Valuable service was rendered by the correspondent who drew attention to the significance of the present phase of the ref problem in Shanghai. Thanks to the activities of public-spirited citizens a large number of refugees have been evacuated from the Settlement and the French Concession.
IL appears that this process has virtually reachd conclusion. Few, or comparatively few, refugees for whom evacuation is an effective solution of their troubles now remain for treatment. There are, however, still some 30,000 or 40,000 able-bodied men in the refugee camps of Shanghai. For them idleness is a definite danger. Their morale daily decreases. Evacuation is impracticable for their domicile is in the Shanghai area. On that account the Refugee Relief Sub-Committee of the International Red Cross has appointed a committee on labour projects. This gives added point to the admirable suggestions made by the correspondent already mentioned. For the moment hostilities now raging round. Shanghai make it impossible to argue that these men can find work anywhere except within the Settlement or French Concession. Supposing they were put on the repair of roads in Chinese territory they would at once be exposed to the attentions of aeroplanes ordered to bomb any activity designed to improve military communications. The task of the Labour Projects Committee is therefore of great importance. It affects the welfare of Shanghai and in particular Shanghai's ability to preserve civic morale in the present distressingly deteriorating conditions. Continuance of a system of relief is for the time being essential but it is no less essential that the numbers of recipients of such relief should be reduced at the earliest possible moment. To quote the correspondent It is axiomatic that the period in which people must be compelled to live on relief without making a return contribution in services should be reduced to a minimum.
The Labour Projects Committee has to be with destitution as represented by the loss of livelihood as the result of developments for which neither Shanghai nor they can be said to be in the remotest degree responsible. Thus the modern principle which imposes on the State the obligation to deal with the problem of unemployment must be peculiar-$m|ly convincing to Shanghai. Probably the only difference of opinion likely to arise on this issue is whether remedies can be practically devised without unduly burdening public funds in a time of extreme stringency.
Fortunately experience elsewhere is available for guidance. A works programme based on taxation might be harmful to civic economy, for, as is stated in the International Labour Office's Report on the Planning of Public Works in Relation to Employment, the resultant Increased taxation would almost necessarily cause a reduction in the demand for consumption goods, and although such a reduction may be desirable in certain special cireumstances, this should be kept within very narrow limits. Otherwise the public works may bring about a decline in private business activity and consequently fail in their purposes, At this juncture any proposal calculated to demand increased taxation would clearly be open to vigorous criticism, The report referred to makes, however, comments which have special relation to Shanghai's present predicament:
There is always during a depression a certain amount of money seeking investment and unable to find an opening, and it is part of the object of a well planned public works policy to provide openings for investment at Such a time. It is the mobilization of idle money which helps to stimulate the economic system and in a number of countries this has been done by borrowing the money and charging the interest and sinking fund payments to the budget, There is a wealth of experience on which Shanghai may draw in devising a programme suitable to the needs now manifesting themselves here, Amenities in this city might be greatly improved to the general economic advantage by the adoption of a programme for road-repairing, road-widening, filling in stagnant pools, cleansing the streets and the like. Private enterprise might be assisted by subsidies to undertake other works and so make its own contribution to the diminishment of unemployment. The problem deserves thoughtful attention; its solution may greatly alleviate anxieties which cannot be ignored if due regard be paid to the dimensions of the task now being tackled by the relief organizations,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.