If Sir Auckland Geddes's optiistic view of British trade is realized, it is to be hoped that the middle classes. will share a little in the general Prosperity to the extent of seeing prices come down. The talk about inflated paper currency, idleness of the working classes and so forth, as an explanation of the really wicked cost of living is, one suspects, largely camouflage. When one reads of J. & P. Coats making profit of three and half millions sterling; of cotton companies clearing nearly three millions net on a share capital of just over seven millions; of British shipping being five per cent. above pre-war figures, largely owing to new build-ug; and unemployment being only alf what it was before the war—well, one feels sceptical about the ruination of manufacturers. The truth of the matter is that when Labour forces up wages, Capital puts up prices to the consumer. That is precisely where one wants the Law to step in. The Profiteering Act was meant (o help the consumer but those who are called on to administer it appear to be looking everywhere but in the right place for the profiteer. If Labour sees that Capital is making big returns, it naturally demands its share. Is there no means of getting that share out of the manufacturer's Focket and preventing him from dipping his hand into that of the much burdened middle-class Jan. 14.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.