienced the depression long be-
| fore the United States. In fact, save
1or the first years after the war, de-
preston has been a constant feature
OF British postwar life.
The consequences of the war. too
only hastened a process which was
| ALREADY In progress. InduStriaIly the
world had overtaken and even passed
Britain. She had been first to ex-
perlence the industrial revolution and
1or nearly a century had harvested
the profits of her pre-science Rut
she was unable to compete with tbe
United States and GERMANY indus
trlally after the World War because
tnelr organizations were superior and
ther circumstances more ADVANTAGE
Gus. france and Japan, too. began
70 press her hard in textiles. while tbe
french presently outdistanced her in
iron and steel. 49,
Hhe British were, therefore driver
back upon themselves, The greet do- L
preston provided the final lash of ne.
ceSSity' If you go to England now
there are large areas in the south
| Wnere you will see new factories and
new industrial esta blishments. and The
/ impression conveyed will be one ~
Doorn. On the other hand. in Wales
IN Lancashire and in Scotland vo,
VIII see the devastated areas Of those
depressed industries which depended
upon the foreign market and are now
doomed. You will see miners and
shlpbuilders who have no hone of fu-
ture employment, but you will also see
a new generation finding employment
IN fields which have Just been opened
No such situation can, of course, exist
In the United States, France or Ger
many.
Balance in q. S.
Before the World War the United
States had pretty nearly reached that
state of balance toward which Britain
is now tending. After the war we
suddenly blossomed forth as a great
lending and exporting country. We
financed world to enable it to buy
our goods and we readjusted our do.
nestle production to suit this condi-
ton. But the whole situation was an
artificial one, and once We stopped
lending the world stopped buying,
Then we had no way of compensating.
We were producing more than the
domestic market could consume Of
about everything it required. There
was nothing to be done, therefore, but
to let domestic consumption grow up
to domestic production and meantime
the experience was bound to be pain
full.
Self-Suffcient in the American sense,
Of course. the British cannot be. save
through the collaboration of the en-
pire. And the imperial project
launched at Ottawa has been far
from satisfactory to the British them
selves, because the dominions have
exploited the British market without
giving England a similar reward in
their own. AS a consequence the
British may one day find themselves
in the plight of the German at the
moment. For all that Germany can
export is competitive with American,
British, French and Japanese manu-
factures and therefore not required by
these nations. But all that Germany
importS-iron, copper, cotton, oil, etc
is essential to her own industrial life.
Because they cannot get cotton, the
Germans are trying to find substitutes.
Because they cannot get copper, they
are driven to costly improvisations.
The basic advantage of the United
States lies in the fact that it has
practically all of the essential raw
materials of industry within its own
frontiers. Britain can never possess
that advantage. We can never be
driven-as the Germans are today and
the British may be tomorrow-to re-
duce our domestic consumption of do
mestic goods because we cannot get
abroad the materials with which to
make them. We necessarily share the
misfortunes of all other exporting ma
tions when the foreign market is re-
duced, but we shall never have to
face the possibility that we cannot
do our own business because we lack
the necessary materials. The real
comparison between American and
British circumstances must then come
with the next depression, if unhappily
there be a next, and not with the
present.
No one will deny the British full
credit for what they have accom-
plished in the face of problem which
has no American parallel But the
nature of the accomplishment should
not be mistaken. Nor should its i'm
plicationS be overlooked. The British
have been driven back to their own
little island. They are engaged in
making their diminished sphere of
activity tolerable and profitable. But
there is no miracle akUut the thing.
The boy who went 10 the city and